We just got back from an smoke escape to Washington. The air quality was quite a bit better, still not great. It was a good excuse to visit my sister and her family which we only see a couple times a year because of distance.

Before all of this wildfire madness began, my neighbors game me a little bear to try. It was my first time that I can remember. So, I wanted to cook it in a way that I could taste it, without a lot of sauce or covering spice. Steven Rinella has been said that pioneers moving west would eat deer and elk because they were plentiful, but they really preferred bear.

One other thing to note, bear is a carrier of trichinosis, the same parasite the can strike in undercooked pork. I don’t know how prevalent it is, but I do think that it is something you don’t want to have. Make sure that your meat is cooked to at least 150 deg F or more to eliminate the risk.

I decided to make some buttermilk biscuits, use up some left over gravy, fry up the bear meat with salt and pepper and some fried apples for breakfast. Even though I put the gravy on the biscuits, I put the meat to the side as to keep it separate.

My best description is that it tastes like part beef, part pork. There is an irony tint like you get from liver, but it was very faint and mild. No where near what liver is like. These cuts seemed to be a bit tougher, I am not sure what part of the animal they were, but I would liken them to tri-tip or sirloin in consistency.

I thanked my neighbor and told them about my experience. He gave me a pound of ground bear and ground venison as a result. I want to save that for something special.