How to make heart?
General Topic
What's your favourite ways to make heart? I kept one and was wondering what the heck I should do with it. It's a good chunk of meat.
I dice it up into 1/2" chunks, sometimes smaller, then fry it in Worcestire sauce and butter. My girls would fight over it, preferred it over candy.
leave whole and slice it 1/4" thick. bread with seasoned flour and fry.
I was skeptical to try it at first but my buddy swore by it. He finally made it for me and I am now upset with how many hearts I have simply left for the coyotes. He prepared it very simply. He cleaned it out with cold water, then diced it up into 1/2" chunks. He then fried up some onions and when they were close to done, he added the heart, added some salt and pepper and served it. It was amazing!
Does it taste like regular meat or liver ?? I can't stand liver.
I also slice, flour and fry. Awesome. W also just boil them, then slice for hot sandwiches with butter. Little mustard or horseradish. great. We've even made guys go back to the gut pile when they forget it!
The flavor is mild, the texture is a little rubbery. NOT at all like liver IMO.
I’m not a liver fan but I love heart. I like it sliced thin with a little bit of garlic fried in olive oil fresh off the animal
Edit; I don't overcook it...about med rare. Its not all that chewy right off the animal [within 12 hrs] before the proteins have a chance to change the texture.
This is my go to for elk and deer heart. Everyone I have served this to has loved it. Mild flavor and great texture. I have started to enjoy it more than tenderloin (maybe). This recipe is Peruvian and traditionally done with beef hearts, but works great with deer and elk. I think Hank Shaw has an anticuchos recipe in his recent book "Buck, Buck, Moose".
If this seems too extravagant, I highly recommend marinating with whatever you love and grilling on a stick.
http://perudelights.com/anticuchos-cows-heart-kebabs-flavor-on-a-stick/
Is it something you could simply wash out and vacuum seal till later or better cooked fresh. Has anyone put it on the smoker and if so how did it turn out? If it is a rubbery texture it may get tough doing a low and slow cook.
First, I cut it in 1/4" slices and remove the arteries. I soak it in milk in the fridge for about 12 hours... I cook up some bacon and then fry some onions and potatoes up and then use the remainder of the bacon grease with a teaspoon of garlic and fry it up until golden brown I don't drain off any juices. Absolutely Nothing Better!
We just boil ours, slice, and eat with a little mustard. This is the traditional butchering snack in our house. The heart boils while we skin and quarter. Then cools while we bone and package. After cleaning up, we have our snack with our favorite dark beverage.
I'd be willing to try another recipe, but this one is a "no-hands" simple fix while we butcher.
I always just cored mine cut in half then soaked in my favorite steak marinade and grilled. Some great ideas here going to have to try some new recipes.
I vacuum sealed and froze a moose heart. So I've got like 10 pounds waiting for a good idea :) Some of these sound excellent.
X-man X2.. just throw it in a small pot of water and bring to a low boil for an hour. Slice and make sandwiches with spicy mustard and maybe spread a little horseradish for a bit more kick. Super simple.
I wonder if you could make chislic out of it?
I really like the heart. I just cut the fat off, slice 1/2" and fry, with onions if I have any. My wife doesn't care for it but my son likes it. Sometimes I bring it to work and share with co-workers, most of them like it too. I leave the liver for the scavengers.
Million dollar question...how do you get it out doing the gutless?
At the bear camps I cook the heart first thing and have to talk guys into eating it. I may even have to challenge their manhood or ask they will pee sitting down the rest of their life but once they try it they agree, it's great. Fry it rare like good steak. It stands on its own.
Don't need to spill the guts getting the heart out of the chest cavity.
Soaking in buttermilk prior to frying is good too.
Heart tacos: Clean the heart & slice. Sauté with onions and olive oil. I like to go with soft flour shells, cheese & a little salsa. It has very little liver taste. I almost always take these Ingredients to camp just for the heart. Eat and enjoy!
Ucsdryder. I take it out after all the meat is removed. Just slice open the rib cage and you can get to it to cut it out. I do it after i remove the meat in case I slip and cut a gut.
Rinse it of any clots.....slice it....put it in a pan with oil, salt, butter and Onions and that`s it. Don`t over think the deal.
"Million dollar question...how do you get it out doing the gutless?"
