The Nasty Bits: Venison Heart Tartare Recipe (2024)

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Chichi Wang

The Nasty Bits: Venison Heart Tartare Recipe (1)

Chichi Wang

Chichi Wang wrote a variety of columns for Serious Eats including The Butcher's Cuts, in addition to other stories. Born in Shanghai and raised in New Mexico, Chichi took her degree in philosophy but decided that writing about food would be more fun than writing about Plato.

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Updated June 12, 2022

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The Nasty Bits: Venison Heart Tartare Recipe (2)

Last Tuesday we discussed a few ways of preparing beef heart, a versatile organ that can be slow-cooked, quickly grilled or seared, or even ground up for heart burgers. There was, however, one application that I didn't cover due to an unfortunate shortage of heart in the kitchen. This week, there was more than enough of the organ to serve in what is certainly its most primal form: raw and unadorned, save for a bit of liquid and seasoning.

Tartare is a preparation most commonly applied to beef or fish flesh, but the idea of eating offal in its completely raw state has always appealed to me. Oftentimes I've held a brain, liver, or heart in my hands, inhaled the sweet smell of an organ that's so wonderfully pungent and perfect on its own, and felt compelled to eat it as is.

Tartare is an opportunity to do just that, to really get a feel for the texture and taste of the protein without the application of heat. Feeling inclined to check off another species of animal in my list of offal consumption, I met with chef Sebastiaan Zijp of New York City's Bar Blanc on a sunny afternoon to talk about venison hearts, which he'd just gotten into his kitchen for use in tartare.

My initial impression was that of surprise: venison hearts are only half the size of beef hearts. What the game hearts lack in size, they compensate for in smell. A whiff of the venison hearts called to mind the feeling of something wild and even a bit rank. Gamey, an amorphous term that's applied too casually to any protein that doesn't taste like chicken, pork, or beef, would inadequately describe the slightly sour aroma emanating from the raw hearts.

The venison hearts surprised me again when we tried the tartare of heart preparation on crostini. The taste was exceedingly mild, with just a hint of its mammalian origin. Still, it was the texture that made the heart worth eating raw: tender with much less of a chew than cooked heart, the tiny cubes of the chopped up organ were good enough to eat alone without the crostini accompaniment.

A classic French preparation of tartare would include some acidic elements, like lemon, vinegar, or diced capers paired with mustard, and something with a bit of kick like Worcestershire. On the Asian side of your pantry, try pairing the raw heart with yuzu, ginger, or wasabi for a change from the expected French flavors. The next time you with yourself with a really fresh beef or venison heart, save a few of the choicest chunks to eat raw - a fine appetizer for a second course of seared or grilled hearts.

Venison Heart Tartare

Serious Entertaining: A 'Game of Thrones' Feast Fit for Kings

Recipe Details

The Nasty Bits: Venison Heart Tartare Recipe

Prep20 mins

Total20 mins

Serves4 servings

Ingredients

  • A few chunks impeccably fresh heart, beef or venison, about 4 ounces

  • A squeeze of lemon

  • 1 tablespoon diced capers

  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

  • 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Trim the heart for use: remove the tissue and the sinew, as well as the fat around the edges of the heart and inside the separate chambers. Use the majority of the heart for a cooked preparation, if you so desire, and reserve about 4 ounces for the tartare.

  2. Very finely dice the chunks of heart. Add the seasonings, adjusting the flavors to taste. Serve as is, or with rounds of crostini on the side.

This Recipe Appears In

  • Serious Entertaining: A 'Game of Thrones' Feast Fit for Kings
  • No-Cook
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
69Calories
5g Fat
1g Carbs
5g Protein

×

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories69
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g6%
Saturated Fat 2g10%
Cholesterol 19mg6%
Sodium 155mg7%
Total Carbohydrate 1g0%
Dietary Fiber 0g0%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 5g
Vitamin C 1mg5%
Calcium 5mg0%
Iron 1mg4%
Potassium 102mg2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.

