The Heart
"The heart," says Fergus Henderson, "encapsulates the beast that it comes from—the whole essence of the animal is in there." Hence the Native American hunting tradition of eating the warm heart of your prey in order to gain its spirit. For a muscle that never stops working, the heart is surprisingly tender, "firm and meaty but giving," says Henderson, "with just the right amount of bite." Besides containing your deer's spiritual essence, the heart is also loaded with protein and B vitamins and contains very little fat. In this recipe, adapted from The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, Henderson marinates the heart in a simple mixture of balsamic vinegar, thyme, and salt and pepper, and then sears it quickly over a hot fire. For a variation, amp up the marinade with some ground chile peppers and cumin seed in the style of Peruvian anticuchos, the grilled skewers of beef heart that street vendors hawk in Lima.
Grilled Marinated Venison Heart (serves two to four as an appetizer)
1 VENISON HEART
FRESHLY GROUND BLACK PEPPER
A HEALTHY SPLASH OF BALSAMIC VINEGAR
CHOPPED FRESH THYME
COARSE SEA SALT
[1] Trim the heart of anything that looks like sinew (this is easy enough to spot) and excess fat (which tends to be around the open top of the heart), and remove any blood clots lurking in the ventricles. Slice the heart open in order to lay it flat and complete the process. You want pieces 1 inch square and up to ¼ inch thick; if the flesh is thicker than that, slice horizontally through the meat before cutting the squares.
[2] Toss the pieces of the heart in the vinegar, salt, pepper, and thyme. Marinate for 24 hours.
[3] Cook the pieces on a grill over a very hot fire, for about 1 ½ minutes per side. (They're best served somewhere between medium-rare and medium. Overcooking produces tough squares resembling jerky.) Serve with a salad of watercress or white beans and shallots.
BUTCHERING NOTES
The heart is easy to identify and easy to trim—just cut away anything that doesn't look like muscle, slice it open, then trim whatever light-colored, spongy-looking bits you might have missed. As with all organ meats, try to cook the heart as soon as possible. In a pinch, however, it can be frozen.
Comments (21)
Someday I will eat at Fergus Henderson's restaurant in London. Crunchy pig tails--how can you beat that? Did you know that duck tongues are delicious parboiled, marinated in soy, ginger, sugar and sesame oil, then steamed? Save up your duck tongues in the freezer, then when you have a bunch, give 'em a try!!!
Strangest thing I've ever eaten is pig's snout. It was served on a bun and smothered with bbq sauce. It was very crunchy and tasty. I've heard that deer heart is delicious. One of these days I'll have to try it.
This isn't strange (like duck tongues--yech!), but I almost always eat the heart and liver of the deer I kill. Heart is really delicious and deserves special treatment at a special meal, but the best way to eat a liver is grilled over the coals of a fire, high on the mountain next to the buck you just killed. A little iron to stiffen your legs for the drag back to camp.
I sing a little ditty each season to the ones I hunt with. It is "Save your Heart for me"!
I eat them with stews, pickled, or just sauteed in butter with onions and garlic.
As for the liver, no thanks.
I understand how in the old country every part of the animal had to be used. But eating liver or kidneys does not appeal to me. These organs are pretty much filters and I do not consider them healthy. Either way what one eats is their own buiseness and not mine. I respect it.
I have heard eating the heart of a deer is very tasty. I would be more than willing to try one if only I could get one that was intact.
I have the utmost respect for the game I pursue. I thank the lord for every animal I harvest and don't consider leaving the gut pile for the coyotes a bad thing. I also don't bring the deer back to camp with the vitals still inside. I think dressing the deer in the field right after the kill is one of the most important steps to good tasting venison. I've had to come back to find deer the next day and the meat didnt taste as good as it could.
When I was a kid we ate lots of chicken feet. They were very delicious. My daughter in law is Chinese (from Singapore) she tells me the Chinese will eat just about anything thats protein including dogs and cats. At a Chinese resturant in London I saw intestines on the menu last Nov.
It is illegal now, due to new child labor laws, but from the time I was in junior high until I graduated high school I worked in a local butcher shop. There was a man who came and collected the chicken feet from us once a week and sold them to other people. Del, until you wrote that, I thought it was a mythe and he was using them for something else.
I have eaten liver, beef and chicken, and rabbit kidneys. I do not like either of these organs and throw them out with the guts. My dislike has nothing to do with their functions but their taste. With birds I do usually save the gizzards and like them fried and as a base for gravies.
Good on you guys, american hunters have a poor reputation for wastefulness, I'm delighted to hear you say you'd like to try the 'ofally good' parts!
SBW
PS Hank is americas Fergus check out his blog
http://www.honest-food.net
It's good to see that my upbringing wasn't so strange and uncommon as my wife says. Deer heart, and Liver were typically the first meals we made from a fresh kill. My father would get me to go down to the butchers place in deer and antelope season to collect the tongues, which he would cook in the crockpot or a dutch oven. These were all good eating. Even had some calf brains in with some scrambled eggs once and enjoyed it.
What I was taught by all of this is that you should appreciate the food in front of you for what it is, and not what you wish it to be.
one time we told a city boy that he was eating a cut of meat from a deer and it really was moose heart! He liked it till we told him what it was
I think I will leave it for the coyotes and have the warm feeling that I have contibuted to the circle of life.
