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Grilled Beef Heart: The Next Lesson In Organ Meats

beef heart skewers on a grill

Tender-Hearted



With the tongue triumphed, I moved further south to the dense, dark red heart.

Recipes for the heart were much harder to find, even in my old cookbooks. It seems people have all but forgotten about this integral part of the cow's anatomy, though it remains a good source of protein and iron. From the scant recipes I found on the internet, I was inspired by one that called for marinating and grilling the heart.

I tweaked the recipe, added some stuff, took out a few things and came up with a garlicky and delicious product. The important lessons I learned from my initial cooking is that you must remove all the veins from the heart as they are way too chewy to eat. And, over-cooked heart is hard to shallow, so it is best to serve it medium rare.

More Organ Meat Challenges



I am still stuck on the liver. I have yet to find a way of preparing this unpopular cut that can both neutralize the high iron flavor and soothe the somewhat unpleasant texture. But my quest continues.

There is no end in sight to the hearts and livers and skirt steaks and London broils, just an unending stream of beef to challenge my creativity and my customers' curiosity.

Garlicky Grilled Beef Heart



Ingredients:

  • One beef heart
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 10 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
  • 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
  • splash of apple cider vinegar


Method:

  1. Clean veins out of heart. Wash and slice thinly.
  2. Combine oil, garlic, salt, pepper, vinegar, and rosemary in a food processor – process until it is a paste.
  3. Place slices of heart in a bowl and combine with garlic paste. Let marinate for up to two hours.
  4. Place slices of heart on a hot grill (you can also do this in a hot sauté pan in the your kitchen), without removing the delicious marinade. Cook for a minute or two on each side – till the pieces are medium rare.
  5. I like to serve this with roasted potatoes and a crisp jicama salad. Serves 10.


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