Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, so this post seemed oddly appropriate – not to mention that I promised to write about cooking heart a while ago.
I find heart to be the less-threatening of the offals: it’s all muscle, doesn’t require a whole lot of cleaning and cooks just like beef does. It also costs $1.85/lb, is a lean meat(25g protein per 100g), and is high in iron, Riboflavin and B-12.
After browsing through several recipes and articles online, I decided to combine two methods. Soak it first, then broil it like a steak.
Here is what I’ve done:
When you buy heart in the U.S. it will be already quartered, as per federal regulations. You will need to do some minor sinew clean-up (pretend you’re a heart surgeon, har-har).
It’s recommended that you soak the heart for a couple of hours to get rid of any gameyness in the flavor. I soaked it in a 1/10 solution of water and apple cider vinegar. I also forgot about it and left it in the fridge overnight. A lot of recipes don’t call for soaking, so I imagine you can totally skip this.
Then I took it out of the fridge to bring the meat to room temperature before broiling.
I used the same spice rub that I use on steak: equal parts paprika, red cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic powder and 1/2 part salt + a little olive oil to make it all stick better.
I let it hang out for about 20 minutes, warming up in the rub.
Then, it’s super fast:
Pre-heat the broiler. Broil the heart (I used a cast-iron pan) for about 4 minutes one side and about 3 minutes the other side for a pink medium-rare. I served mine with horseradish. Slice thinly and enjoy!
About the taste: like any other heart, I believe, it tastes just like the animal it came from. Very concentrated beef flavor, beautiful with the steak rub.
About the texture: very, very smooth. Almost deli-meat kind of silky smooth – best when sliced very thin and served a very hot.
A word of caution: It is very easy to overcook heart, like any lean muscle – watch carefully, and don’t forget that once you take the meat from under the broiler it keeps cooking for a couple more minutes!
Time and ingredients:
With soaking – about 2.5 hours, without – about 30 min
Veal of beef heart, quartered
1tbsp apple cider vinegar + enough water to cover the meat (you can skip this step)
1tsp of each paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp olive oil