I'm gonna try some deer heart this fall. I'll even have some liver, though I detest beef liver. Hey, if I don't like it, my dog's sure will!
i have eaten deer heart and liver the night of a kill all my life . in my eyes it is some of best eating there is on the animal . and don't even get me started on a small black bears liver , my 12 year old son love's it as well
Check out the recipes in the books Crossbow Hunting (Stackpole, 2006) and Backyard Deer Hunting: From deer to dinner for pennies per pound (AuthorHouse, 2009). These include items like Dear Heart soup (Pun intended. The author claims he wooed his wife with it.) as well as recipes for ground meat dishes and making sausage. Both books take the reader through the meat-preperation steps as well as cooking.
i wish i could have some deer hearts and livers right about now.
hmmm... girlfriend tells me venison liver is good. I think i may repent of my habit of leaving the entire gut pile in the woods, and try some next nov...
def going to try the heart this season
def going to try the heart this season
no way, no how, am I eating guts. Yuuuuuuuuuck!
THe moose we kill we save the heart and nose for the indian lady who lives on the lake she says no liver,that says it all for me.
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i wish i could have some deer hearts and livers right about now.
This isn't strange (like duck tongues--yech!), but I almost always eat the heart and liver of the deer I kill. Heart is really delicious and deserves special treatment at a special meal, but the best way to eat a liver is grilled over the coals of a fire, high on the mountain next to the buck you just killed. A little iron to stiffen your legs for the drag back to camp.
Good on you guys, american hunters have a poor reputation for wastefulness, I'm delighted to hear you say you'd like to try the 'ofally good' parts!
SBW
PS Hank is americas Fergus check out his blog
http://www.honest-food.net
It's good to see that my upbringing wasn't so strange and uncommon as my wife says. Deer heart, and Liver were typically the first meals we made from a fresh kill. My father would get me to go down to the butchers place in deer and antelope season to collect the tongues, which he would cook in the crockpot or a dutch oven. These were all good eating. Even had some calf brains in with some scrambled eggs once and enjoyed it.
What I was taught by all of this is that you should appreciate the food in front of you for what it is, and not what you wish it to be.
one time we told a city boy that he was eating a cut of meat from a deer and it really was moose heart! He liked it till we told him what it was
i have eaten deer heart and liver the night of a kill all my life . in my eyes it is some of best eating there is on the animal . and don't even get me started on a small black bears liver , my 12 year old son love's it as well
Check out the recipes in the books Crossbow Hunting (Stackpole, 2006) and Backyard Deer Hunting: From deer to dinner for pennies per pound (AuthorHouse, 2009). These include items like Dear Heart soup (Pun intended. The author claims he wooed his wife with it.) as well as recipes for ground meat dishes and making sausage. Both books take the reader through the meat-preperation steps as well as cooking.
hmmm... girlfriend tells me venison liver is good. I think i may repent of my habit of leaving the entire gut pile in the woods, and try some next nov...
def going to try the heart this season
def going to try the heart this season
Someday I will eat at Fergus Henderson's restaurant in London. Crunchy pig tails--how can you beat that? Did you know that duck tongues are delicious parboiled, marinated in soy, ginger, sugar and sesame oil, then steamed? Save up your duck tongues in the freezer, then when you have a bunch, give 'em a try!!!
Strangest thing I've ever eaten is pig's snout. It was served on a bun and smothered with bbq sauce. It was very crunchy and tasty. I've heard that deer heart is delicious. One of these days I'll have to try it.
I sing a little ditty each season to the ones I hunt with. It is "Save your Heart for me"!
I eat them with stews, pickled, or just sauteed in butter with onions and garlic.
As for the liver, no thanks.
I understand how in the old country every part of the animal had to be used. But eating liver or kidneys does not appeal to me. These organs are pretty much filters and I do not consider them healthy. Either way what one eats is their own buiseness and not mine. I respect it.
I have heard eating the heart of a deer is very tasty. I would be more than willing to try one if only I could get one that was intact.
I have the utmost respect for the game I pursue. I thank the lord for every animal I harvest and don't consider leaving the gut pile for the coyotes a bad thing. I also don't bring the deer back to camp with the vitals still inside. I think dressing the deer in the field right after the kill is one of the most important steps to good tasting venison. I've had to come back to find deer the next day and the meat didnt taste as good as it could.
When I was a kid we ate lots of chicken feet. They were very delicious. My daughter in law is Chinese (from Singapore) she tells me the Chinese will eat just about anything thats protein including dogs and cats. At a Chinese resturant in London I saw intestines on the menu last Nov.
It is illegal now, due to new child labor laws, but from the time I was in junior high until I graduated high school I worked in a local butcher shop. There was a man who came and collected the chicken feet from us once a week and sold them to other people. Del, until you wrote that, I thought it was a mythe and he was using them for something else.
I have eaten liver, beef and chicken, and rabbit kidneys. I do not like either of these organs and throw them out with the guts. My dislike has nothing to do with their functions but their taste. With birds I do usually save the gizzards and like them fried and as a base for gravies.
I think I will leave it for the coyotes and have the warm feeling that I have contibuted to the circle of life.
I'm gonna try some deer heart this fall. I'll even have some liver, though I detest beef liver. Hey, if I don't like it, my dog's sure will!
no way, no how, am I eating guts. Yuuuuuuuuuck!
THe moose we kill we save the heart and nose for the indian lady who lives on the lake she says no liver,that says it all for me.
Post a Comment