Grilled Deer Heart Recipe - How to Cook Deer Heart | Hank Shaw (2024)

FAQs

Do you need to soak a deer heart before cooking? ›

Instructions: 1. heart with a damp cloth, soak overnight in salted water, and then drain.

The heart should be slightly pink in the center; if it is still red or bloody, it needs to cook longer. If you are cooking it like a steak, use a digital thermometer and aim to remove from heat at 125°–130°, medium-rare doneness. It's best served on the more rare side of medium rare, to prevent toughness.

They're tender, juicy, sweet, salty, and oh-so-delicious. Give this tasty venison heart recipe a try today!

Submerge the venison in the saltwater brine and refrigerate it for a few hours or overnight. Rinse the meat thoroughly with cold water before cooking to remove excess salt. Milk Soak:Soaking venison in milk is another method that can help reduce ga.

Deer heart is actually simple to make, is best eaten fresh not frozen, at least within a couple days of the harvest, and should be cooked medium rare to medium, but not overcooked. Most folks prefer medium rare.

Sear the heart squares quickly on both sides, about 1 minute on each. You want them to be medium rare. If you cook them too much they will be rubbery and not nearly as delicious. In my quest to go native, I also made the kidney and the tenderloin.

If you cook it thoroughly, a grilled deer heart, also known as venison heart, can be a safe and filling meal. It is a hunting season delicacy and typically one of the first cuts of meat a hunter will cook since organ meats spoil faster than muscle meats.

By ingesting the heart, it is thought that the hunter assimilates the animal's strength, courage, and vitality, forging a spiritual connection with the species and expressing gratitude for the sacrifice made. In some cultures, the ritual serves as a rite of passage or initiation into adulthood.

It doesn't hurt to rinse the deer's body cavity with cold water to remove nasty visible debris. But realize: Unless the water is boiling hot, it won't kill any bacteria that's on the surface of the meat. Kill enough big-game animals and you're bound to face guts with your glory—just suck it up and get to work.

Heart meat is very lean and tasty with a slight chewy texture. It is one of the more mild flavored of all the organ meats. Venison Heart has around 22grams of protein per 3 ounces of serving. It's also a great source of bioavailable forms of thiamine, folate, selenium, phosphorus, zinc, CoQ10 and several B vitamins.

What is the tastiest part of a deer? ›

The tenderloins are best, but they're very small. There are two of them on a deer, and each is usually good for one modest serving. The backstraps are nearly as good, but many times larger. After that, I'm partial to a whole, bone-in, front leg roast from a young deer.

While some hunters swear by certain soaking methods to take the “gamey” flavor away or bleed the meat after processing, others don't find it all that helpful. If you would like to try soaking your meat, instructions for a buttermilk soak can be found at The Backyard Pioneer.

Allow the venison to soak for 24 hours.

Letting meat age a few days is good but Letting it sit in water will not age it and can actually cause bacteria to build which is never good. Keep it cold but keep it dry. I have a walk-in cooler so I never use ice now. Before I had the cooler I always aged my deer in a cooler with ice for 7-10 days.