I'll be honest, I've never eaten deer heart. Probably because I grew up in a home that didn't eat organ meat. I'd be willing to give it a try though and think I'll keep some from my deer next year to try. Do you eat heart...and do you have any good recipes?

I do , sometimes boiled then pickled, mostly sautéed and mixed with stuffing. It is very good.

Every year this is discussed. Here you go.

http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/tf/lw/searchaction2.cfm

I prefer the heart over the liver. The heart is a bit milder. Wash the heart thoroughly. Open the ventricles and clean out any blood or residue. Put a little butter or cooking oil in your cast iron skillet or dutch over and bring it to cooking temperture. Slice a onion and add it to your pot. Sauteed until tender. Slice the heart into thin slices. Season to taste with salt and pepper/ greek seasoning. etc. Add heart to your pot. Stir fry the heart and onions until the heart is tender and done to your liking. Add a little salt and pepper and enjoy. Eat with a nice piece of sour dough bread. Doesn't get any better than that. Enjoy.

I want to but all my hearts are usually shot up with Snuffer holes in em. :)

Love it pickled

Never eaten deer heart. Did have caribou heart and didn't care for it. Maybe not prepared properly. Too tough and chewy.

Absolutely, right up there with backstrap. There are many Youtube vids on prep/cooking so I won't re-plow tilled ground. Just go watch them and pick out your favorite. I cook in melted butter for a couple minutes per side w/ onions bell peppers, whatever you like. Cook past medium rare and ruin it.

I am another vote on pickling.

I usually slice and pan fry like a steak. With potatoes and gravy. This year I have 7 deer hearts and 1 bear heart im going to pickle like my Dad used to. Im looking forward to it.

Cut down the middle to open the heart and remove blood clots. Slice, flour and fry like steak.

Sometimes I'll freeze the heart until Thanksgiving, dice it and boil until tender, then mix in with the turkey dressing. Deer heart should NEVER be wasted.

Sliced thick, floured, fried in bacon grease--- great for cold heart sandwiches.

What are you guys pickling recipes?

I never slice it. I stuff the heart passages with a stuffing made from bread crumbs and a shallot mixed with a little butter.

Then brown the heart in butter in a small oven proof dish. Once browned add an inch of chicken broth to the dish, cover and bake in a slow oven (275-300 degrees), basting a few times until the heart is tender.

The broth makes an amazing gravy that you pour over slices of the cooked heart!!

Best part of the deer!

George - That link doesn't work...

We battered and fried this Cherry Grove, Alberta buck heart. Honestly not my favorite part to eat.

Gentleman on here posted this. I use apple cider Vinegar...delicious

Cut off the top of the heart, removeing the arteries going into the heart, anything that looks white. I then open all the heart chambers by cutting. Once this is done. I soak the hearts in cold salt water for about 1/2 hour , them rinse. Cover hearts by 1-2 inches of water in a pot. Cover and cook untill tender. Remove and let cool. Can skin off outside membrane of heart while warm, this makes the heart more tender and receives the pickling more easier. Trim any vessels that can be seen in the heart chamber. Then slice the heart, (I like to slice mine thin). Put a layer of slice onion in jar, then a layer of sliced heart, another layer of onion, heart and so on until all the heart is used in the jar. Mix: 1 Cup of Vinegar 1 Cup of Water 1 Cup of Sugar 1 Tablespoon of Pickling spice( this can be obtain at local grocer) 3-4 whole cloves After mixing these ingredients, bring to roiling boil. Pour boiling mixture over the hearts and onions. Let cool. After cools down, put lids on jars and place in refrigator. Can be eaten in a day or two, but the longer it sets in refrigator, the better it gets.

Either fry it in butter or bacon grease or pickle it. It's the first part of the deer to get eatin in my house.

If you have never had it. Do yourself a favor and give it a try. Deer hearts don’t go to waste in my house. I have never tried one picked yet though.

Tried it several times. Now just throw it in the grind. Don't do recipes with sugar, bread, stuffings etc.

"Tried it several times. Now just throw it in the grind."

Along with the backstraps :>) :>)

Heart is right is right next door to backstraps, inner loins and tongue in my book. They all have processing tricks to making them the best they can be.

Remove all the silverskin from the backstraps, peel the outer rough layer off the tongue, cut the valves out of the heart, and remove and eat the inner loins immediately upon butchering.

I cook them all the same, slice 1/4 inch thick ,dredge in combination of flour, salt, black pepper, cayenne if the wife is not eating, and flash fry in butter. When red color appears to seep through the dredging on the top side, flip once, cook 30 seconds and onto someones plate.

I don't like to let venison get cold after coming out of the skillet.

As far as grinding backstraps and heart, that only happened once in our family, forty two years ago.

It had been a good day and I wash butchering four deer we had hanging out back. My mother was in the house running the grinder and wrapping. I was cutting and my brother hauling in the meat as I got it ready. He was supposed to carry the baskets in to mom and tell her ,grind or wrap, when he handed them off.