(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

The Nasty Bits: Venison Heart Tartare Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it safe to make venison tartare? ›

Your venison might be perfectly fine, but if you have a dirty cutting board or knife or even hands you can wreck the whole thing. Sanitation is very important when serving raw food. Keep cool. Just as sushi should be served cold, so should tartare.

How do you soak a venison heart? ›

To do this, simply run cold water over the heart while massaging the meat to help push out a lot of the blood. Then place it in a bowl or container filled with cold, salted water for up to half an hour. Remove the heart and discard all of the water.

How to prepare deer heart and liver? ›

Salt, pepper, flour and onions. Lots of gravy as liver needs a delicious slide for me to choke it down. Heart i prefer to boil for 40 mins then browned off in a pan or cut through the chambers and stuff it with sage thyme and bread crumbs . Liver lightly fry with sliced onion its better served a bit pink.

How do you not get sick eating tartare? ›

Beef tartare is made from raw ground beef, which can potentially contain harmful bacteria such as E. coli or Salmonella. In order to reduce the risk of foodborne illness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that all beef be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

Is venison safer than beef? ›

Given that deer are leaner than cows, venison is generally healthier to eat than beef. An average cut of venison, in fact, has around half the calories and a sixth the saturated fats of a similarly sized cut of beef. It also has more proteins, vitamins and minerals than beef.

How healthy is eating deer heart? ›

Not only is heart delicious and straightforward to prepare, but it also contains folate, iron, zinc, selenium, and B vitamins essential for our own heart health. The easiest way to prepare the heart is to cut off the aorta, fat, and hard connective tissue from the top and then slice the heart in half.

Can you eat venison heart rare? ›

You want them to be medium rare. If you cook them too much they will be rubbery and not nearly as delicious.

How tasty is deer heart? ›

Deer heart makes for a great meal if it's prepared properly. Some precaution needs to be taken to remove the tough pieces of tissue and leftover blood. But once it's been prepared properly, it closely resembles any other deer steak and can be a very tender piece of meat!

Why do you soak deer liver in milk? ›

Place in whole milk to soak for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. This is the best way to help reduce some of the strong livery taste, so whatever you do, don't skip this step. Before cooking, rinse well in cold water and pat dry.

What's the best way to eat deer heart? ›

The two most popular ways to enjoy it are by making pickled venison heart (a personal favorite treat of mine), or pan frying heart meat like a steak with butter, herbs, and seasonings, such as in this great recipe.

Can I grind a deer heart? ›

First, trim the very top off the heart. It's edible, but it can be a bit jiggly-veiny, so I will either feed it to the cat, or toss it into the grind pile.

How often should you eat beef heart? ›

When pondering "how often should you eat organ meat," think of it as part of a varied diet. Including organ meats 1-2 times per week can strike the right balance between reaping the benefits and avoiding the consumption of excess nutrients, such as vitamin A.

How long to soak beef heart in vinegar? ›

The best way to eliminate the strong blood flavor is to marinate the heart meat with a 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar or just plain milk. Leave in the marinate for 24 hours and it will lose the strong bloody scent.

Is homemade tartare safe? ›

The truth about beef tartare is that it's totally safe to make at home. And when you follow the five steps below, you're at-home tartare can be as good as those you get at restaurants.

Can you cook bacteria out of deer meat? ›

Venison should be cooked to at least 165° to ensure harmful bacteria are killed.

How do I make sure deer meat is safe to eat? ›

Don't tie the deer to the hood of your car. This will serve only to heat the carcass. Because of the possibility of pathogens on the meat, such as E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, it is important to properly cook the meat to a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees F or higher before eating.

Can you use any meat for tartare? ›

Tartare calls for the best-quality meat; you'll eat it raw, so go for the good stuff — rib eye or flatiron is a nice way to go. To get a perfectly diced steak for tartare, freeze the beef until it is just firm, about 15 minutes, before slicing.

References

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