Grin & Bear it.....

Well Sir...yesterday a good huntin mate of mine gave me a couple pounds of young bear meat...which my wife and I fully intend on devouring Saturday evening....

Here be the recipe fer all you Bear hunters or adventurous gourmet types...

Braised Bear with Sweet Potaters

2-4 pounds of Bear meat cut into 2 inch cubes
1 quart of Buttermilk for marinading only.

3 Cloves of Garlic, minced
1 Medium Onion, minced
3 stalks of Celery & leaves, chopped
6 raw Sweet Potaters, sliced in half lengthwise.
Salt & Pepper to taste
Bacon Drippins

First off, on the day before yur going to prepare and cook the bear meat, marinade it over night in Buttermilk. This will tenderize the meat naturally and remove much of the gamy flavors. After marinading, discard all the marinade and pat dry yur meat with paper towels. Don't worry, if'n yur like me and intensely dislike the taste of Buttermilk, you won't taste it at all.

Brown meat in the bacon drippins. Put in a roasting pan. Add 1/2 cup of water, Garlic, onion, and celery. Cover and cook in a 350 degree oven. Add water as needed during the cooking process. The cooking time will depend on the age of the animal ( I hope ya asked him/her how old it was afore ya done shot it). A young Bear is more tender and cooks to tenderness quicker.

When meat is tender, add the sweet taters and more water if necessary. Cover and cook until the taters and meat are done to yur likin.....Serve hot with some good cornbread.....

Now Sir...just a side note. My lovely wife is a New York city woman, born & raised. When she first moved up here to upstate New York with me 41 years ago she completely detested the idear of eating anything that didn't come from your friendly local neighborhood grocer. To show y'all how good wild game can be...now she absolutely loves most wild game and fish, the only exception being Bass cause of their relatively heavy fish taste....so this might give ya an idear how tasty this above meal actually is....ENJOY !!!