Drawing of "Captain "Beefheart"
I recently became the proud owner of a Cow's Heart. I had been after one of these football sized muscles for a few months. The farm I buy beef from, Hillacres Pride from Lancaster, kept running out. But I finally managed to snag one, and given it's size, I decided to break it down and use it in a bunch of different ways.
The heart is a muscle, just like the more commonly consumed tenderloins and short ribs. It receives signals from the brain making it move and do a very specific job. The major difference with the heart is that, unlike these other muscles, it never stops working. This makes the meat a little tougher than other cuts, but not quite as tough as you may think. The heart just needs a little extra love. Now isn't that ironic?
I know that a lot of people would feel a little squeamish about eating an animal heart. I think these people should get over it. When a Cow dies, it's 'less desirable" parts don't just evaporate, leaving behind a bunch of nicely shrink-wrapped steaks. If we don't have enough people willing to eat these things, they will go to waste. And throwing away a bunch of perfectly good meat from an animal that just gave it's life to feed you is a shame. Luckily, as my quest to acquire this heart has shown me, there are a lot of people eating this stuff.
As you will see over the next few posts, if I were to serve these dishes to you, you would not recognize (at least by sight) that the first three are made from heart. You may not even recognize the flavor being any different from any other cut of beef. Heart has a flavor most like the tenderloin, very lean with a slight livery metallic tang. The fourth dish is another story. You will know that you are looking at an animal heart.
The heart is a muscle, just like the more commonly consumed tenderloins and short ribs. It receives signals from the brain making it move and do a very specific job. The major difference with the heart is that, unlike these other muscles, it never stops working. This makes the meat a little tougher than other cuts, but not quite as tough as you may think. The heart just needs a little extra love. Now isn't that ironic?
I know that a lot of people would feel a little squeamish about eating an animal heart. I think these people should get over it. When a Cow dies, it's 'less desirable" parts don't just evaporate, leaving behind a bunch of nicely shrink-wrapped steaks. If we don't have enough people willing to eat these things, they will go to waste. And throwing away a bunch of perfectly good meat from an animal that just gave it's life to feed you is a shame. Luckily, as my quest to acquire this heart has shown me, there are a lot of people eating this stuff.
As you will see over the next few posts, if I were to serve these dishes to you, you would not recognize (at least by sight) that the first three are made from heart. You may not even recognize the flavor being any different from any other cut of beef. Heart has a flavor most like the tenderloin, very lean with a slight livery metallic tang. The fourth dish is another story. You will know that you are looking at an animal heart.