Video: How to Make Bear Grease

The story of bear oil (or bear grease, as I like to call it) is rich with folklore. Some say it can cure baldness and arthritis. Others say you can use it to forecast the weather. Still more people have more practical applications like using it for cooking, conditioning leather, and preserving metal.

My favorite way to use bear grease is pan-frying meats and veggies because it burns clean and has a high smoke point. It can also be used when baking pastries and breads. Consider it the healthy alternative to hydrogenated oils like vegetable, canola, peanut, and corn.

But the thing I like best about rendering bear fat is that I’m utilizing as much of the animal as possible. Bear hunters specifically have the opportunity to use a larger portion of a carcass than any other big game animal. What other critter do we eat the meat, render the fat, and tan the hide? My point is this: Bear grease is good stuff and represents the spirit of the modern hunter. We want to be good stewards and use as much as we can while also tipping our hat to the past.