Fried Venison Heart

If you’ve got a venison heart from your deer harvest and don’t know what to do with it, this is where you start. An overnight soak in red wine, white wine vinegar, onion, mustard, and pickling spices tenderizes the dense muscle and pulls out any gamey edge, leaving clean, rich flavor behind.

After marinating, the heart gets split, trimmed of all vents and ducts, dredged in flour, and pan-fried in butter over high heat until browned on both sides. The quick sear followed by a lower-heat finish keeps the inside tender and slightly pink rather than tough and grey.

Heart meat is lean, dense, and surprisingly mild when treated right. It tastes more like a fine steak than an organ, especially with this wine-and-spice marinade doing the work overnight.

Chef Tips

• Trim all the valves, arteries, and tough connective tissue from inside the heart before marinating. They don’t soften during cooking.
• Use a glass bowl for the marinade, not metal. The vinegar and wine can react with aluminum and leave a metallic taste.
• Sear over high heat first to build a golden crust, then drop to medium to finish without overcooking the center.
• Don’t cook past medium. Overcooked heart turns chewy and dry fast because it’s so lean.

Variations

• Slice the cooked heart thin and serve on crusty bread with horseradish cream for an open-faced sandwich.
• Use elk or beef heart with the same marinade and method.
• Add a splash of the strained marinade to the pan after frying to deglaze into a quick pan sauce.