Hunting & Cooking: Pulled Bear Sliders with Plum Harissa Barbecue Sauce

The jigsaw puzzle of cooking with fruit is a difficult one to construct. Figuring out how to connect the taste of sweet with savory, salty, spicy, or smoky and produce a complete, well-rounded picture of the dish takes research, a little trial and error, and creativity. 

The first dish that comes to mind when I see a piece of fruit, whether it’s a stone fruit like a peach or a berry, is pie. My gut reaction to fruit is that it belongs in a sugary dish to satisfy a sweet-tooth craving. When I want to create a savory dish, like these sliders, I have to wrap my mind around using the fruit’s decadent flavor to enhance savoriness or other tastes within the dish, instead of having the dish highlight the sweetness. 

The first step I take when working with an ingredient I consider the star of the show is to research the item in “The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity,” by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg.

Gifted the book a few years ago, I can’t imagine how I cooked before being able to reference this book. It contains hundreds of ingredients, from herbs and spices to vegetables and fruits as well as meats and seasonings, and guides the reader through a list of complimentary ingredients designed to coax the most flavor benefit from the core of the ingredients to the heart of the dish.

The book does more than create pairs of ingredients to include in a dish. Instead of simply thinking of ingredients that have an affinity for each other, like chocolate and peanut butter or pineapple and coconut, the book suggests how to effectively work with ingredients to intensify and deepen the flavor complexities of a dish.

For these bear sliders, I looked up plums to see how to create an appealing flash of sweet within a savory dish, and the book suggested using vinegar and allspice. I also looked at different spicy peppers and noticed the sweetness of jicama worked in tandem with the heat. The book assisted me in creating a more well-rounded flavor profile for my dish and also broadened my ingredient palate. 

Ingredients Pulled Bear

Serving Size: 6 servings

Time to make: 6 Hours

• 1 1/2 to 2-pounds chunk bear meat
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• Slider buns

Ingredients for Jicama Cabbage Slaw

• 1 head of purple cabbage, shredded
• 1 large jicama, shredded
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey

Ingredients Plum Harissa Barbecue Sauce

• 1 and 1/2 cup diced red plums
• 2 tablespoons harissa paste
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions Pulled Bear

1. To a large crockpot, add the chunk of bear meat and two cups of vegetable stock.
2. Set the crockpot on high for 6 hours. Cover meat and allow to slow cook for an entire 6 hours.
3. Once the meat is fork-tender and easily pulled apart, use two forks to shred the meat and set aside.

1. For the Plum Harissa Barbecue sauce, place a medium-sized saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the diced plums, harissa paste, molasses, and apple cider vinegar to the pan. Cook for 10 minutes to break down the plums.
2. Season the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, allspice, tomato paste, and ketchup. Allow to cook, uncovered, for an additional 5 minutes.
3. Add sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. The sweetness of the plums can affect the amount of sugar needed, but it should end up around a tablespoon. 
4. Add the pulled bear to the finished sauce and keep warm over low heat.

Instructions for Jicama Cabbage Slaw and Plating

1. Use a food processor to shred the medium-size head of purple cabbage and the jicama. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cup of yogurt with the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, and vinegar.
3. Season the sauce with celery seed, garlic salt, Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoon of honey. Mix well.
4. Add in the shredded cabbage and jicama.
5. To plate, add a heaping spoonful of plum harissa pulled bear to a slider bun, and top with another spoonful of the jicama and cabbage slaw. Enjoy!!!