Cooking Deer Heart

I'm pretty open to trying new recipes, particularly if it's the game I shoot myself. But, I wasn't completely sold on the idea of deer heart. I had heart once before, pickled deer heart, and I wasn't a big fan of it. 

But, I hate the idea of wasting anything so when I shot a big doe this October I decided to save the heart and do some research on recipes. I wasn't even sure how to clean the heart. I ended up finding a recipe for stuffed beef heart, and decided to adjust it to suit venison. And a new recipe was born.

And it was delicious. 

I'm going to list the ingredients here before I go through instructions on how to prep and cook.

1 deer heart

1 cup of diced mushrooms

3 garlic cloves, minced

1&1/2 cups spinach leaves

1/4 cup parmesan

Salt & Pepper

Olive Oil

First, you're going to want to clean the heart. Start by running the heart under cold water to rinse off any excess blood or dirt that may be remaining. Squeeze the heart a few times to pump the water through and clean it out. Pat it dry.

To make it simple, I just cut off the top of the heart where it was connected to the deer. This will open it up and you'll be able to see the main arteries. Cut off any excess fat on the outside, then cut the heart halfway through, down one side to the main arteries. It may look a bit gross at first, as there may be dried blood remaining. Using a sharp knife, cut out any connective tissues until you're left with a clean piece of venison. (I didn't worry about getting the outside perfectly clean, a little fat is okay.)

Your finished product should look like this:

Optional step: brine in salt water overnight. I did this to draw out any extra blood. 

When you're ready to prepare the heart, remove from brine and pat dry. Season well with salt and pepper.

Next, add a little olive oil to a frying pan and heat it over medium-high. Add the mushrooms and garlic and saute until soft. Add the spinach and continue to saute until the spinach is wilted and there is no liquid remaining in the pan. Add the parmesan and remove the pan from the heat. 

Lay the heart out flat and spoon the mushroom mixture over the heart.

Roll tightly and secure with toothpicks. (You can also use butchers twine.)

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over high heat. Once oil is hot, add the heart and brown the outside. Turn the heart until it's browned on all sides. Remove from pan and place in baking dish.

Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes per pound. 23 minutes was perfect for the heart I made. Note that over cooking will make it tough and ruin the flavor.  I like it medium rare, so you can cook a little longer if need be...a meat thermometer can be a help to ensure its cooked to proper temps.

After you take it out of the oven, cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. 

Serve immediately.