Bear Stew Recipe
(Works well with beef or other red meats.) Bear hunting season’s work started last Saturday. I’ll be writing about what we do with the bears, why we do it, and how we use the meat. I want to be sure you all understand that we use the meat. This is not “trophy” hunting, though I don’t begrudge anyone a trophy as long as they’re using the meat. I have a trophy bear on the living room wall, and I’ll tell you about him soon. Let’s start off the bear season with Tenley’s bear stew recipe. I have tips and suggestions for cooking bear meat here in the blog.
Dutch Oven, Slow Cooker or Oven
Bear stew is a great way to start cooking bear meat. You won’t dry out the meat even if you over cook. Thanks to Tenley Skolfield and Fish River Lodge for the photo. I use a cast iron Dutch oven for bear stew. If I’m home I set it on the back corner of the wood stove and let it simmer a while, otherwise it’s in the oven or on the simmer burner on the propane stove.
Bear Stew
3 pounds bear stew meat
3 Tablespoons bacon fat
1/2 C flour
Coat the meat with flour and brown in bacon fat in the Dutch oven, or in a fry pan if you’re using a slow cooker. Remove meat and set aside. For a slow cooker, transfer the drippings from the pan into the cooker after you finish sauteing the ingredients.
1 onion, chopped
1 pound carrots
4-5 large potatoes
3 stalks of celery
Wash and cut carrots, potatoes and celery into bite size pieces. Saute onion, carrots, potatoes and celery in the bacon fat. When the onions caramelize or the bottom of the Dutch oven is coated, deglaze with the wine. NOTE: Room temp red wine. Cold liquid can crack cast iron. It’s rare but it happens.
Add:
Beef stock, enough to cover all ingredients by two inches
Meat
2 cups frozen peas
1 jar stewed tomatoes
2-3 bay leaves
Italian seasoning to taste
Instructions
Simmer until the potatoes and carrots are almost cooked. Remove the Dutch oven from the heat, and then allow the stew to set for 30 minutes while it finishes cooking. If you’d like a thicker stew you can make a roux with equal parts butter and flour. Cook the roux for five minutes, stirring constantly, to eliminate the flour taste. Stir a little roux at a time into the stew. It will take up to 15 minutes to finish thickening.
Any recipe you have for beef stew will work with bear meat. Be sure to cook bear meat thoroughly.
Ayre Cottage
Looks very interesting, food for thought!
Jill
I got my 1st bear this year and had most of it made into sausage because I wasn’t sure what to do or how to prepare it. Keep the recipes coming! I appreciate the ideas. Thank you.
Robin
Congratulations! Good for you! We had bear loin last night. I sauteed a little mild garlic in browned butter and pan fried the loin. It was tender and full of flavor. What kind of sausage do you have? I’m a sausage fanatic.