Braised Bear Steaks

This was my first time eating bear.  Gwen's brother shot a bear earlier this year and was nice enough to share some meat with us.

Yield: 2 large steaks w/ vegetables

Ingredients

• Marinade
• 3/8 cup soy sauce
• 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 tsp red curry powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 bear steaks, 0.75 lb each
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 cup beef stock
• Additional beef stock as needed
• Vegetables
• 1 large red onion, cut in half and then quartered
• red onions
• 1 lb. baby carrots
• Celery stalks

Directions

1. Combine all the marinade ingredients and mix well.  Place the bear steaks in a zip-top bag with the marinade and let stand in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Heat a dutch oven on the stovetop.  Remove the bear meat from the marinade, discard the marinade, and sear each side of the steaks in the dutch oven, one steak at a time. Remove the steaks from the dutch oven and set aside.
3. Add the red wine and beef stock to the pot and deglaze all of the drippings and tasty gunk.  Scraping with a wooden spoon, boil the liquids and then reduce heat and simmer until reduced by half.
4. Add the steaks back in to the dutch oven.  They liquid should be 1/3 of the way up the side of the meat.  You can add more beef stock or wine if necessary.  Cover and bake at 225°F for 45 minutes, flipping once.
5. Add the vegetables and return to the oven.  Continue baking for another hour, until the vegetables and meat are tender.
• When cooking wild game, it's important to cook it completely because you never know what sicknesses the animal may have had.  While rare to get something like trichinosis, it's better to not chance it.
• Meat should reach 160°F for 3 minutes before consumption.
6. Thicken the juices with a bit of flour and a whisk or investion blender to make into a gravy.
7. Serve the steaks with vegetables and gravy.

Adapted from Food.com, Hunting Washington, and ABC News.