Deer Heart

[Joe Archer]

If you enjoy venison and have never tried deer heart....I WISH I COULD SEE YOUR FACE WHEN YOU TRY THIS FOR THE FIRST TIME :)
The key, it is all in the preparation.
First- cut the top (atria) of the heart off and throw them away. The atria are thin walled and soft and sit above the firm, hard ventricles.

Second - now that you have the atria removed, you can see the two "chambers" of the ventricles. Separate the chambers, and slice to open the chambers.

Now remove all fat, connective tissue, and inner and outer linings. All you will have left is sections of red meat.

Slice these sections into long "French fry" strips.

Pre-heat a frying pan with melted butter. Add the strips of deer heart (will sizzle on impact if pan is hot enough) and flash fry until golden brown.

Add salt and pepper to taste, and I guarantee that you will do this every time you take a deer.

Note: my kids make me promise to bring back the heart if they can’t be there for the hunt. <----<<<

[Salmonsmoker]

Joe,

Your recipe sounds like some good eating. If your kids like it you know its got to be good.

Here's another idea for heart meat:

Follow your proceedure to the point where you make the strips. Then:

Mix 1 Cup of Seasoning Salt (see recipe section) with 3 qts of water. Place meat in this brine and soak overnight (mixing two or three times)in the refrigerator.

Next morning - rinse meat and place in smoker - smoke 3 hours bringing temperature up to 180 to 200 degrees - then hold at that temp for an additional 1/2 hour.

ss

[Salmonsmoker]

Bringing forward for current request

Salmonsmoker

[nywhitetailhunter]

We slice our hearts into round "sandwich steaks" Then we flash fry them and eat it in a sandwich with a little mustard and worchester sauce on them. It is delicious. We have 11 guys in our camp and only two of us eat the hearts so we have a lot of hearts each year.

[Salmonsmoker]

nywhitetailhunter,

Welcome to the michigan-sportsman.com site, and thanks for the idea on using venison hearts.

Question: How thick do you slice them for a sandwich steak?

[nywhitetailhunter]

Thanks for the welcome. I use and enjoy most the receipies.

We process our own meat each season because our group is large enough it becomes too expensive to take it to a butcher. A few years ago we bought a deli slicer at an auction. It allows us to cut thin slices for heart or thicker slices for the rounds, butterflies and sirloin tips.

We chill the heart after washing it. Take the membrane off it and cut the top 1/4 off to get rid of the valves. We then slice it with the slicer. You could do the same with a sharp knife of a regular kitchen slicer I woudl think.

[Salmonsmoker]

nywhitetailhunter,

Sounds like a good way to use heart-meat, and an excellent hot sandwhich - I might add a slice of Swiss, a little sauerkrute(sp?) and put it on a slice of Rye bread.

I have a preference for smoked foods, so I'm thinking that the whole heart could be pickled and smoked (it would end up tasting like a pastrami), then sliced thin for sandwhich meat.

Thanks for the post.