Leaner ways to prepare bear meat?

[bcd]

I found out recently that I have high blood pressure and cholesterol so I need to try to eat lean meat and less salt. I was planning on buying a grinder and making a bunch of sausage and pepperoni if I got a bear this spring, but most of the recipes I've seen have a lot of salt and pork fat cut in.

Has anyone had success with preparing leaner, lower sodium versions? Are other ways of preparing it like roasts, steaks, ground, burgers good enough that I could do most of the meat this way?

I'm excited to get out and finally get my first bear, but also don't want to waste the meat if it's too strong or dry to eat straight up. I gather it may depend a lot on the individual animal as well, so I may just have to go for it and give some away if it's more of a sausage bear I guess.

[Bpower]

I was at Stuffers in Langley picking up some sausage supplies this week and saw a book there called Making Healthy Sausages, it has recipes for reduced fat and low salt sausages. It was about $26.00

[Steeleco]

When I make my smaller batches of sausage, I use extra lean ground beef and not pork. If you want to help lower the salt, avoid making sausage that is cured. Instead make items that require cooking before eating. They still have some salt but don't need the nitrates required for curing.

Ground bear is by far the most used meat product in my home, may different things can be made and use little to no salt.

[Papa Sasquatch]

We hardly ever use salt or Sugar in our food here. Yet we eat the same food as everyone else. All recipes call for Salt or sugar but we only throw in a pinch now and then and got so use to the real taste of food that eating out is like mouthful of salt. The big problem is that my wife would like me to take her out but her cooking is so damn good I don't want to eat anywhere else.

[cavebear]

The burgers great

[Aaron Evans]

See if you can find a sausage recipe book. Just change the recipes to no pork. The spicing is what you need. I have several but I think one of my favorites is called "the best of the wurst"

[Steeleco]

I find you need to add something to help increase the moisture. The few batches I've made with game and game alone have been awfully dry and hard to eat.

[t-rexer]

Try adding crushed ice to the mix

[longstonec]

I have never eaten bear, so I am not sure if the flavour combos would work... but if I was wanting to reduce fat but keep moisture in a sausage I would add something like apple sauce into the mix before grinding,

Make sure not to poke holes in the casing before cooking, and poach it then sear quickly.


i dont think you will be able to make low sodium pepperoni, as the salt is part of curing it... botulism is bad for high BP...

You could try brining. 1 cup salt per 1 gallon of water is standard... it does this http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/zen_of_brines.html

But i would bet you can get away with less salt... it dosent make it "salty"

[tigrr]

Read a story of some-one who just made patties instead of sausage. You need pork in sausage to keep it moist. In patties you can add canola oil to the frying, leaving out the pork. I hope to connect with a spring bear and have read some interesting posts on some forums about different recipes for patties.

[bcd]

Great ideas guys! Hopefully I have a chance to try some out. You have me re-excited for bear now :)

[bcd]

I got my bear, so now I'm revisiting this thread. I tried a piece of backstrap grilled like steak and it was delicious so hopefully the rest is good too. Hung it for a week and just finished cutting and freezing last night. About half of it will be for roasts, grilling and half for grinding. I will probably pick up that book from Stuffers, sounds like a good place to start.

I have a craving for some jerky now, which usually has lots of salt and nitrates or whatever to preserve. But I'm wondering if I make sure to get the temp high enough during drying and then freeze until it's used, can I still get a couple days out of it after it's thawed? The lower moisture content would presumably allow it to remain at room temperature safely for a bit longer than regular meat? Thinking it would be nice when backpacking.

What about candying, using sugar instead of salt to preserve? Can't find much on this so assuming it's not a good option, but again we're talking a couple days not weeks in the cupboard.

[weiss]

Well, firstly, dietary fat has nothing to do with high cholesterol in your blood. I eat copius amounts of fat while on ketogenic diet, perhaps close to 200 grams a day. Recent blood work done shown all being close to ideal. So, think about your fitness routine, maybe it has to be upped a little. Also, check Canada Food Guide or any respectable basic nutrition guide. For a man of average built, there is about 70 gram of fat requirement, a day. You can cut it down, but remember that this is an ESSENTIAL nutrient. Your brain, your joints, hair, your hormone production - all need fat to work properly. Most doctors keep on repeating this beat up moronic mantra of "healthy" or "clean" diet, which was the mainstream of thought some 50 years ago.

I also save all the fat from black bear, as this is a reachest part packed with nutrients and vitamins. I slowly melt internal fat over a water bath, and can it for later use. Fat from the back will be salted and cured, just like pork lard. Not expecting anyone to try this, you really have to be at least part Russian to eat this stuff. Now, with sausage recipes I tried reduced fat versions, and it always turns out being dry and generally worse-tasting sausage. Fat in a sausage is for a good reason I guess.