I use it mainly for game meat grinding and occasionally for sausage making. Mine is a #8 Grinder with only 1/3 HP. Most are now 1/2 HP and only cost around $375 dollars for many years of worry free grinding. I have done three moose, a dozen deer, four wild boars and a bear and it still looks new.
What makes this grinder so great is the quality stainless steel grinder parts and it sets up really fast.
I’m thinkin’; “Get the processing/butchering done as soon as possible.” Accordingly, I pulled my briefly frozen bear leg meat to thaw. Just enough thaw to begin cutting and processing.
To read about my September 9th hunt, look back four articles or so to my hunt with Foggy Mountain Guide Service. It was an adventure in the deep woods of Northern Maine.
Onward to processing meat and meal ideas…
Meat Process Tools:
Sharp Knives
Large Cutting Board
Salt for periodic cutting board sanitizing if you stop for more than 1 hour or so.
Clear large plastic bags
Vacuum sealer and quart seal bags
Step 1
Cut fat from leg.
Step 2
Remove silverskin
Step 3
Cut and remove leg calf meat from bone and bag it in large bags kept in your fridge. I will make burger with this later.
Step 4
Debone shoulder and rump leg meat. I found front legs and shoulder blades hard to debone so I boiled meat off. Rear rump leg meat is easier to debone.
Place bulk cuts of leg meat in large bags in the fridge as you go. I label the bags stew, steak, roast, backstrap, for burger, and trash meat.
Below backstrap cut for roasts.
Later pull bags from the fridge for making finish cuts, vacuum seal label and freeze.
Grinding Burger
I use 20% pork butt to add to the meat. The grind is done in two stages; rough and finish. Looks Great.
The key to cooking bear meat is to use a meat thermometer to ensure the meat reaches an internal temperature of 160ºF or more to destroy Trichinosis. Just like we did with pork some years back.
For tenderness, I found that stewing the meat at a slow boil for three to four hours with salt, pepper, thyme and bay leaf and veggie mirepoix (don’t forget the garlic) until tender produced very flavorful meat. To speed this up, I have used a pressure cooker in the past as well.
I toss out the mirepoix and save the cooked juice with the meat and freeze it in pint containers.
Stewed tender meat that has been cooked well beyond 160F can be used in a variety of dishes such as my signature bear stew with vegetables and gravy below.
I rave about the tender mouth feel of stewed bear meat.
Chopped stewed meat makes a great lunch soup with noodles, peas, carrots and beef broth or beef bouillon.
We use it for our spiced up bear tacos.
You can use the stewed meat to make a bear stroganoff too over noodles and so much more.
The ground burger raw meat with pork can make a mouth watering meatloaf or chili as long as the cooked meat hits the 160F. The best way to ensure that the right temperature is reached is to either measure temperature or cook/boil/stew/bake it for some time.
I hope this article was helpful in creating your own adventure in the woods and your cheffing in the kitchen.
It is a chilly day and nearly October. I was craving some hot soup for lunch.
I recalled freezing pint containers of stewed Maine bear meat in a beef stock base a few weeks ago.
Reflecting that I wisely cut meat off the bones then boiled the remaining meat laden bear leg bones in a beef and mirepoix stock a few weeks ago.
Ingredients:
1 pint frozen previously stewed bear meat in beef broth.
5 or 6 cups beef broth or beef bouillon broth.
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1 cup fine egg noodles
1 cup thin sliced fresh white mushrooms.
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
Salt and Pepper to taste.
In a 4 quart pot, boil beef broth with frozen previously cooked bear meat and frozen peas and carrots. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer till noodles are done. Taste and adjust as you like. Serve hot with a crust of bread or toast. Wow!
I found the bear meat very tender and very flavorful with NO hint of wild.
There are official sources that estimate one million black bears (Ursus americanus) are living in North America. Not only are they thriving, they are growing and extending their ranges into towns that had few or none.
Some hunters will simply not hunt them because they consider bear meat second to venison. The truth is, when venison is hard to get, bear meat begins to rise. And surprisingly, when dressed quickly and cooked properly, bear is first rate in a stew or roast, or as burger or sausage.
In Maine, biologists estimate the population of 35,000 or more. In New Hampshire there are estimates of 5600 bears, Massachusetts estimates 5000 bears, Vermont estimates 8500 bears. And Growing! Thats, over 50,000 bears just in those 4 states. A bears lifespan can be upwards of 15 to 20 years. Old male bears will tip the scale over 400 pounds and upwards of over 600 pounds. Canada has perhaps very old black bears that exceed 400 pounds regularly.
Canada is still very wild.
Bears are much like deer, they are crepuscular, meaning active in early morning and at dusk. Bears in wild away from humans often have diets of berries, grass, and insects but will eat meat and fish whenever available from carrion, fawns, moose, beaver and other wild young.
In the New England fall, bears are fat and if harvested at the end of Berry season, they have gorged on blueberries, raspberries and the like.
