Venison Heart Recipe

Eat medium rare heart steak once and you’ll never leave one in the field again.

Want more steak from your deer? Keep the heart.

Many of us leave deer, elk, and moose innards in the field, but who amongst us would knowingly leave a pile of steak for the coyotes? If you have been leaving venison hearts in the field, or if you’re not sure what to do with the one in your freezer, here is a solution.

Three careful cuts and a bit of judicious trimming transform venison heart into venison steak, and who doesn’t need more steak? A venison heart separates along well-defined muscle seams into three ‘steaks.’ It almost comes with cutting instructions. Cut the largest of these pieces into two. Trim the gnarly bits from the interior and slice the top of the heart to a smooth edge and the steaks are ready to marinate. Once grilled to medium rare your guests won’t believe the steak on their plate is heart.

This recipe uses chili paste, made by pureeing 4-6 kinds of seeded and de-ribbed Mexican peppers reconstituted in hot water. Steaks are marinated overnight and cooked on a blistering hot grill for two minutes a side. The resulting medium-rare steak will have your guests shaking their heads with amazement.

A day in advance prepare the heart and marinade so it has a day to soak of the flavor. Prepare the Chimichurri next and prepare the barley pilaf on the day of service.

Serves Four

Tools and Equipment Needed:

• Cutting board
• Measures
• Chef’s knife
• Boning/steak knife
• Paring knife
• Whisk
• Tongs
• Saucepan
• Mixing bowl
• Grill

Ingredients – Venison Heart and Marinade

1. One venison heart separated along the seams into three steaks, trimmed of the interior gnarly bits. See below in the Prepare the Venison Steak section.
2. 2 garlic cloves, crushed
3. 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
4. 3 tablespoons canola oil
5. 1/2 teaspoon of smoked salt
6. 1 heaping tablespoon of chili paste (Or more is you want to increase the heat.)

(To make chili paste: Remove the seeds and stems from two of each of the following dried Mexican peppers: Guajillo, Cascabel, Morita and Brown Chipotle, Ancho, and Mulato. Chop coarsely, cover in hot water, soak for 30 minutes, and puree to a thick paste.)

Prepare the Venison Steak

Rinse the heart under cold running water.

Cut the heart into three steaks following the seams visible on the exterior of the heart. Cut the largest of these pieces into two.

Trim the fibrous bits carefully from the interior of the heart and trim up what was the top edge of the heart. One is known as the “strings”, you will see them once you separate the heart into the 3 pieces per instructions.  The second is the valves on the top of the heart, cut them off completely.

Mix all of the marinade ingredients, except the oil into a loose paste.

Drizzle the oil into the marinade mixture while whisking.

Add the marinade to a sealable bag and cover with marinade.

Seal and refrigerate overnight or for up to 24 Hours.

As the barley pilaf cooks, remove the steaks from the fridge, drain and wipe with paper towels.

Heat the grill as hot as it will go. (Mine buried the thermometer on the other side of 700 F.)

Pour a tablespoon of oil over the steaks and grill for two minutes on either side. Give the steaks a 1/4 turn at the one-minute mark to give the steaks pretty crisscross grill marks.

At four minutes, remove the steaks and let them rest for five minutes.

Cut the steaks in strips across the grain of the meat and serve over barley pilaf. Let diners add their chimichurri to suit themselves.

Chimichurri Ingredients (Prepare a day in advance, the same time as the marinade.)

1 cup of finely chopped mixed herbs (1/2 cup Parsley, 3 tablespoons Oregano and 1/3 cup Cilantro)

1/2 cup of Olive oil

1 whole lemon, zest and juice

2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped very finely

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

1 finely chopped Thai chili (optional––these things are incendiary)

Chimichurri method (Mix up the Chimichurri a day in advance and refrigerate.)

Rinse herbs in cool water and shake away excess moisture.

Finely chop parsley, cilantro, and oregano

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

Add crushed garlic, lemon zest and juice.

Mix in olive oil and top with finely chopped red pepper.

Barley pilaf ingredients

1 1/2 cup of pearl barley

3 cups water

1/4 cup Celery, finely diced

1/4 cup Leek, finely diced

1/4 cup carrot, finely diced

Barley Pilaf Method

Measure barley and water into a saucepan, bring to a boil, and immediately reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. (Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt if needed, I left the salt out because the combination of steak and chimichurri is plenty salted.)

Wash and finely dice vegetables. Add vegetables to the barley at the halfway mark.

Continue to cook the barley until all the water is absorbed and the barley is cooked. (About 30 minutes.)

Serves 4 People!

My hearty recommendation is that we hunters stop leaving steak in the field. A bit of skilled knife work, a decent marinade, and competent grill skill transforms a throwaway chunk of muscle into a celebration-worthy––like it was magic.