Grilled Beef Heart (on skewers) for the simplest salad (2024)

September 12, 2020 By Janine Farzin 5 Comments

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I’ve cooked organ meats enough to have made plenty of mistakes, but also to find their sweet spots and to know some of them pretty well. Alas, this recipe for Grilled Beef Heart is a gem, turning the simplest salad into something special and truly nourishing. And special thanks to Lara for opening her heart, asking about heart, and inspiring this post.

Connected heart, err, connective heart

Heart has much more connective tissue than regular muscle meat. In practice, what this means is that if the temperature goes over 140 degrees, the meat will tighten, dry and curl up. To avoid this, you have two options.

First, you can cook it long enough that the connective tissue actually breaks down and becomes tender again. Like octopus or tripe, it can be rubbery and tough, or after long enough, melt in your mouth tender.

Or, you can keep the temperature below 140 F and avoid the curling and toughening to begin with. I’ve had success with this using a thicker cut in a pan, but less so on the grill. Sliced heart can cook too quickly and become dry and tough.

While I did cut the heart into these slices myself, I’ve since learned that it’s not the best way. Unfortunately, if you buy smaller portions of heart from your farmer (think 1 pound packages), it often comes pre-sliced like this. If you intend to grill the meat, it’s best to buy a slightly larger piece, which often ends up as a half or third of a whole heart – then you can cut or prep it as you like.

Grilled Beef Heart

To prep heart for the grill, cut it into cubes, lace on a skewer and generously season with coarse salt. I use the ‘fine-ground’ Selina Naturally Celtic Sea Salt, which is more coarse than most other salts, and works well.

But! it’s still essential that you don’t get the temperature too high. I’ve found that the best way to do this is to keep the grill open while grilling. The meat will cook for much longer, as a lower temp, browning the outside and crisping the fatty edges. Meanwhile, this leaves the inside tender and medium rare – like a juicy ribeye. But at a deep discount, with higher nutrient-density.

All my heart

This heart post was inspired by Lara who was asking for tips, and in gratitude for her guidance with homeschooling resources… a journey that we’ll be experimenting with this year(!).

Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that even while I’ve taken a break during covid, folks have continued to find and support this blog. It’s so heartwarming to know that there is a growing tribe eating nose to tail and valuing the entire animal that gave it’s life to nourish us, and benefiting from the high nutrient-density that organ meats offer. Thank you for being here!

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