Beef Heart in a Slow Cooker

Of all the recipes for beef heart, the ones in a slow cooker are the easiest. You trim the heart, cut it into a few large pieces, sear them, and leave them on low for 7 to 8 hours on a bed of onions and garlic with beef stock and a splash of cider vinegar. It comes out like a tender pot roast that you can slice thin for sandwiches or shred for tacos.

This is a different dish from a beef heart stew. A stew cuts the heart into cubes and braises them on the stove with potatoes and carrots. Here the heart stays in big pieces, the cooker does the work, and the result is meat to build other meals around.

At a glance: serves 6. Prep 25 minutes, cook 7 to 8 hours on low.

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Beef Heart

This recipe uses 2 pounds of beef heart, enough for six sandwiches or a dozen tacos.

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Cooking for a full freezer instead? See the 1/8 beef share subscription.

Talking about the interest in cooking with every cut of the animal, and with tallow, Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, said:

“10 years ago, I was trying to talk to anybody who would listen and, oh, you know, everybody wants to do it now.”

Gray Shipley

Heart is one of the cuts that conversation is about. If you have been curious but not sure where to start, the slow cooker is the easy way in: 25 minutes of work in the morning, and a pot roast by dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef heart, thawed if frozen
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon beef tallow or olive oil
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 buns or 12 warm corn tortillas, with pickled onions or slaw, to serve

Instructions

1. If the heart is frozen, thaw it in the refrigerator first, overnight or longer. Trim it: cut it open, then cut away the valves, the white cords inside, the tubes at the top and the hard fat on the outside. Cut the trimmed heart into 3 or 4 large pieces, roughly 2 to 3 inches thick.
2. Pat the pieces dry and season them all over with the salt, pepper and paprika.
3. Heat the fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sear the pieces for 3 to 4 minutes per side, until well browned.
4. Spread the onions and garlic in the slow cooker and lay the heart on top.
5. Pour off any excess fat from the skillet. Add the stock, vinegar, Worcestershire, brown sugar and oregano to the pan and scrape up the browned bits as it comes to a simmer. Pour it over the heart and tuck in the bay leaves.
6. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours, until the heart is fork-tender and pulls apart easily.
7. Lift the heart onto a board. Slice it thinly across the grain for sandwiches, or shred it with two forks for tacos. Skim the fat from the juices, remove the bay leaves, and spoon the onions and juices over the meat.
8. Serve on buns or in warm tortillas with pickled onions or slaw. Refrigerate any leftovers within two hours.

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Recipes with beef heart: sandwiches and tacos

For sandwiches, slice the heart thin across the grain, pile it on a toasted bun, and spoon over some of the onions and juices. A little horseradish or mustard and a few pickles finish it. For tacos, shred the meat, crisp it for a few minutes in a hot skillet with a spoonful of the fat from the cooker, and serve it in warm corn tortillas with chopped onion, cilantro, lime and salsa.

Leftover meat keeps well in its juices in the fridge, and it makes a quick hash with diced potatoes, onion and a fried egg on top.

Beef heart in a crock pot: low or high?

Low is better. Heart is lean, and 7 to 8 hours on low lets its connective tissue soften slowly without drying out the meat. You can cook it on high for 4 to 5 hours if you have to, but it tends to come out firmer and less juicy. If it is not tender at the end of the time, give it another hour. Heart gets tougher before it gets tender, and the only fix is more time. Any crock pot or slow cooker of 4 quarts or more will hold this recipe.

Why sear first?

Searing is optional, but it is worth the ten minutes. The browned surface adds a roasted flavor that a slow cooker cannot make on its own, and scraping the pan into the cooking liquid carries that flavor into the juices. If you are short of time, skip it. The meat will still be tender, just a little milder.

Trimming the heart

A beef heart comes with valves, tough white cords inside its chambers, thick tubes at the top and hard fat on the outside. Cut it open so you can see inside, then trim all of those away with a sharp knife, along with as much of the outer silverskin as comes off easily. It takes about fifteen minutes, and it is the difference between tender slices and chewy ones.

Food safety

USDA FSIS has three slow cooker rules that matter here. Thaw the heart before it goes in; never start it from frozen. Refrigerate leftovers within two hours. And reheat leftovers on the stove, in the microwave or in the oven to 165 degrees F, not in the slow cooker. See the FSIS guide to slow cookers and food safety.

FSIS does not list heart separately on its temperature chart, so the figure for whole cuts of beef applies: 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes. Eight hours on low passes that long before the heart is tender, but check it with an instant-read thermometer all the same. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.