Tuesday, October 19, 2010

You gotta have heart...

Or maybe not.  I opened the package containing the beef heart and was surprised to see that it had been cut open. so it wasn't shaped like a heart.  Cliff, former butcher that he is, informed me this morning that the USDA inspecter has to open up the heart and peer inside, just as he has to inspect the liver and other organs.  Who knew?  
I prepared a box of Stovetop Stuffing, put the heart in a crock pot, and spooned the stuffing on top.  Because heart is all muscle, I figured it might not make its own broth like a roast does and I added a little water.  Too much, as it turns out, because the stuffing was more moist than it ought to be.  I took a picture of the sliced heart this morning, with a container with the stuffing next to it.  This is not a lovely presentation, I know; I'm not Pioneer woman.  I don't have the patience to put everything on a fancy plate and take twenty-five pictures of it.  The crumbs of stuffing on top of the heart look nasty, so you'll just have to trust me when I say it was a decent addition to our noonday fare.  In the interest of full disclosure, I'll show you the picture.  


I sliced it pretty thin with an electric knife.  We usually try to have a three- to four-ounce serving of meat, so we each had three slices.  It was really tasty with the stuffing.  Yes, I mean that.  I expected it to be tough, but it wasn't.  Along with it we had stir-fried zucchini and smothered okra, since my garden continues to produce.   
We will probably have more tomorrow; after that, I'll give a little each day to Iris until it's gone.  She will not eat liver, either cooked or raw; but I found out she loves heart!    
I could freeze the leftovers, but I have a feeling the container would eventually float to the bottom of the deep freeze, only to be found when I defrost.  
I had no qualms about eating heart; it didn't bother me to think about what it was or where it came from.  If we didn't have much meat, it would actually be a treat.  But because we limit our meat intake, this is not the form of meat I personally would choose as my main course.  
Now, quit your gagging and go on to something else.

8 comments:

  1. Lindie4:50 PM

    Since I eat liver, I'm not gagging at the heart. I just have never had any. My garden is still producing on a small level since it is smaller than yours. I talked to my favorite local nursery on 150 (Dusiliers, I think!) and she will have some green tomatoes ready for me on Friday. I bought a huge chrysanthmum from her today. 26" across for $5.00!

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  2. I'm glad it was edible and you found a way to fix it that you enjoyed. I would never choose to eat it but then I don't eat chicken hearts either, except when I make my stuffing. I use the gizzard, heart and liver from what ever fowl I am making including turkey at Thanksgiving. I cook it for about an hour in a pan of water brought to boil and simmer over a low heat and then chopped it all up finely and put it in my stuffing. It gives it all a good flavor. I use the broth then in the stuffing too.

    I wanted to let you know that I checked on the car insurance, if I dropped the comprehensive it would have only saved me 20 dollars a half year, I didn't drop it, but I did drop the collision which saved me 115. My car is a 2000 so I figured I could let go of the collision as it's getting old.

    Every little bit helps!

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  3. My step-father (ex) went through a phase of organ eating and we all had to participate. I remembers mounds of beef tongue, liver and heart. I am not sure what was the worst but I remember trying to eat that nasty heart with the veins in it still. Blech.. never again! Yours looks tasty tho!

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  4. I expect to receive a heart and beef tongue from a friend who is having a cow butchered. Thanks for the tip on preparing the heart. I will keep it in mind! I seldom show pictures of the food I have cooked because I cannot "plate" food so it looks beautiful for a photograph.

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  5. We eat liver occassionally..I like it with onion. I think my husband would go for this meal..Your presentation looks good and we know it is from your heart..(:

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  6. I have never eaten heart and probably won't. You know how some things just don't appeal to you. Watched a show the other day where a woman eats only french fries and has for over twenty years! French fries three times a day, seven days a week. Come to find out she has some sort of disorder and is trying to learn how to like other foods. Don't know how I got off on that trail but it was interesting.

    Your flowers are very pretty. Mine bit the dust as we have had several hard frosts.

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  7. you know i had to weigh in on all this, lol. gonna make everyone gag now...being an ole country gurl, & raised poor, also poor a poor struggling single mom, i've eaten just about everything. beef: heart, liver, brain, tongue, kidney, & the bulls prize pkg ;). pork: feet, tail, chitterlings. of course poultry: liver, gizzard, heart. & believe it or not as a child i used to love squirrel brains, tongue, & eyeballs!!! even more things i can't think of right now, hehehe did i make your readers sick? sorry about that, but those were the days that any meat was welcome & used, most of it when prepared right was quite tasty!

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  8. You KNEW I had to comment, didn't you? OK, here's the Vegetarian weighing in - HOLY MOSES. YUCK, EEK! I can't even eat hamburger, ACK!! I feel better. Please if you are going to eat the brains, well, I would maybe not like to see that. I'm just putting that out there.

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