Beef heart is considered a by-product and has a specific taste that not everyone likes. But if you know the secrets of its proper preparation, you can decorate any family dinner with dishes from it. Like meat, beef heart goes well with vegetables and herbs.
A feature of the beef heart preparation is the need to soak it. Rinse it, remove arteries and pieces of fat from the pulp, cut into large pieces and soak in salted cold water for 3 hours. The water must be changed every half hour, all the while slightly adding some salt.
Beef heart stewed with carrots
To prepare this deliciously delicate dish, you will need:
- 500 g of beef heart;
- 800 g of carrots;
- 1 large onion;
- 300 ml sour cream with a fat content of 15%;
- 5 tbsp. vegetable oil;
- dry spicy herbs; basil, oregano, thyme;
- 1 cm of fresh ginger root or ½ tsp. dry ground;
- ½ tbsp. dry white wine;
- ground black pepper;
- salt to taste.
Boil water in a large saucepan and add the soaked pieces of beef heart. Wait for the water to boil again, remove the foam, reduce the heat to low and cook the heart for another 45 minutes. Peel and grate the carrots. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet with high sides and fry the onion, chopped in half rings, until transparent. Add the carrots to the skillet, stir in the onions, and cook together until the carrots are tender.
If too much foam is formed when boiling a beef heart, the water in which it was boiled must be drained and boiled new.
Put half the contents of the pan into a cauldron or wok, put boiled pieces of beef heart on top of it, salt and pepper it with spicy dry herbs and finely grated fresh ginger or dry ginger in powder. Pour wine over everything. Put the remaining onions and carrots on top of the heart, add a little salt and pepper to the dish. Put the cauldron on the stove, simmer, covered with a lid for 15 minutes, so that the alcohol evaporates from the wine. Put sour cream in a cauldron, stir. Remove it from the stove, leave to stand under the lid for 10-15 minutes, so that the heart is saturated with the aroma of herbs. Serve sprinkled with finely chopped fresh herbs.
For a side dish with beef heart stewed in carrots, you can serve mashed potatoes, boiled crumbly rice or buckwheat.
Beef heart cutlets
To make 6 patties, you will need:
- 500 g of beef heart;
- 1 egg;
- 2 medium sized potatoes;
- 5-6 tbsp. vegetable oil;
- 3-4 tbsp. wheat flour or ½ tbsp. bread crumbs;
- 1 large onion;
- dry spicy herbs;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- ground black pepper;
- salt.
Pass the soaked heart, onion, garlic and potatoes through a meat grinder. Add an egg to the minced meat, salt and pepper, add dry herbs. Knead the minced meat well and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. Remove the minced meat, shape the patties, and coat them in flour or breadcrumbs. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan, fry the cutlets in it on both sides until golden brown. Place the fried cutlets in a saucepan, add ½ cup of boiled hot water to it, simmer covered over low heat for 20 minutes.