Bear meat at that time is quality to eat provided the meat reaches internal cooking temperatures of 160F or greater. Stewing bear meat at a slow boil both tenderizes the meat and kills bacteria and any parasites such as Trichinella (historically found in pork).
And the fat is abundant to render for use in making pastry, soap, candles, waterproofing and lubrication.
In the spring, fat is gone but spring bears are lean and eat lots of grass. Experts say bear fur is at its best in the spring. Canada hunts in spring.
I am hoping my fall Maine black bear hunt this September brings me at least an opportunity if not a nice fat bear. I will be filming, photographing and writing too.
Hunting can be done with bow, pistol, rifle, muzzleloader and crossbow. Check regulations first.
Seal flipper meat is a product of the Newfoundland and Labrador Province’s winter seal harvest. The meat is sold in St John’s in spring. My hunting friend gave me some to try. I made a delicious stew below.
If the locals eat it, I’ll eat it.
The key to most wild game meat is to cook it till tender. On the stovetop, I removed any fat (as recommended) and cut off some chunks and browned the flour coated meat in Olive Oil and bacon fat below.
Using a Dutch oven, I then simmered/boiled the flippers in beef stock to cover for over 2 hours. I added small amounts of salt, pepper, tyme, savory, onion and garlic powder along with two whole carrots, and a bit more bacon fat. And 1/8th cup Screech (Newfie Rum)
The meat was falling apart off the bone. I tried the meat right then, it was delicious and tender.
In a separate pot I boiled onions and carrots in beef stock and added the meat I pulled off along with some of the rich liquid from the Dutch Oven. I baked some whole little potato from the “Little Potato Company” and added some to the stew.
I also thickened the stew with some flour.
OMG so good!
The two flipper stew will serve 4 to 6. Serve hot with fresh bread and butter and a few pork fat scrunchions, on the side, if you have them below.
I have been using Sous Vide water baths for cooking game meat to a specific internal temperature. Below is the Sous Vide tool to heat water and food to exact temperatures.
For example; my venison can be SV’d to 125F then sear on a grill for perfect rare venison. But now cooking bear meat to medium rare? How is that possible?
Bear meat, like pork has the possibility of containing Trichinella, thus for years, federal guidelines for cooking are at much higher internal temperatures usually 160ºF and higher.
I read an article in Bear Hunting Magazine where the author now eats his black bear meat at 140ºF after using a Sous Vide (time and temperature technique in a water bath) perfected by Federal Government Food Safety Guidelines below to kill parasites like wild game born trichinella. See Table A1 for time and temperature in the website below to kill Trich..
I have not tried the Sous Vide method for Bear meat.
When in doubt cook to at least 160ºF internal temp. like in a stew. I pressure cook my bear for stew.
Note; Steve Rinella of Meateater fame made a serious field cooking mistake in 2011 with Alaskan black bear meat. He cooked it over an outdoor fire but was not sure of its internal temperature. He and his hunt party ate it and came down with Trichinosis infection and all had to take antibiotics. It was no fun!
I don’t know what Steve was thinking but he already knew of the parasite issue?
He continues his bear hunts and eating bear but perhaps learned a very important cooking survival lesson.
If you have no way to accurately measure internal grilled bear meat temperature in the field, don’t eat it.
Many Indigenous people of North America boiled or stewed bear meat. A few tribes roasted it on a spit but boiling long enough to stew and tenderize will kill both bacteria and parasites. See website below.
Yup! Lets go catch a New Hampshire Lakes Region bred fish or two and cook em’ up.
There are fish species that make great table fare besides trout and salmon. And some fish species you never heard of or perhaps mistaken for another. I put a night-crawler on a hook and cast it 20 feet from shore. In just seconds, I caught a few tiny yellow perch and recasted in the same spot. And my rod bent sharply. The 12 inch fish fought mightily but I pulled it to shore. Oh, I saw that it was a warm water species that is plentiful in New Hampshire lakes and rivers.
Some call it a sucker or whitefish but it is really a giant minnow called a “Fallfish” Genus Species Semotilus corporalis. And it is very edible but not a sought after target species.
You wont find it listed in the NH Freshwater Guide.
It is a minnow that can grow to 20 inches! Good fighter too! As table fare goes, it is very edible but by many, not considered a target species. I caught several in the Androscoggin river as a boy.
I had fun wrangling this fish!
So what… if its not high on the “elite” fish list.
I filleted these and removed the scaly skin and pan fried coated with flour salt/pepper/garlic. Today with folks smoking meats/ fish on grills, like my Traeger, with seafood rubs, this fish is a keeper by those who know how to chef/cook in the wild.
Another recipe is to make Fish Cakes with this fish or with Yellow Perch. And I did…
The meat of perch is delicious and holds together well. I chose to make fish cakes. I sauteed the fish in a shallow pan and mashed the cooked fillets with mashed potato, salt/pepper/herbs/garlic. I mixed in a raw egg and bread crumbs. I made fish cakes and added more fine bread crumbs and parsley to coat and fried to a golden crust. I created a remoulade sauce as a condiment but ketchup works too. Wow!
In the future, I intend to smoke some of these fish too.
