Valentines Day Beef Heart Stew

The girl got me a Valentine’s Day gift, all she mentioned is she got it from The Meat Man of Adelaide – what’s in the boooox…?

That is not a heart-shaped box – kinda.

D’awwww. Our hands on my heart…

But, now we’re hungry – let’s get cooking!

Ingredients

• Medium size beef heart (1kg/2lb)
• 1/4 cup gluten free flour
• Salt and pepper
• 2 carrots, quartered
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 1 parsnip, cubed
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of duck fat
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon of rosemary, chopped
• 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, chopped
• 1 chilli, pierced
• 1 cup of red wine
• 2-3 cups of beef stock

TL;DR Instructions

• Slice heart into strips
• Coat with flour, salt, and pepper
• Sear for ~40 secs each side in butter/fat
• Sauté onion and garlic
• Deglaze pot with red wine
• Reduce wine by half
• Add bay leaves, chilli, herbs, and onion – stir
• Add heart slices – stir
• Add beef stock to just about cover the meat
• Simmer for half an hour
• Add veggies
• Simmer for 2+ hours
• Eat your heart out

Timing

Preparation: 1 glass of wine

Cook: 1-6 bottles of wine – depending on number of guests and cook time

Method

Cut heart into 1/2 inch slices, lengthwise.

Whilst the heart itself is very well covered in fat, the inside is quite lean, and has a great feeling texture.

Combine flour, salt, and pepper.

I’m personally not one for eating flour products, but this isn’t a huge amount, we only used about 1/4-1/3 of a cup in the end.

Coat heart slices.

It’s actually a very light dusting, and will mostly come off in the bottom of the pot to help create the sauce.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of duck fat in a pot.

Or whatever fat you have handy really.

Over medium heat, sear the heart pieces for ~40 secs per side.

Doesn’t really matter if you under or over do it, this is really just creating the base for the sauce, the meat itself will be cooked slowly for hours yet.

Thought I’d try a piece just how it comes out seared – very nice. The texture is a bit rubbery but it’s not chewy, and the taste is quite strong – about halfway between rump steak and liver. The girl did not approve, but I thought it was quite decent.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan and sauté onion and garlic, do not brown.

Deglaze pot with red wine and reduce by half.

Don’t sweat it on the wine choice, I’ve used shitty box goon and $85 a bottle stuff to make sauces before – I can’t tell the difference – it’s always amazing.

Add the bay leaves, chilli, herbs, and onion. Mix it up a bit.

Add the heart and mix it around to get it well distributed, and put in enough beef stock to just about cover the meat.

Leave on low-medium heat – just bubbling – for 30 minutes, you should be halfway through your second glass of wine by now, enjoy the aromas floating around the house, then add the rest of the veggies.

Leave it to cook for another 2+ hours, stirring a couple times.

The longer you cook it the more soft and delectable the meat will be, around about 2 hours leaves the meat with a slight spongey texture, but very soft without being chewy.

We then removed the meat and veg from the broth and served it with mashed spuds, and used some of the broth to make a gravy (not pictured), however this would be equally well served as a stew or even chunky soup.

The Verdict

Amazing.

Most of the “gamey” taste of the heart that was experienced after a quick sear was gone, and it was just a deep – well, hearty – taste left.

The final texture of the meat after 2+ hours is kind of spongey but not chewy at all, really enjoyable, and I suspect the leftovers we have will make a sensational base for another stew.

Hearty stew – 10/10 would beat again.