Shreve, over there at "The Daily Coyote", has a post today about giving Charlie the coyote a deer heart. (By the way, I highly recommend her blog about Charlie. Her photos are beautiful. If you go there, be aware that the diary is several months behind, so the story is now from last fall.) She cautions readers that if they are faint of heart, they should read no further.
I offer the same caution here. You may want to skip this entry.
Beef heart was one of my grandmother's specialties.
That was in the '50s, when one bought meat at a butcher shop, and it was absolutely fresh. The butcher often, uh, see, this is where the first faint part is, butchered the animals himself that morning.
Gramma would put in her order, and when the butcher had a fresh-that-morning beef or veal heart, he'd call her. She'd pick up the heart and a quart of fresh blood. The blood had to be absolutely fresh.
How to prepare beef heart:
- Remove any covering tissues. With a very sharp thin knife, cut out all the major blood vessels. They tend to be tough. Going in through the blood vessel openings, cut out any internal valves.
- Make a stuffing of chopped carrots, turnips, parsnips, onions, leeks, and celery, and a little bread or oatmeal. Season with various herbs, and stuff the heart through the vessel openings.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast it slowly.
- Make gravy with the blood and a little stock and flour. This is the richest most flavorful gravy in the world.
- Slice, and serve.
It was wonderful. If you're a carnivore, anyway. Or a vampire.
As late as the early '70s it was still possible to get a fresh heart and blood, so I have cooked it myself a few times, but it's been some 30+ years since. I miss it. Hearts these days go into hot dogs and dog food, I guess. I suppose during hunting season it's still possible to get venison heart, but I don't know if it would taste the same, and it's definitely not the same without the blood gravy.
Gee. Organ meat is high in cholesterol. I wonder if that's why that side of my family almost all died of strokes.
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1 comment:
Tony Bourdain wrote a book called something like The Nasty Bits, where he talked about organ meats and stuff most Americans won't touch anymore. (Oh, beware venison - wasting disease, ya know.)
Although I like his writing, none of it was enough to make me rush out and eat brains.
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