Slice down each side of one rib from spine to sternum. You can cut the cartilage at the bottom of the rib by the sternum and then lift the rib like a car trunk. Reach in, cut the pericardium open, grab the heart and cut the great vessels off the top. Easy peasy.
For cooking:
Batter: 1 cup flour, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1 cup beer.
Slice the heart from the top down 1/4 inch thick.
Marinate for 20-120 minutes in olive oil, fresh rosemary, crushed fresh garlic, and salt. Add red pepper if you like that sort of thing and aren't serving it to kids.
Dip in the batter. Fry on cast-iron skillet in butter, bacon grease, or both. Resist the temptation to overcook. Only takes 2-3 minutes on a very hot skillet. You can also deep fry. Just enough to harden the batter. You want the meat mostly uncooked.
Serve with horseraddish.
Also good served with Tabasco sprinkled on top and dipped in ranch.
If you like kidney or rocky mountain oysters, this recipe works for that too.
I like the sounds of DarrylDunsloppy's I'll have to give that a try. I think it's a tricky piece of meat that's easy to overcook and has the potential to turn out too rubbery. But this year was great. I cut off the top where all the plumbing connects and butterflied it open and removed the inner wall. Then gave it a generous rub with our favorite seasoning and seared it on the fire. We had a couple onions and jalapenos simmering in another pot with a ½ can of PBR (forgot any butter or oil). Sliced up the heart and threw it into the stew mix and it was excellent! (I might have just been extra hungry this season as everything was tasting good).
I also tried something new this year, yesterday actually. I ground up both heart and liver and combined with about 9lbs. of regular ground meat for jerky. Turned out pretty good, I couldn't really tell either were in there but I will admit, seeing a liver being run through the grinder wasn't the most appetizing sight...
Damn I wish I had a heart about now...I'll definitely be trying these recipes.
Back in my youth some buddies and I, after a few brewskies, decided to raid the deep freeze of an older brother. We found a few venison hearts, thawed until still half frozen then sliced, cleaned and quick-grilled 'em over hot coals with salt and pepper. We all vowed to save any hearts from that day forward, should we be so lucky as to kill a deer. Many hearts later it's still a camp favorite, although a couple fancy pants buddies have varied it a bit with fajitas and whatnot. It's good however I've tried it as long as it isn't overcooked. Never tried it boiled, though.
Oh, the older brother threatened our lives should we ever raid his freezer again, but calmed down a notch after we brought him a case of PBR (which pairs nicely, btw).
Haha, Dirty D, we were posting at the same time. Mmm, PBR.
I've had it fresh in camp, diced up with onions and potatoes for breakfast, and another time I froze it and diced it up to make tacos. Both ways were great and it kept fine in the freezer.
My Dad used to boil it, chill it, slice it and eat it cold on saltine crackers. Some of these alternative methods sound better to me.
Deer Heart Soup. Cut up deer heart salt and pepper. Brown meat in a pot with some olive oil. Put in 1 cut up bell pepper, a handful of cherry tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 4 cut potatoes, two cut celery stalks, two/three cut carrots....(any other vegetables you like) . Add some garlic salt and some oregano-- Add 3 cups of water and cook to a boil then simmer for hours. You will have some great homemade soup!!!! If you want noodles in the soup do that but add some more water.
I'm a huge fan of heart. Didn't think it would be that way but, I really like it. I simply clean it up good, slice into 1/4" strips, then fry it in butter after marinating it in olive oil. Go light on the salt if frying or marinating in olive oil. Add a little pepper and yummy. It is a bit chewy but, it is dang good.
Liver on the other hand.... I never have liked any liver. So, I'd have to be pretty hungry to eat it. God Bless
Am I the only person. That can only eat just small amount of heart? To me it is so rich I can't eat much. Same reaction as a super sweet cake but obviously not sweet.
Liver and heart are great! The key is knowing how to cook it. Some tasty looking styles of cooking heart on here, can't wait to try a few different ones.
I usually egg wash it and liver too, then flour and fry. Made some liver for a few people this fall and they gobbled it up.
Bowfreak, I don't know if you are the only one that feels that way but, you are the only person I ever heard say that.
I agree it has a stronger flavor, a little goes a long way. When I made tacos I ate the whole (deer) heart at one time as I didn't think it would work well as a leftover, and I got a little sick of the taste by the end. Good stuff though.