As a hunter and often household chef, I discovered this delicious sauce with the mention by Chef Andrew Zimmern, and later recipes from Chef Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network.
If you enjoy dipping sauces especially for seafood and wild game you might want to try making Remoulade Sauce for dipping shrimp or as a spread on game meat and even sandwiches.
I am making shrimp finger food hors d’oeuvres for our family Thanksgiving dinner. Ingredients can be found in most households, such as; mayonnaise, lemon juice, onion, celery, garlic, horseradish, mustard, ketchup, parsley salt and pepper.
There is a Cajun Remoulade version that uses creole spices that is delightful.
Some remoulade recipes involve the use of food processors and vegetable oil but you don’t need one unless you have one at hand. Look for the mayonnaise base recipes for simplicity.
Many hunting families have been freezing wild game for a century. But what if you lose power? What if your meat is tough? Some families “hot can” or “hot pack” meat too. What advantages do you have if you “pressure can” or “Hot Pack” some of your game meat?
The major reason to hot pressure-can aka “hot pack” meat is that it does not need a freezer or electricity, tenderizes meat substantially and can be consumed right from the jar.
Most everyone uses a Ball Mason Jar because the jars are cost effective and proven. When canning is complete (often takes 90 minutes) and cool the lid becomes vacuum sealed during cooling.
This is essential to preserve and seal the meat from bacterial growth.
Stored in a cool dry area, this food can be stored for 2 to 5 years as long as the vacuum seal is maintained.
“Best practices” followed from canning books like this one, will eliminate losing the seal and your meat to spoilage.
I began hot canning because I had many pounds of tougher cuts of meat that gathering in my freezer. And wanted to can some chicken breast for fast meals like chicken noodle soup, pot pies, and chicken salad.
Hot Canning allows me to tenderize the meat and add spices and vegetables. I also can game burger and chicken breast.
I use this T-Fal canner ($155 dollars) among many other models. A great Christmas gift too! It takes the mystery and fear out of hot canning can get you to the next step with saving food cost and canning your game meat and poultry too.
If your like my family, we pull the best wild game cuts of meat like backstrap and steak or sausage from our freezer first. This often leaves tougher cuts to languish or worse, get buried in our freezer. I have gathered pounds of these harder-to-use-cuts like stew meat and burger. I purchased the hot pressure canner a few years ago, and am thrilled with its ability to tenderize cuts and add herbs and spice to them for sumptuous flavor enhancement, all in Ball Mason jars.
The result is tender moose, venison, and wild boar stew meat and burger that is now instantly ready for stroganoff, and burger for Shepherds Pie, Chili and dozens of soup recipes like Moose, Venison, and Duck, Goose, Chicken Noodle Soup. Further, that we find chicken breast on sale and hot-can or raw-can it in chunks too.
My wife Susan and I have been vacuum freezing game meat for years. In October 2019 we put 300 pounds of Moose and 150 pounds of wild boar in the freezer. In 2021 we learned the hot-canning method used by many hunting families for stews and such in glass Ball Jars.
If you enjoy eating the game you hunt and like to preserve and tenderize your meat, read on.
We processed and vacuum sealed all the meat at home.
In 2019, we expected large summer 2020 BBQ gatherings, so we made burger patties and put large numbers of patties in vac bags.
And as we all know, COVID changes our lives forever. We still had lots of frozen moose burger and stew meat. What to do?
Part of my reason to continue to hot can was that my stew meat came out-of-the-jar so tender that I could cut it with a fork. And it cuts down mealtime prep. to minutes. Wow!
For stews, I then cooked/steamed or quickly pressure cooked fresh carrots, potato, onion, celery etc., then added the hot canned stew meat. I used the juices to make a flour gravy adding herbs, salt and pepper. Sooo Delicious! Yes you can “can” your veggies too.
This month, October 2022, I booked another Newfoundland Moose hunt as part of my bucket list. What to do with another 300 pounds of moose meat? I still had 20 or so pounds of that frozen moose burger I wrote about at the beginning of this article?
I decided to hot-can the frozen game burger too, like all those patties we froze plus all the burger intended for pasta sauces. The frozen burger would have be ok for longer freezer storage but the meat became so buried in the freezer making it very hard to find.
Accordingly, I gathered all the frozen moose burger, about 20 pounds and hot canned it for use in my delicious pasta sauces, “shepherds pie”, chili recipes, biscuits and gravy, meat pies, meat tacos, mince meat pie, and so much more. Hungry yet? I sure am!
I used a T-fal Pressure Canner below with Pressure Control, 22 Quart volume. But you can use any large canner. You will need Ball jars and lids.
There are other brands and styles, but I like this one because it is so easy to use.
T-fal Pressure Canner
I thawed the moose in large pots meat of cold water. Here is a basic recipe video.
I highly recommend purchasing a canning book like this one below, to become educated for safety and have delicious recipes.
In the past year 2021, I successfully hot canned venison, wild boar, chicken breast, moose and now moose burger.
After canning, you can label like this above with Avery labels.
