Jim Prawn
12-19-2013, 08:10 PM
Just finished gobbling this up. Had two deer hearts in the freezer from this season so I took them out to thaw last night. We like to eat the heart and liver mainly to teach the kids respect for the animals we are hunting and to not feel wasteful, even though they are not my favorite cuts of meat. Typically I prefer heart over liver, but have come up with some good recipes for liver too. We will eat about 1/3 - 1/2 of an island deer liver in one sitting (Family of 4) and the rest I give away fresh to those I know truly enjoy it. Heart I find freezes fine, so if there isn't time to prep it fresh I will freeze it. I only eat the liver fresh. Anyways, I had some time today so decided to try something different with the heart. Following the natural separation of the atria and ventricles you can peel a heart right open into a flat piece of meat. Trim away the hard fat at the top and any large blood vessels. I did a dry rub with sea salt and rosemary and refrigerated for about 5 hours. Then I tossed it in the big chief smoker for an hour with one load of cherry wood in the pan. While waiting for the smoke I made a stuffing with bacon, onion, garlic, celery, apple, and bread crumbs, and seasoned with sage and thyme. I also added a little butter and white wine to moisten. Took the heart out of the smoker, covered with the stuffing, and rolled and tied into small roasts. I then seared them in a hot pan to brown the outside and tossed in the oven for 45 minutes at 200 degrees F. This was BY FAR the best heart I have ever had, one reason being the tenderness. It was absolutely amazing and the whole family fought for seconds. Will be making sure everyone I know brings back the hearts next season! Wish I had taken more pics thru the process but heres the end result.
JP
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/heart1.png
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/heart2.png
JP
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/heart1.png
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/heart2.png