Beef Heart Que's

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BigAL

Sous Chef
Joined
Jan 3, 2008
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709
Location
W.KS
Well, I bought a beef heart for us(mainly me and the kids, I know the wife won't touch it). I want the kids to try it anyway, part of my "try something new" every year.

It is cut in half, total together is 3.75# and I have 1.57# thawing out in the fridge now. I was thinking of smokeing it at 225-250* until internal of ???, would just go by feel. I'm thinking of near 200 internal, but I don't know. May wrap in bacon to help out, don't know what help it may need but bacon is always good.

Just wondered if any of you have cooked heart and how you did it.

Thanks.
 
It's a tough muscle. From what I've heard, it takes a longer cooking process to make it chewable.
 
Just wondered if any of you have cooked heart and how you did it.

Thanks.

The most creative I ever get with beef heart is to remove as much of the fat as possible, make little slits with a knive and poke garlic in it, and simmer it in water for about an hour (until it is done <g>). One of my favorite open-faced sandwiches is to mix horseradish with mayo, spread that on a thin slice of sourdough bread (and I mean thin), top with a lettuce leaf, fan thinly sliced beef heart (room temperature) on top, and garnish with a "dollop" of the mayo-horseradish. I find the meat to be very intense re: richness and flavour. I include these sandwiches as part of the cold table when I do a Christmas or special occasion smorgasbord. I don't see why you couldn't smoke it. I did a quick search, and this recipe also sounded good:

Recipe for Beef Heart « Offal Good

My DH won't eat organ meats, so I don't cook heart as often as I used to...but, since he's not here all the time, I'm going to keep my eyes open for it at the market. Now you've got me craving a beefheart sandwich!
 
Does hot smoking make meat tender? As Andy wrote, it is a tough muscle. I like it, but it is very, very chewy. I have never cooked it myself.
 
Does hot smoking make meat tender? As Andy wrote, it is a tough muscle. I like it, but it is very, very chewy. I have never cooked it myself.

I figured I'd treat it somewhat like brisket, smoke to 160-170ish, then in a pan w/foil till I could poke a meat therm into it w/little resistance, give or take.
 
I figured I'd treat it somewhat like brisket, smoke to 160-170ish, then in a pan w/foil till I could poke a meat therm into it w/little resistance, give or take.

My mother (who is known for her "I hate to cook" litanies), used to cook deer heart in the pressure cooker...that is, until one exploded.
 
I have cooked it in much the same manner that I cook squirrel.
Cut it up into bite sized pieces.
Parboil it (I like the garlic touch mentioned above) for a spell.
Make an onion gravy and simmer the pieces over medium-low heat until tender.
 
We always cooked it in the pressure cooker, but it's been many years and I can't remember how long or what was cooked with it.
 
I cooked it years ago. I remember marinating the slices in buttermilk, and making a buttermilk gravy. It was in the La Leche'League cookbook I had at the time, and that baby is 35 yrs old now. Time flies. Wish I still had the cookbook, it was a good one.
 
when my kids were growing up, we had at least once a week. i would slice it fairly thin, (not paper thin) and dredge in flour and seasoning. then pan fried fairly quickly. it was tender and almost as good as steak. they loved it with mashed potatoes and corn. i do know that you can stuff the whole heart and bake it. no recipe though.
 
To repeat what others have said (or not), I remember it being very, very, very tough. Mom either pressure cooked it or slowly stewed it all day. One time, as a teenager, I found a recipe for stuffing it, but it was almost inedibly tough when I finished. My first early cooking failure. You might as well have put the stuffing in your shoe and taken a bite.
 
I recently put beef heart into the slow-cooker with beef kidney, prepared oxtail sauce and some English beer. It made a really tasty pie filling, and not tough at all.
 
We take beef heart and liver with a bit of fatty bacon and put it through the meat grinder. Mix in some spices and finely chopped onion. Shape like slightly flattened meatballs and wrap them in caul fat and grill till the caul fat is golden brown and the inside is tender but cooked.
 
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