So you take a tip from a mner and end up with a 2.5 kilo heart sat in your kitchen

[Slubberdegullion]

"They are quite big" said the butcher when I ordered it, all full of optimisim after the cheap beef cuts thread.

Well she wasn't bloody wrong.

Just look at the huge offally bastard.

Tonight I am going to attempt to turn half of it into a ragu, but after that, well I'm open to suggestions.

Google post heart purchase says that even slow cooked it's not very nice. No wonder it only cost 4 quid.

Cook or feed to the dog?

[NettoSuperstar]

Resurrecting.
I've bought a mooncup, I've bought Moroccan oil, and now I've bought beef heart, ox heart from Morrison's to be exact.

I'd read this thread, thought it sounded like a good idea, and saw the heart, already cubed, a while back, duly purchased a few packs and chucked in the freezer.
Yesterday/today was the day for cooking it.
I poked around in my books and online, and decided to go for a plain, traditional stew recipe.
The heart had some lumps of just plain fat, I chucked those, and cut off any visible pieces, I know fat is OK when it melts down, but I had no idea what heart fat would do, and didn't want to chance it.

First off, sliced two large onions, lobbed in slow cooker with slug of olive oil. Left for three hours till softened and caramelising.
Heated Olive oil in pan, added heart in batches to brown, and get quite crusty in places, removed to a plate when done.
Added flour to thicken juices, and poured in beef stock to deglaze (wine would be good here, I had none), added in squeeze of tomato purée, few splashes of Worcester sauce and a big pinch of mustard powder, plus salt and lots of freshly ground pepper.
Added heart back to the pan, stirred around to combine, then chucked all into slow cooker and left on low overnight.
Got up in morning, sauce seemed quite thin, so took the lid off and left to reduce down all day.
When it came to 45 minutes or so before serving, I transferred it to a pyrex, made dumplings and put them on the top, then cooked in the oven.
I served it with candied carrots (carrots cooked with butter and sugar).
Utterly delicious, not offally at all, and has a great texture, with chew but not chewy or stringy.
I will be buying it again.

[bacon]

I remember the weekly family meal of stuffed lambs hearts. It was very tasty but over cooked and slightly rubbery. Never thought anything of it really, there was loads of good gravy and well cooked boiled spuds and loads of veg.

We were a slim and healthy family on a budget too.

Had a load of lambs liver in the freezer, from our lambs, lightly cooked with a tiny portion of mash and onions was really lovely. Cheap meal.

[Slubberdegullion]

Yes! Yes it tasted nice, it was lovely, it was just different, I dunno I think you have foody preconceptions as to how meat will taste and feel in your mouth and it was not quite anything like I had eaten before. But yes, I will be buying it again. Deffo.

Not sure I will put it in sandwiches with blackcurrant jam though will probably stick to putting it in pies.

[thisisyesterday]

so, i needed to find out whether the heart tasted nice or not, but it had fallen off my "threads i'm on" list

i searched for "offally bastard" to find it and it came up with TWO threads! just off to search the other one and find out who else has one

[Nannasylv]

You've brought back a childhood memory for me. My Mother grew up in the countryside, so recipes involving offal were quite the norm. We used to have stuffed baked (in tinfoil) heart, with blackcurrant jam, in sandwiches. I quite liked it! What are you planning to do with it?

[EssentialFattyAcid]

This is genuinely good value - 5 human plus 1 dog meal
Slubber, I salute you

[SexyDomesticatedDab]

Need an offal appreciation section! Reminds me too of one of my fave books with Adrian Mole and the book / tv prog Offally Good.

[theoldtrout01876]

Stuff it with paxo rub oils and salt on outside and roast it ,wicked wicked good

[Slubberdegullion]

FattyAcid, I got five human and one canine meal out of the heart. Three big batches of the ragu that isn't a ragu, one stroganoff and one stir fry (and breakfast for a Labrador).

Dh and I liked it, I wouldn't say we loved it, but I think that's because the texture and taste were difficult to put your finger on, and being slightly orally unnerved while you are trying to watch Merlin is I dunno, new for us.

