BEAR MINCE
If you can find bear mince – buy it! Mince is probably the best way of first encountering game, especially bear. It tastes great, it’s easy to cook and you get a lot of flavor for your money. And it’s always more exciting to be eating bear than it is to be eating minced beef.
Keep in mind
Salt the mince at last an hour before making your mixture so it will bind in liquid and gain the right consistency. Salt is a powerful binding agent, if you leave it to work for a while, you won’t need to add any egg.
If you’ve got hold of frozen bear mince, defrost it quickly in a bag under running water as that way it keeps its flavor and consistency better.
How to cook bear mince
In principle you can do everything with bear mince that you do with ordinary mince such as beef or lamb. The difference is the gamey flavor and the great feeling that you’re eating a natural, sustainable meat.
The basics for beef burgers and meatballs made from game mince:
- Salt the mince in advance, to retain flavor and bind in water.
- Add to the juiciness and sweetness with fried/roasted/baked onion.
- Leave the mince to rest for an hour before shaping it into burgers, faggots or meatballs.
- Fry in a mixture of oil and butter.
- Test with a thermometer if you have one and aim for 59-61°C*.
You’ll find more ideas for cooking game under cooking game.
* The advice is that bear meat should be heated to over 65°C. But if you’re sure it’s been tested for trichinosis, you can cook at a lower temperature for a much juicier and tastier result.
The classic
Bear meatballs and a creamy sauce with redcurrant jelly[KL2] .
