Deer Heart and Liver Recipes

[Elkoholic]

Have Dave shoot an elk. Clean elk heart and trim into thirds. Grill elk heart and tenderloin to medium rare. Slice and eat with potatoes and onions fried in way too much butter.

Ensconce yourself in the warm embrace of the impending food coma.

^^^ @Gerald Martin, You beat me to it!
No need to soak, wake up after late night pack out, dig heart out of game meat bag and start trimming it for cooking prep. Rare-med is a must! Enjoy!

 

[ThunderNocked]

We love heart. Our favorite way to cook is take flour and seasoning salt and garlic powder and hand mix.
crack eggs into a bowl.
cut the meat into strips.
Egg, Flour and then pan fry quickly on a higher heat. We use Cast Iron - with olive oil or avacado oil - sometimes butter. Quick fry and then you can eat alone or on a salad. DELICIOUS!!!

 

[Caseknife]

Always growing up and in elk camp, we packed out the heart and liver, which really filled up the knap-sacks we carried, think they were WWII gas mask bags. It was always liver and onions for dinner that first night after someone killed an elk. Not so much now, can't remember the last time I had liver, but the liver out of a little spike buck is pretty good, fried in flour and salt and pepper and sliced onions until crispy.

Made Heart Parmesan with the heart from my WT buck this fall. Trim good, slice into 1/2" thick slices, put through a meat tenderizer a time or two, dip in eggs and Italian seasoned flour, back in egg and then in flour again, into a pan of hot olive oil and sear on both sides. Top with homemade marinara sauce and put in the oven for a while and then top with parmesan cheese and broil until it looks good, yummy.

 

[Caseknife]

The liver stayed in the gut pile to feed the Ravens, magpies and Bald Eagles for our viewing pleasure across the field from the house

 

[D_Walt]

Have you checked with the Liver King for recipes?

I think he advises you marinade it 24 hours in douche.

 

[kansasdad]

I do my hearts like Danielle shows in this video:

How To Clean A Heart with Danielle Prewett

Danielle walks Steve through the intricacies of cleaning a whitetail deer heart.

www.themeateater.com

Much better than the onion ring style slices that don’t get rid of the endometrium (lining of the chambers) and valves.

I remember the first time I had camp-style liver quite vividly. My dad had killed an Eland (Kenya) and he sliced the liver super thin, heavily salted/peppered and cooked in a screaming hot pan, (blackened style?). He didn’t overcook it, but with the thinness and the high heat the strips didn’t dance in the pan for any longer than 45 seconds a side.

I do this with my liver, and have a Philly cheesesteak style veggie sauté to go with it (no typical brown gravy/soggy onions mix).

 

[Nick87]

I usually pan fry the heart. The best way I've ever had it was sliced and pickled.
Don't have the details but I had a friend make it once he sliced it open then stuffed it with stuffing tie it back together and cooked it in a Dutch oven. Was very good

 

[RobG]

I do my hearts like Danielle shows in this video:

How To Clean A Heart with Danielle Prewett

Danielle walks Steve through the intricacies of cleaning a whitetail deer heart.

www.themeateater.com

Nice. Much more deterministic than my method of whacking away at it.

 

[huntin24/7]

I tried the meat eater whiskey butter heart recipe on my wife’s whitetail heart the other day. I thought it was really good. I don’t like liver so can’t help with that.

 

[RG_Adult_Onset_Hunter]

I applaud you using more of the animal, there is a lot more you can take from the field and make into awesome dishes.

For the liver there are some fantastic pate recipe's out there which all amount to cook the thing medium (still just a bit of pink in the middle), add something for flavour (cognac, sage, thyme, etc) and add a thickener (cream cheese or butter work great). Blend all well together and refrigerate in a form, this makes for a rich cracker spread.

I am a bit more of a traditionalist with the liver though. Caramelize onions,the easy way to do this is to slice them really thin, generously cover in olive oil, and put them in a heavy lidded pot in the oven at 325 for several hours. The onions will transform to something intensely sweet with a bit of crispiness. I pan sear the liver in butter if I can clean the kitchen before my wife sees it, or grape seed oil if she will beat me to the punch (butter is going to spatter like crazy but tastes way better). I serve the liver over a bed of grits, with the caramelized onions on top. This is a classic "poor" food, and it the first thing I eat every time I get a fresh deer.

Not a lot needs to be done to the heart. Schnitzel is a good dish, but I think you just lose a lot of the texture that makes heart unique. These days I tend to just slice it in to rings for pan browning to be served with a decent salad. Simple is best sometimes.

 

[Gr8bawana]

 

[TomTeriffic]

For the first time ever, I brought the heart and liver back from the field. Now I’m looking for recipes.

Any one have any suggestions?

Slice and grill up the deer heart and liver for your dogs. Add to dry dog food with a little warm water for gravy.

 

[JLS]

@morley.tyler if you do gutless it’s even easier to forget about the liver. Best. Recipe. Ever.

 

[Gellar]

Lightly floured deer heart season with tenderizing salt and fried in butter and onions.


Anticuchos de corazon, Peruvian grilled heart skewers following Hank Shaws recipe. And a tenderloin.

 

[JTHOMP]

I've started eating livers this eat and have become a huge fan but admit it's not for everybody. My preferred way for both is to slice pan fry with whatever you're preferred seasoned salt is. It's easy to eat a deer or pig heart in one sitting so I do that. I'll often add pan friend liver into rice and beans for meals to bring to work. If not a fan of liver but still want to eat it you can dilute it by adding it with ground meat. Recently did a batch of grind with 18% liver. Still haven't tried it yet. My wife can't tolerate the taste of liver but still wants to eat it for nutrition reasons. We'll see if she likes it.

 

[choc dogs]

I’ve always believed that when God designed game animals, he designed them so when you cut them open, parts fall out. You’re not supposed to eat the parts that fall out.

Kept a deer liver every fall when I lived in Oklahoma. Did the magic trick where you put it in water attached to a hook and it turned into catfish.

 

[Birdman707]

I've always had a soft spot for a heart sandwich....Best hunt camp sandwich imo. Any Philly Cheese Steak recipe works great for it!

 

[JV842]

Wild pig liver…milder than any calf liver….awesome
Venison heart cooked anyway but needs to be rare medium; grandson’s favorite
Venison heart ceviche….awesome

 

[Dave N]

Old thread but I was searching for ideas. I love heart sandwiches but the wife doesn't like the smell of it cooking the way I make it. Going to try my latest deer heart cleaned up and cut into about 3/4 inch cubes. Planning to do the old egg wash and seasoned flour and deep fry like fried gizzards. Hope it turns out ok as an appetizer for dinner tonight.

 

[Jbotto]

Hank Shaw has two recipes we use for this.

Heart: Peruvian heartskewers. My wife’s favorite way to eat hearts. I don’t use other recipes anymore.

Liver: deer camp liver and onions. The citrus makes liver good.