So after hanging the bear in a walk in for about 10 days I broke it down. Backstraps were packaged and frozen and the rear quarters I made two decent sized hams and took the meat from the shanks and front shoulders and pieced it out for sausage and jerky. The hams were a crapload of work. One I made for a buddy who has never had bear and the one that let me use his walk in cooler. The other I cooked today. The recipe I used came from The Meateater cookbook.

So I started brining the hams 9 days ago. Everyday I would pull them out and re-inject the salt brine. A few days ago I pulled the one and froze it for my buddy and got around to smoking mine today along with grilling up a backstrap. Needless to say I was slightly concerned about trichinosis so I made sure my cooks reached an internal temperature of 165 Everything I read for the hams said for the best eating to trim as much fat, silverskin and tendon as possible. As I did that different muscles seemed to be only hanging by a thread so I decided to truss the ham to make sure it stayed together for the cook.

I placed it in the smoker this morning at 9am. First 2 hours at 200 on high smoke. After two hours i bumped the temp up to 250 and starting at noon I basted a glaze of maple syrup, apricot jelly, cinnamon and paprika on the ham. To start the cook I placed 3 meat probes in what seemed to be the deepest meat areas and to the bone. After 2 hours 1 of the 3 meat probes registered about 12 degrees cooler than the others so I pulled the others and used the lower one as my gauge for reaching temp.

For the last 3 hours every 30 minutes I basted the glaze on the ham. As it was 20 degrees from finishing I threw a seasoned chunk of backstrap on with it and tried timing the two pieces to finish around the same time. Ham hit temp and came of to rest and I threw the back strap on the sear box grill and finished it to temp.

I have to say there is something beautiful about a bone in ham. For me it means that much more because I was responsible for the harvest and took it literally from the field to my table. I understand it is not for everyone and it is a crapload of work. But the end results for me were that much more satisfying.

The backstrap cooked to 165 being well done, I expected it to be tough and dry, but it was not. It was definitely not a med rare steak, but for having to ensure no trich it was pretty darn good. My wife and SIL who were somewhat hesitant, and all my kids and nephews, absolutely loved the bear meat. I was very pleasantly surprised. To me it had no gamey taste at all. Being super critical of myself the ham was a touch too salty, likely brined for a few too many days and did not rinse well enough before smoking. If you ever have had a desire to get out and see what hunting and fishing is all about and "produce" you own meat, identify your hurdles and get out in the field.




Backstrap


A famous quote by M.R. James sums up beautifully my feelings regarding the hunt and harvest of wild game.

“Despite our ever-changing, ever-indignant world with its growing ignorance of and indifference to the ways of the wild, I remain a predator, pitying those who revel in artificiality and synthetic success while regarding me and my kind as relics of a time and place no longer valued or understood. I stalk a real world of dark wood and tall grass stirred by a restless wind blowing across sunlit water and beneath star-strewn sky. And on those occasions when I choose to kill, to claim some small part of nature’s bounty for my own, I do so by choice, quickly with the learned efficiency of a skilled hunter. Further, in my heart and mind, I know the truth and make no apologies for my actions or my place in time.

Others around me may opt to eat only plants, nuts and fruits. Still others may employ faceless strangers to procure their meats, their leather, their feathers, and all those niceties and necessities of life. Such is their right, of course, and I wish them well. All I ask in return is no one begrudge me – and all of us who may answer the primordial stirrings within our hunter’s souls – my right to do some of these things myself.” – M.R. James