Author Topic: Thoughts on Bear jerky  (Read 5318 times)

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Offline Ed Brooks

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Thoughts on Bear jerky
« on: October 18, 2019, 12:38:33 pm »
I got a fawn killer off the hill this year, 280# bore, (rifle).  I’m making sausage and some steaks. We also want to make some jerky. But I don’t want to give everyone worms.
I start my brine with half gal water, two cups brown sugar ( I need to check it may be one brown sugar)and 3/4 to cup rock salt. It’ll soak overnight, It’s going in an outhouse style smoke house. Does it sound like I’m setting myself up for trouble? I’ve made a fare amount of deer and elk jerky. Any advice is welcome. Thank you for looking. Ed
It's in my blood...

Centralia WA,

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Thoughts on Bear jerky
« Reply #1 on: October 18, 2019, 06:26:35 pm »
Google the tables for time vs temperature to kill trichinosis.

This is serious stuff, you really don't wanna screw this up.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Ed Brooks

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Re: Thoughts on Bear jerky
« Reply #2 on: October 18, 2019, 09:56:51 pm »
Thank you JW
It's in my blood...

Centralia WA,

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Thoughts on Bear jerky
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2019, 10:05:52 am »
Both species of trichinosis associated with bears are incredibly hard to kill by freezing. The odds of you getting it is ridiculously low, like lightning striking you the same day you win the lottery and bumping into a Victoria's Secret catalog model that just thinks your jokes are hilarious and that she'd just dying to learn how to fletch arrows.  According to a Centers for Disease Control study that surveyed the incidence of the disease from 2008 to 2012, there were only 84 cases of trichinosis in all of America. Of those, 43 were eating wild game. That’s 43 people in a five-year period, and 30 of those 43 were in one incident. (Bear was butchered on a table where food was later served at a large party, just plain BAD food safety and lack of common sense. Some people didn't even eat the bear meat and still got it)

Cured salami is one of your options. Between the sodium chloride salts and the fermentation enzymes, the trich spores are killed. But unless you are really knowledgeable about fermentation curing of meats and salami, don't do it.  Every time vs temp table I have read indicates a minimum internal temperature of 160 degreed F and held there for at least 3-5 seconds.  Problem is most home meat thermometers have a degree of variation and really are not all that terribly accurate, AND can you guarantee EVERY nook and cranny in the cut of meat has reached the necessary temperature?  For a steak, that is past medium, and would just be sad (more about that later). But for jerky, I don't think it is gonna be a great problem.  You could smoke at a far lower temp for a longer time and then at the very end yank the temp really high for the coup de grace.

Back to the steaks and wanting them pink, juicy, tender and still not laced with little parasites that are going to do all they can to kill me.....sous vide.  That's French for "under vacuum" because the food is sealed in vacuum bags and immersed in a water bath cooking machine that holds the water at a very specific temperature and circulates the water around the bagged meat (or whatever you are cooking).  You can literally hold the steaks at 128 degrees for one hour plus, killing the trich, then toss them in a smoking hot cast iron pan for a quick sear on each side for 30 seconds for a perfect and perfectly safe rare bear steak.
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Thoughts on Bear jerky
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2019, 05:08:08 pm »
On the Meat Eater outdoor show Steven Rinella killed a bear and partially cooked some of the meat for his crew over a campfire. a few months later they all got really sick and it took a while to find the cause. When the bear meat was tested the number of trichinosis worms in a small portion was astronomical, 50K +.

They went through the standard worm treatment and all were cured. One thing I didn't know that if you contract trichinosis you can kill the worms but the eggs encased in a calcium cyst will always be in your body. If cannibal eats your flesh their stomach acid will dissolve the cysts and release the eggs in their system for another round.

A quote "After 1 week, the females release larvae that migrate to the striated muscles where they encyst " "Encystment is completed in 4 to 5 weeks and the encysted larvae may remain viable for several years. Ingestion of the encysted larvae perpetuates the cycle."

Trichinellosis is acquired by ingesting meat containing cysts (encysted larvae) of Trichinella. After exposure to gastric acid and pepsin, the larvae are released from the cysts and invade the small bowel mucosa where they develop into adult worms. 

Offline Ed Brooks

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Re: Thoughts on Bear jerky
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2019, 08:36:47 pm »
Thank you guys, for the information. I opted to make a few steaks and a bunch of sausage. Turned out really good, and it gets cooked :)  . I’m going to stick to deer and elk for my jerky, I have too many little ones that will be eating it. Ed
It's in my blood...

Centralia WA,