Next time, and then there will be a next time, bow can there not be for £4 for 2.5 kg of meat, I will make sure I order a fresh rather than frozen heart. That way I can get it chopped, bagged and in the freezer and use it as and when required.

Dh and I both agreed that it would probably be best used in a steak and kidney pie, thus becoming a Steak, Kidney and Heart pie. If you have mentally prepared yourself for having non steak meat in your mouth then getting bit of heart will be no problem.

Reshape, will let you know when I do lamb hearts.

Norman the playmo vet took it all in her stride, as you would expect. Playmobil gets on with the job in hand

[AmberLeaf]

Thats made me hungry!

I must say it was beautifully diced too.

[NormanTheForeman]

I am a bit worried about that Playmowoman, Slubber! I wouldn't want to be perched on a unicorn on top of a giant heart...........

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

Do you think lamb hearts taste very lamby? I want less hassle and veiny offal to deal with and something more managable, but prefer beef cooked slowly, to lamb.

[EssentialFattyAcid]

Wow!

I Have just caught up with this one after the "roundup"

How many meals did you make out of one heart, and what were the reviews like from the diners?

The photo composition is surely prize winning. Slubber you definitely need to write a cook book.

[everdecreasingcircles]

Hilarious thread! Love the photos. My dad was a butcher but I'd not seen one of those before lol.
SDD I always wondered what went in Campbell's meatballs - the Kings Lynn factory is being demolished at the moment although I think the tower has to be preserved.

[VeryStressedMum]

Have no useful advice to give but very funny huge offally bastard thread

[Slubberdegullion]

Reshape next time I do heart I'm going to order ovine rather than bovine ones. Rl mate also gives stuffed sheep hearts the big thumbs up.

Had to google pigs fry and it sounds like a medley of organs, so heart, lungs, liver and melts. Went on to google melts and it's the spleen. No idea what your wavy bits were SDD, maybe the inside of some of these organs when cooked takes on a wavy appearance.

Now am wondering what spleen tastes like.

Did flash fried wafffffffer thin ox heart last night in a creamy mustard sauce. Tasted great but still different to steak and certainly not tough.

[SexyDomesticatedDab]

No - as I recall the pigs fry was sort of wavy - so more likely to be internal than a couple of round things on your plate.

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

You know, I have a horrible, sneaking suspicion that 'pigs' fries' are their goolies. Could be wrong.

I only remembered to look at this today, Slubber. You may have convinced me to go to the butcher tomorrow and bag some offal. I might wimp out and get sheep hearts, though.

[FourThousandHoles]

It's the tin man from the wizard of oz slubber

[Slubberdegullion]

Well credit where credit is due. Many thanks to PomBearAtTheGatesOfDoom for the ox heart tip , so far so good.

Love the poem FourThousandHoles

I would be very interested to hear what the mouth feel (tm Thready) of lungs is like. I imagine rather spongy but then cooking does weird things to texture. I must like the taste of them as I bloody love haggis.

[SexyDomesticatedDab]

Isn't the lungs and trachi windpipe known as the 'pluck'?

[Trills]

Lights are lungs, yes. No idea why. I've only ever had lung in haggis and it was a weird texture.

[Funtimewincies]

Slubber - I think that lungs are known as 'lights' but I could be wrong.

Maybe they're the testicals .

[FourThousandHoles]

When a man's an empty kettle he should be on his mettle,
And yet I'm torn apart.
Just because I'm presumin' that I could be kind-a-human,
If I only had heart.
I'd be tender - I'd be gentle and awful sentimental
Regarding Love and Art.
I'd be friends with the sparrows ...
and the boys who shoots the arrows
If I only had a heart.
Picture me - a balcony. Above a voice sings low.
Wherefore art thou, Romeo? I hear a beat....
How sweet.
Just to register emotion, jealousy - devotion,
And really feel the part.
I could stay young and chipper
and I'd lock it with a zipper,
If I only had a heart.

[SexyDomesticatedDab]

Think this thread is fab - slubber pictures are excellent.

Remember cooking some kidneys at our Uni house and one of the girls came back and couldn't stand the smell - opened all the windows and stuff.

I have no problems generally with offal - but its when factories create 'meat' - the pink slime stuff if you've seen the Jamie O / HFW type programmes.