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Venison Heart


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My wife pickled them for me every Valentines day.  She boils them, then slices them and pours hot brine over them.  The brine is basically vinegar, water, sugar, and mixed pickling spices.
 

The containers of sliced heart and brine are left in the fridge for a few days.  The longer it soaks in the brine the more it gets flavored.  It is ok to eat after a few hours, and keeps up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

 I usually adds some beef tongue (deer tongue are too small to bother with).  She usually complains a bit more about slicing up the tongues than the hearts.

I should have two deer hearts right now, but I forgot a plastic bag and lost the larger of the two.  Hopefully, I will end up with a few more deer hearts by January 1st, or she will need to use a beef heart or two.  

The hearts all taste the same when pickled, but I assume those from free ranging deer are better for my own heart.  I slightly prefer the tongue, but the rest of the family likes the heart best.  

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What my wife makes on Valentine’s Day, never makes it past Presidents’ Day weekend.  We take all we got left up to the in-laws in the Adirondacks when we go up for our annual ice fishing trip.    
 

Her parents love it and we can easily put away 5 or six deer hearts or two beef hearts and a tongue or two over that long weekend.

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If you are going to eat it fresh, you may want to refrigerate it a week or so first.  The liver, from a deer more than 6 months old, is a lot better if you leave it in the fridge a week before cooking.  I would think that a heart would be also.  That allows the rigor mortis to break down, making it much more tender.  

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Not of fan of pickled anything myself. I've made deer heart tacos, cheesesteaks, and stir fry but honestly my favorite is just slicing it at the seam and rolling it out flat and throwing it on the grill like a steak. Top with onions and garlic, maybe some mushrooms or peppers, and it's one of my favorite pieces of meat on the animal

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10 hours ago, wolc123 said:

If you are going to eat it fresh, you may want to refrigerate it a week or so first.  The liver, from a deer more than 6 months old, is a lot better if you leave it in the fridge a week before cooking.  I would think that a heart would be also.  That allows the rigor mortis to break down, making it much more tender.  

I’ve never waited a week to eat the heart, a day at the most.  It is always very very tender. Pan fried with butter and onions is my go to.  Maybe soak it in soy sauce, Worcester, and teriyaki sauce for 30 minutes before cooking.  

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I always expected the heart would be tough as old boots - I'll have to give it a try!
 

My initial thought too until I tried it…I describe it as the flavor of the backstrap with a slightly different ”chew” - not chewy or tough..just different which it should be.
I hate when people tell me as a compliment that my “venison tastes just like veal”
If I wanted veal flavor, I would buy veal!!!


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Every one in my family loves pickled venison heart. Slice it thin and slow simmer it in a mix of vinegar and water, some pickling spices. I forget the exact proportions, but easy to look up a recipe. We just cold pack it and eat it up.

I want to try some of the sear fried recipes for it.

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I love heart, chicken hearts, beef, Deer you name it, liver not as much but I will eat it as long as it is not over cooked.

I did up the heart and liver rare on the Deer I got this morning and just got done gorging on it, just fried up in butter with onions and used some gourmet hamburger seasoning and it was pretty darn good.

Lost a little bit of the heart because of the bullet hit.

Al

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3 hours ago, crappyice said:


Outdoor News is like the ads that pop up…if we talk about it, they will write about it!!!
Careful what you say/search?!?


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I am feeling left out because I never see any ads - appropriate or inappropriate - when I am on this site.  

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