Friday, February 22, 2008

OK, Teddy, it's chow down time!

A short while ago, I mentioned that a Finnish friend was bringing over a load of bear meat and other Scandinavian goodies. Well, here they are!


We have (sorta clockwise from top-left-ish):
  • Diced bear meat (saute and eat with potatoes)
  • Sliced bear meat (put on bread and eat with pickles)
  • Bear salami (slice thinly and eat with ice cold vodka)
  • Bear stew (heat & eat)
  • Bear soup (add cream, optional wine, heat & eat with bread)
  • Smoked reindeer salami (slice and eat with beer)
  • Tinned moose (not sure what to do with this)
  • Bear pate (tempting to make beef wellingtons with this)
  • Potted bear (eat with cheese)
This bear comes with a history and the paperwork to prove it. All the meat comes from a single bear. He was shot near Kuusamo in Northern Finland on January 31. Apparently he was a tough bastard. They shot him once, but he ran off, so they shot him again through the lungs. He still didn't die, so they had to call in some marksmen to finish him off.

(Sorry if you didn't want to know the gory details, but that's what eating real wild animals involves. I find there's something deeply atavistic about knowing where meat comes from, and I think all carnivores should appreciate that.)

Anyway, I'll let you know how it comes out!

2 comments:

Kate Fosk said...

I guess you never know what the next meal will be when you have a friend with a gun and his own canning machine :)

Matt Kelland said...

Had the salamis shortly after posting this. Bear was nice, though a bit greasy, smelt of Peperami, and very strong. Reindeer was very dark, very tasty, but I think I'd have preferred it in a stew rather than a salami. However, one of them did something uncomfortable to my digestive system, which wasn't so good.