Organ meats from wild game- venison heart, liver suggestions?

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Bert2368

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I have saved the heart and liver from a large deer, I had not done so in the past.

A quick look online suggested I start by doing a couple of soaks in brine & a soak in fresh water for the liver, did the same to the heart, hopefully that wasn't a wrong guess.

Looking at several recipes online for these now. What would YOU do???

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Make a ragout with the heart. Divide and clean the heart, getting rid of the skin on the inside of the chambers and any blood vessels. Cut into small (half-inch) strips or chunks.

Use a dutch oven or Römertopf to cook the ragout. Layer the chunks of heart with small pieces of smoked speck, onion strips, mushrooms, and flakes of butter. Season to taste with salt, pepper, a bit of thyme and two bay leaves (or whatever else you fancy). Add a dash of red wine in which you dissolved a tablespoon of tomato paste, and pour some cream into it as well, for good measure.

Then put the show into a medium oven and cook until done. Should take 1-2 hours, depending on size of pot, etc. Just taste it at some point and keep it in there until the heart is tender.
 
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You can also make tartare from heart if you're feeling adventurous, breaking it down is just kind of tedious. I'm not a huge fan of slow cooked heart, while it is a tough muscle it's so lean that by the time it's boiled tender the texture is that of dry, overcooked meat.
 
I found another recipe where they marinate pieces of the cleaned heart in balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then quickly charcoal grill it.

I have really liked some Mexican restaurant beef heart tacos I have had, wonder how they prepped it.
 
Xinjiang style bbq seasoning (cumin, Szechuan peppercorns, fennel seeds, paprika,cayenne peper, garlic powder, salt, etc .), Heart cleaned, cut to smallnpcs, and skewered. Sprinkle spice mix and grill on hot charcoal.
 
Having the heart smoked, then sliced thinly on sandwiches etc should be really nice as well.
 
One of our favorites for heart comes from that cool Cajun, Justin Wilson. I'll try to be brief;

Meat Mixture
1 venison or calf heart
1 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup parsley
1 cup bread crumbs
2 medium eggs beaten
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Louisiana hot sauce / ground cayenne to taste

Sauce
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup meat stock
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup dry white wine

Depending on the heart size either use the meat mixture to stuff or thinly slice the heart and use cotton string to create a wrap. Create the sauce in another bowl, sprinkle the heart with hot sauce, pour the mushroom sauce over the heart and bake covered at 350 F for two hours.

Good stuff with baked potatoes, sour cream and chives!
 
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