I clean up the heart and slice it about 1/2" thick. I then dust both sides with chef paul's meat magic. Brown it in a little olive oil with about a tablespoon of chopped garlic. When the second side is just starting to brown I deglaze the pan with about a half cup of cream sherry. let it bubble up and reduce to a thick glaze. Like eating deer meat candy.
Yes the heart is a delicacy imho! Finally got the kids to try it this year and they loved it! I like to brine mine in a salt water bath for 12/24 hours first (helps to draw out some of the extra blood and tames the richness a bit.) Then slice 1/4” thick, season with salt and pepper and pan fry in olive oil or bacon grease for 2 min per side on a super hot skillet. Pair with some sautéed onions and fresh cooked bacon bits or just eat as is! You can’t go wrong.
I'm gonna have to try heart this year, I've been meaning to but left the heart in the gut pile the last doe I killed.
I can mine, whole, makes them tender.
With heart it is very important to do it fresh, and keep it VERY simple. A cast iron skillet and some olive oil, slice thin, salt and course ground black pepper, light coat of flour and in the hot oil. Don't over cook, few minutes a side if you sliced it right, and voila the best meal on the animal... (Unless you have the tongue)
Heart is one of my favorite parts of the deer. I cut away the gristle, cut in cubes, and fry. Simple and delicious. Deer liver is ok, once it's soaked in water over night. Pronghorn liver, on the other hand, is the absolute best wild game I've ever eaten. This year my father and I shot antelope in Wyoming, the livers were eaten before we touched any of the meat.
Cook down some mushrooms and onions in butter slice heart when onions and mushrooms are almost done add heart slices cook to med rare put on a hoggie bun with mozzarella slices.
Shot a doe tonight and made the heart. Dang it was good!! I ate the whole flipping thing! I fried it with a mixture of garlic powder, Montreal steak spice, hys, and cracked salt. I preferred it well done with a crisp. I floured and fried in butter and olive oil
I shot a doe a couple weeks ago and this thread prompted me to have a couple buddies out for heart and back strap.
I soaked it in water with salt the first night. The second night I marinated it in honey, soy sauce and water overnight. After trimming, I cut it lengthwise into strips and fried it in bacon grease and pieces of bacon in a cast iron skillet with a little Montreal Seasoning. It was too die for! In fact we preferred it to the grilled, bacon wrapped back strap. Absolutely delicious. I’ll never leave another heart in the field.
lol it was actually thanks to the rib thread that this doe died. I thought - I don't have any venison ribs that I can smoke! Of course I referenced this thread before cooking heart. Who says bow site isn't applicable in daily life?!
It’s been years since I made heart and another ‘because of this thread’ I made a meal of fresh heart a couple weeks ago.
My oh my was it tasty
Season then grill medium rare
Ate 2 last night on the eve of breaking deer camp.I? love it.
I have two antelope hearts waiting in the freezer, this thread is making me hungry!
Chamois heart
Chamois heart
Had this fella for breakfast today.
I love chicken gizzards and hearts. To me, deer heart has a very similar flavor.
1/2" cubes, brown them, and make chili.
-Joe
cleaned up, sliced and fried in a cast iron pan with butter and onions. It's the only type of venison my wife won't eat. But that's fine with my daughter and I, just more for us;)
Also beer for breakfast Nick? Extra style points ;) I just cut up and froze deer ribs last night as well, waiting for the smoker I ordered to come in, so I can get started on that! Gotta love Bowsite!!
Nick, chamois heart with a chamois beer for breakfast? I like your style man...
I am going to lose some style points, but the photo was taken after the Chamois hunt, in the afternoon. I ate the heart the following morning, it was good luck I guess, ended up killing a gorgeous 5x6 Red Deer and a Roe Deer not long after!
Just tried heart for the first time, from the buck I killed last night. Made 3 different ways, dredged in seasoned flour, marinated, and lightly seasoned with steak seasoning and fried with onions. Wasn't bad at all, but kinda bland to me. It was a pretty big heart too, not sure if taste would vary with smaller/younger deer.
Season, brown well in bacon fat and slow cook for about three hours. Cooking too long shrinks and dries it out, making it tough. A little beef bullion in the pot for moisture.
From birds, I save up all the hearts and gizzards and have a “gut glut”. Fried with bacon and onions. I kinda like the chewiness of them.
