Beef Hearts - any enthusiasts?

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Jun 22, 2022
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Yesterday I tried beef heart for the first time. The raw muscle smelled very strong so had to marinade it for a day. I sliced it into about 1cm thick slices and let it marinade in the fridge. The cooking was how you would cook a steak in a pan - lots of butter, sear it first and then apply the butter to the top. Cooked it well done... The texture was like firm liver, and tastes very much like liver, too. Very easy to chew.

The wife didn't like it, she prefers fried foods with breading.

I like it and plan to eat more of it when we get the chance. We buy these things from online farmers and hearts are fairly rare.
 
Since I don't like liver, I won't be trying beef heart. I have nothing against eating offal.

Including organ meats in sausages (nothing new there) could increase consumption.
Nutritionists say it's smart to eat the animal from nose to tail.
What better (easier?) way than to make sausages?
 
We've had beef heart although not recently.
We've prepared it in broth with veggies as a stew and it's pretty good although obviously mostly muscle and no fat.
Who likes beef tongue?
Now there is something offbeat that is really good.
 
Years ago, after slaughtering a lamb, I brought the heart to my wife and suggested she make a stew with it. As I remember, she cut the heart into small cubes and made the stew with pearl barley, celery, carrots, spices, etc. The kids were pretty skeptical of our hearty stew and started out with small servings. They all had seconds and even thirds.

We do not eat the poison filters, liver and kidneys.
 
I grew up on a farm where we raised just about all of what we ate. We always had fried chicken on Sunday....from the chickens we butchered on Saturday.
Anyway, we ate beef from the stock that we raised and drank raw milk from the cows that we milked. Really nothing went to waste and that includes beef heart, liver, tongue and yes, we even had fried brains occasionally. No, I haven't had any beef or pork brains for decades, but it was delicious!
We still buy our beef by the 1/4 or 1/2 from the stock that my brother raises.
 
Yesterday I tried beef heart for the first time. The raw muscle smelled very strong so had to marinade it for a day. I sliced it into about 1cm thick slices and let it marinade in the fridge. The cooking was how you would cook a steak in a pan - lots of butter, sear it first and then apply the butter to the top. Cooked it well done... The texture was like firm liver, and tastes very much like liver, too. Very easy to chew.

The wife didn't like it, she prefers fried foods with breading.

I like it and plan to eat more of it when we get the chance. We buy these things from online farmers and hearts are fairly rare.
The most adventurous I've gone was beef tongue at a Korean bbq restaurant. It wasn't gamey and was tender. I draw the line at offal i.e. heart, gizzards, liver, tail etc.
 
Heart is a muscle so I wouldn't lump it in with the other organs. I used to eat it in a beef and rice dish a Chinese roommate used to cook. It was delicious. BTW, I hate liver. Except chicken liver wrapped in bacon with water chestnuts.
 
I eat beef liver but I cook it Venetian style. You cook it in olive oil on high heat only one or two minutes each side. You salt and pepper it heavily while cooking it. It comes our very rare on the inside and tastes excellent and nothing like the liver recipes most of us hate.
 
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I like beef heart and chicken heart but prefer lamb heart.
My wife doesn’t like lamb heart at all but likes the others if I cook them with Mexican spices.
 
Just got one today from my dairy farmer. All grass fed, blood is almost purple. It's fantastic meat. If my cat smells it he'll jump up on the counter to try to steal it. 😯

I usually sneak it into taco meat but also thick slice, cook in butter with shallot, scallions, garlic, thyme and maybe finish with red wine.
 
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