This Stuffed Beef Heart recipe is a nourishing traditional recipe from the 1950s-1960s. Our grandparents were wise and included all the superfood nutrition of beef hearts, and other organ meats, in their diets.
Beef Heart has a mild taste and can be enjoyed like a “steak ‘with benefits”.
How To Make Stuffed Beef Heart Recipe
- First, have your butcher remove any fat, arteries, and veins from your beef heart. (Or do that yourself like me!)
- Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F.
- Wash your heart thoroughly, and drain or pat dry.
- Fill the cavity with stuffing.
- Then, skewer the edges together and tie the heart together with string.
- Dredge your heart in a mixture of flour, salt, and pepper. I use 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon salt & 1 teaspoon pepper.
- Melt bacon fat in a cast dutch oven or baking dish with a lid.
- Then brown your stuffed heart on all sides.
- Add 1″ of boiling beef broth to the dutch oven with the browned and stuffed heart.
- Cover with Lid.
- Bake for 2 hours, or till tender.
- Then, remove the strings & skewers.
- Using a sharp knife, carve the stuffed heart into thin slices, and serve warm.
Ingredients
- 1 beef heart (or 2 calves hearts)
- 4 cups bird stuffing
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons bacon fat
- Boiling Beef Broth (or water)
Taste & Texture
We all want the benefits of superfoods, like beef hearts, but how does it taste? And, what is beef heart texture like? After all… All those healthy benefits won’t do us much good unless we can actually eat it!
Beef heart has the taste and texture of brisket and some steaks. Beef heart is a muscle that gets used the most in a cow’s life. Hence, it’s a bit tough. The best method for cooking beef hearts is with low and slow heat. You can also slice it thin and grill it on high heat.
Variation: Pickled Beef Heart Appetizer
I have never tried this recipe but it is recommended by Amy Vanderbilt’s Complete Cook Book from 1961. She says, “This was a wartime standby but as we liked it, it stayed in my active recipe file. A real budget balancer.”
Cook prepared beef heart (veins, arteries, and fat removed). Place beef heart into a dutch oven or a deep baking dish with a lid. Cover with water. Add 1 teaspoon of allspice, 1 bay leaf, and 3 whole cloves. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and Simmer for 3.5 hours.
Add 1/2 cup vinegar to the stock when the heart is tender. Let stand in the vinegar broth for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Then drain and chill. Serve sliced with any “piquant sauce”.
A good source of folate, iron, zinc, and selenium!
Beef heart is a very good source of B2, B6, and B12! All three of these B vitamins are B-complex vitamins. that have a “cardioprotective effect” (That’s because B complex vitamins help protect against heart disease!)
Beef Heart is so healthy with bioavailable nutrients like Vitamin B12, Selenium, Iron, and Choline. A 100 g (3 oz) serving of Beef Heart contains:
140 calories
* Choline! – A 3 oz serving of Beef Heart has over 194 milligrams of Choline! (Great brain food!)
24 grams – Protein
4.31 mg. – Iron (24% DV)
287 mg. – Potassium (6% DV)
21 mg. – Magnesium (5% DV)
21.8 mcg. – Selenium (40% DV)
1.70 mg. – Zinc (15% DV)
7.53 mg. – Niacin (47% DV)
1.79 mg. – Pantothenic acid (26% DV)
1 mg. – Riboflavin (70% DV)
0.3 mg. – Vitamin B6 (21% DV)
0.24 mg. – Vitamin B9/Thiamin (20% DV)
8.5 mcg. – Vitamin B12 (356% DV)
11. 3 mg. – Coenzyme Q10 (no DV established)
17 mcg. – Lycopene
Nutritional Value of Beef Heart
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/beef-heart/
Leave a Reply