Reading the topic of bear hams, and not wanting to jack the thread. Had some questions in response to some of the posts about the fat and cooking where the fat will drip away from the meat.
I have never killed or eaten bear (other than summer sausage). My wife is not really thrilled with me bringing one home, so I probably won't get after it too seriously, but you never know.
I have been into pressure canning recently and thought that would be a good way to process some of the bear meat. So the primary question would be if the meat is well trimmed is there still enough fat in the meat (like pork butt) to "taint" the meat during pressure canning? Also I have read that that the meat should be frozen for a period of time before cooking to take care of the trichinosis larvae/cysts. Wouldn't the heat/pressure of the canning process take care of that as well? As for jerky, should the meat be frozen for a period of time before drying/smoking?
Sorry for the newbie bear questions
