Irish Black Bear Stew

With black bear season over for many of us now have freezers full of black bear meat. I’ve heard from many followers that they are in need of some killer bear recipes. This recipe is a family favorite and rarely leaves us with left overs. So lets get into this super simple an flavorful Irish Black Bear Stew.

Irish Black Bear Stew

Ingredients:

1 pound Bear stew meat, cubed

4 cups homemade Venison stock (or store bought beef stock)

16oz Guinness or other stout style beer (or 16oz red wine)

4 large carrots, roughly chopped

1 large brown onion, sliced

2 celery stalks, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

6 potatoes, quartered

2 bay leaves

1 can 6oz tomato paste

4 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cracked pepper

¼ teaspoon salt

2 sprigs rosemary

3 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Mix flour, pepper and salt. Toss the stew meat and lightly coat, shake off excess flour and brown in skillet with 3 tablespoons butter. Lightly browning the meat helps keep the meat whole while cooking. The browning process is not meant to cook the meat but just brown the outside.
2. In Dutch oven add stock, beer or wine & tomato paste, mix together.
3. Add veggies, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic and browned stew meat
4. Bring your Dutch oven to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 5-6 hours until meat is tender.
5. If you would like to make the stew thicker take 3 tablespoons of flour and three tablespoons of water and mix until flour has dissolved, then add to stew.
6. Season stew to taste and enjoy.