When I finished cutting I came in planning on making a meal out of the eight inner loins for dinner. When I asked mom where the basket with all the backstraps and inner loins was she said it must be in the garage. Everything that came in the house went into the grinder. I though my Dad was going to break out in tears when he got home and heard the news. Good Day

I am right with Ovilla Bill.....Excellent !!!!

"Tried it several times and now just throw it in the grind....' what an idiot",,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I am 70 and have been eating it several ways since I was 10,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, one of the choice pieces

I remove the outer dura with a filet knife, and unroll the heart with the same knife. This process leaves a steak about a foot long and 5" wide. I remove arteries and valves and pound it with a mallet (cube it). Then pan fry or flour and fry. It's very good.

Its my favorite cut of wild game meat for even turkeys and pheasants. Elk hearts are huge, and deer hearts are delicious. All I ever do with them is crock pot them overnight, slice thin and chow down on a warm sandwich with ketchup or a little mayo, salt and pepper. Or eat it on the plate like steak with taters and a veg. I love it. I always eat it fresh the day after the kill.

Same as some above. I slice it up and get all the blood out. Leave it in the fridge over night in salt water. Next morning dip in egg and flour and fry for breakfast with eggs over easy.

Been a few years since I pickled one then my better 1/2 put a band on me for doing in the house ~ i do wear the pants around here but she tells me witch one to put on . I think I’ll try it again on my next deer .

As some of you might know I’m a bluegrass picker and every year we play at a wild game party. All the foods are wild game anything from beaver to opossum to elk to caribou, but last year someone brought deer heart anchiladas and they were delicious. How they prepared them I’m not sure but very tasty.

All of these sound like great recopies... but the closest to my method is Ovilla Bill. Love heart as it is the special treat that is part of celebrating success! JW

I usually have it in a pan within a couple hours of killing it. Slice about 1/2" thick, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder (or onions). Fry to med. rare. Add eggs and toast. My son and I will have it gone before the carcass is cool.

Babysaph, broadhead holes don't effect the taste at all.

ground hunter - off your meds?

I cut off all the fat and tough cartilage at the top, slice it like a pineapple, marinade it in Dale's steak for an hour or so and throw it on a charcoal grill with plenty of hickory thrown in for smoke.

I don't cook it long and like a streak of pink in the center of the slices. I have yet to serve it to anybody who didn't like it cooked this way.

I did have all my friends save them for me and may get 7 or 8 in a year but, the friends have drifted away or have gotten old like me and don't hunt as much.

I ask all my friends and acquaintances who hunt to save me the heart and livers of their deer and their friends deer. Any one who does not eat them. I have several of each in the fridge now. Either heart or liver, slice 1/2 inch thick and fry in butter over low heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper while frying. Take off the heat when browned on both sides & eat.

Deer heart is best served when floured and fried quickly in a skillet then put in a slow cooked potato soup. By the time it’s ready to eat it’s so soft and tender you think you have a choice cut of meat.

Ron mixing it with the dressing sounds good!

Love it. we usually just throw it in a frying pan with butter onions and garlic. this was the first year that I tried deer liver, it was good.

Love it as well. I always eat the heart the day I kill a deer, a tradition my dad passed on to me and I passed on to my son.

I clean it, slice it about 1/2" thick, season with salt and pepper, saute mushrooms and onions in olive oil in a sizzling hot cast iron pan and then quickly sear both sides of the heart. I like it pretty rare.

Used to have a friend who took all of mine. I tried it once, now I leave it for the coyotes.

I have prepared the heart using most of the recipes presented - ALL are good and I LOVE the heart - and liver - fresh and rare ! Good thread! Now I'm hungry!

My falconry bird loves it raw!!!!

Mushrooms and onions are just a delicious bonus!

Another way I cook it is to cube it up, roll in seasoned flour, brown in a skillet, remove from the skillet, make mushroom and onion gravy and pop the heart cubs back in for a few minutes and serve.

Here is a charcoal grilled heart meal I cooked, mighty good!

really I love deer heart, and some guy said I am off my meds,,,, wow,,,,, we live in different worlds

Heart is the best part of the deer. I flour it and fry it up for breakfast with scrambled eggs.

Eating deer heart is basically hunter tradition that goes way back. Native Americans ate the hearts of what they killed raw. To pay respect to the animal they killed. Today that tradition lives on. But we cook the hearts first now. ;-)

Sliced thin. Brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil. Korean marinade style. My wife does that and kind of makes a bulgogi with it. On rice of course

Not me, if it's on the inside it's GUTS. (tenderloins are not an organ, and therefore do not fall into this self-imposed rule!)

Ain't saying heart isn't tasty, just saying I'll never know!

All of these sound great! When I'm lucky enough to get one or two, I usually just do the quick sear over coals or in a cast iron skillet (after cleaning and slicing) with onions, mushrooms and garlic with a side of beans and spinach, with garlic bread and an ice cold brewski. Also excellent in a stir-fry with chunks of tenderloin and veggies saved from the garden and wrapped in a tortilla with some home-made salsa. Man, I wish I had one now and I just had lunch...

I really enjoy heart, liver and kidneys. The kidneys might be my favorite. I like beef tongue, but have not tried the deer tongue.

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