Beef heart stew is a beef stew in every way that matters. Heart is a muscle, and it tastes like lean, firm beef, not like liver. Trimmed, cubed, browned and braised with onion, red wine, carrots and potatoes for about two and a half hours, it turns tender and rich, and the gravy is as deep as any you will make with chuck.

The one job that is different is the trimming. A heart comes with valves, tough white cords and a cap of hard fat that need cutting away before you cube it. It takes about fifteen minutes with a sharp knife, and the steps below walk you through it.

At a glance: serves 4 to 6. Prep 30 minutes, cook about 2 hours 45 minutes.

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Beef Heart

This recipe uses 2 pounds of beef heart, enough for a pot that serves four to six.

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

Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, was talking about the interest in whole-animal cooking:

“I think we're seeing people paying attention to all of the different cuts”
Gray Shipley

Heart is a good one to start paying attention to. It cooks and eats like a lean, firm cut of beef, so a stew is a gentle introduction: nothing about the finished pot announces that it is offal.

Ingredients

2 pounds beef heart
2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons beef tallow or olive oil, divided
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup dry red wine, or more stock
3 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 4 sprigs fresh
4 carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks
1 cup frozen peas (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Instructions

Trim the heart. Cut it open lengthwise so it lies flat. Cut away the valves and the tough white cords inside the chambers, the tubes at the top, the hard fat on the outside, and as much of the thin silverskin as you can. What is left is dense, dark red muscle.
Cut the heart into 1 1/4-inch cubes and pat them dry. Toss them with 1 teaspoon of the salt, the pepper and the flour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the fat in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the cubes in two or three batches, without crowding, for 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Move them to a plate.
Turn the heat to medium and add the remaining fat and the onion. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until soft, scraping up the browned bits. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.
Pour in the wine and simmer for 2 minutes, scraping the bottom. Add the stock, Worcestershire, bay leaves, thyme, the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and the heart with its juices. Bring to a simmer.
Cover and cook at a bare simmer on the stove, or in the oven at 325 degrees, for 1 1/2 hours.
Stir in the carrots and potatoes, pushing them under the liquid. Cover and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour more, until the heart is tender and the potatoes are cooked through.
Stir in the peas and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme stems, taste for salt and pepper, scatter with parsley and serve.

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What does beef heart taste like?

Like beef. Heart is a muscle that works constantly, so it is lean, firm and finely grained, with a clean, beefy flavor and a slightly springy bite. It has none of the strong, bitter taste of liver or kidney. In a stew, most people would take it for a lean cut of beef, and a well-braised one at that.

How to trim a beef heart

Lay the heart on a board and cut it open along one side, so you can see inside the chambers. Inside you will find the valves and the thin white cords that anchor them; cut those out. At the top, trim off the thick tubes where the blood vessels joined. On the outside, slice away the hard white fat. Finally, slide a thin knife under the silverskin and peel off what you can. Expect to trim away a fair amount: 2 pounds of heart usually leaves about 1 1/2 pounds of clean meat.

Fast or slow, never in between

Heart is lean, and it is tender at either end of the cooking range. Seared hot and fast and sliced thin, it is tender like a steak; that is how beef heart skewers work. Braised low for two hours or more, it softens all the way through. Cooked for twenty or forty minutes in between, it is at its toughest, so do not judge the stew too early. If a cube is still firm at the end of the time, give it another 20 minutes.

More beef heart dishes

Once you have trimmed one, heart is easy to use. Cubed and marinated, it makes good skewers for the grill. Sliced thin, it goes into a stir-fry or fajitas. Ground and mixed half and half with ground beef, it goes into chili or tacos. Left in large pieces, it can be cooked low and slow like a pot roast for sandwiches. The guides below cover the basics.

Food safety

USDA FSIS does not list heart separately on its chart, so the figure for whole cuts of beef applies: 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes. A stew passes that long before the heart is tender, but check a cube with an instant-read thermometer all the same. If you grind heart for chili or tacos, cook it to 160 degrees F, the FSIS figure for ground meat. Reheat leftover stew to 165 degrees F, the figure for leftovers. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.

Beef Heart Stew