Bear Bolognese

You can use any gorund meat, but this is one of the ways I eat bear. I find it good because it kills the Waaahhhld taste of a mature boar, but still makes it so you know you arent’ eating beef.

You should grind a bit of pork into your bear, for a bit of fat content.

5-6 lbs ground bear
3 onions
20 cloves of garlic (make your life easier and buy pree peeled stuff)
2 TBSP cracked chilies
4 TBSP Italian seaosning, or equivilant of basil oregano, thyme, rosemary etc
2.5 TBSP sea salt (or use the regular salt- I only use sea salt these days)
1 TBSP black pepper
5 28oz tins of GOOD whole plum tomatoes. Italian plum tomatoes are usually the best, but there are a few Canadian/USA brands that are okay, too. Make sure they are PLUM tomatoes, not just tomatoes.
Olive oil
2 cups red wine

1. Heat oil in a large pot

2. Brown your meat. Remove meat from pot, set aside. Drain any fat. Don’t burn the bottom of the pot.

3. Chop your onions fairly small. Slice your garlic very thinly. Like THIN…

4. Add some more oil to the pot, turn it to medium heat and sweat your onions. When onions are pretty soft, add the garlic, and cook until soft. You can get this stuff a little brown but not dark brown.

5. Add all the seasonings, and cook toehter for awhile. Sweating the seasonings like this will release all the oils int hem, for more flavour. Deglaze with the wine, and cook for a few minutes to reduce.

6. Add the meat, and the tomatoes. Use a potato masher or somehting similar to smash up all the tomatoes and break up the meat chunks.

7. Simmer together for a couple of hours, and you are done. Check the seasoning, and add more of whatever you like.

Serve with good pasta, or over rice if you want.

Submitted by Gatehouse