The heart is one of my favorite pieces of meat, hands down. People always ask me “what does it taste like?” the heart is technically an organ, but really it is just a muscle, so the short answer is it tastes like meat! Being that is is separated from the other cuts of meat and doesn’t contact with any of the body fat it is often the least gamey tasting cut on the entire animal! It does take a little knife work to clean up, I like to slice down one side and kind of roll it flat. From there I trim all the veins and ventricles from the inside as well as the trimming off the top valves, when trimmed up it should look like beautiful cleaned up meat! As far as the recipe it seemed like a great fit. I love tartare and I happened to have a whitetail heart from my buck this year in the freezer so this what came about! Of course there is always a small risk of eating foods raw such as sushi, rare steaks etc… I read that by freezing a heart for a few weeks it can have the same effect as cooking when it comes to destroying certain bacteria, that is what I did here. I am happy to report everyone that ate over both loved it, and are still very much alive and well! This recipe requires a very sharp knife and be sure to take your time finely mincing the heart, the hard work will pay off with a beautiful texture!
Ingredients
1 Venison heart – cleaned and finely minced
1 Farm fresh duck egg yolk (can use chicken as well, try to get a good quality free range & organic egg)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Shallot – very finely minced
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp capers
The Juice of one lemon
1 Tbsp Italian parsley – finely minced
1 Tsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
A good crusty baguette – sliced, grilled, rubbed with olive oil to serve with the tartare
TAKE THE TIME TO FINELY DICE THE HEART!
Directions
In a bowl combine all ingredients and stir well, taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper. Arrange in the center of a large dish and surround with the grilled bread. It is that simple! Enjoy!
Beautiful duck egg about to incorporated
Finished Product!
Please visit my website for more delicious wild game recipes www.thehungryhunter.com
