It takes a little heart

blind99

when a friend offers 5 pounds of free chicken hearts, how can you say no?  Open ‘em up and trim them, and wash out any clot. I also gave them a smack with the old meat tenderizer to break down some of the connective tissue. Marinated in “liquid aminos,” brown sugar, Worcestershire. 



Onto the grill. 




And a skewered snack:



Tender, and good flavor, but too salty. The other 4.9# will benefit from this test run. 

Dinner was pork chops and asparagus. For some reason no one else in my family eats the hearts. 





Happy weekend all

Theophan

I've never had a chicken heart, no idea whether I'd like them or not.  I'd guess they'd be more than a little tough/chewy.  Are they?  Your pork chops look fantastic!

The hot dog chili I grew up with is made out of beef heart, which I didn't know at the time, but I always LOVED that stuff, and I order it shipped to me frozen, once in a while (already mixed -- I just add a tiny bit more cumin and chili powder) to make "Coney Island" hot dogs like I remember them.  That's my only experience with any kind of animal heart.

smokingal

I'm all for offal but curious if they have a texture like gizzards?  I could never get into the hard, chewy texture of those things.

Mattman3969

I’m a chicken liver and heart kinda guy.  I would’ve skipped the chops if you would’ve made the other 4.9lbs.   

Gulfcoastguy

I like chicken livers but gizzards and hearts are a bit too tough for me. They become dog treats.

Botch

Cheekun Heart was my favorite treat as a kid, but I haven't had one in 4 decades or so now; don't remember them ever being "tough".... 

blind99

@theophan @smokingal @gulfcoastguy i trimmed them pretty well, and gave them a good WHACK with the heavy meat tenderizer.  they were definitely not too chewy.  i just wish i got the flavor better.

@mattman3969 i've never done chicken livers.  if you have some tips on how you like to do the hearts and livers let me know!  or stop on by if you're in the neighborhood... the other 4.9 lbs is in my freezer, i'm sure the wife would love for them to be gone!

caliking

I’d hit that. The first and only time I’ve had grilled chix hearts was at a Peruvian resto here, and they were delicious. 

My all time favorite  rub is equal parts (by volume) of ground cumin, cayenne, kosher salt. I’ve never gone wrong with it, when not knowing how to season a particular cut/protein. 

bgebrent

Nice. Be still my ....

20stone

For tougher bits, I would think season, SV and then grill might help power through some of the chew. 

As an aside, I was looking for a clip of “the chicken heart” (thump, thump...thump, thump), and find that it was made famous by serial rapist Bill Cosby.  One more bit of youth stripped away. 

nolaegghead

strawberries 

flyer_egger

Great Keto snack    I enjoy them every time I can buy a lb. or more 

I couple skewers of hearts and a couple of livers   good eats 

Mattman3969

blind99 said:

@mattman3969 i've never done chicken livers.  if you have some tips on how you like to do the hearts and livers let me know!  or stop on by if you're in the neighborhood... the other 4.9 lbs is in my freezer, i'm sure the wife would love for them to be gone!

I generally just cook the amount that is in the goodie bag inside the chicken.  I will make a small bowl out of aluminum foil and season everything heavy with Swamp Venom or Firewalk. On the egg they good until they 170 or so.   

OhioEgger

Chicken hearts are one of my favorites. If you ever go to a churrascaria (barbeque restaurant) in Brazil, one of the featured items will be chicken hearts. They bring them out on a spit and you take as many as you like. I generally take all of them. The various spits of all kinds of meat keep coming around until you tell them to stop. And of course they'll keep bringing you cold beer to wash it all down. It's almost a religious experience.

bluebird66

I love chicken hearts and gizzards.

Theophan

Interesting -- thanks for the added info about them not being too chewy.  I don't think I've ever seen chicken hearts in a local store, but maybe next time I get a whole chicken I'll try eating the one that's with it and see what it's like.

OhioEgger

When I was a kid we at chicken gizzards a LOT. Cheapest meat you could buy and I still love them. I know I'm kind of in the minority, but I think they're offal good.

blind99

@OhioEgger my grandparents threw gizzards into spaghetti sauce, or made giblet gravy. I really like trying weird cuts, for fun, but hard to find. 

@nolaegghead damn, that explains why my little girl picked one up, chewed on it, and started screaming! 

td66snrf

I get to eat the heart and gizzard every time I cook a whole chicken. 

lkapigian

Heart Roulade , will do again...was like butter after a 24 hour Sous Vide homemade bacon wrapped around chicken hearts assembled with Meat Glue, cured then in the bath...great this way but will be finishing on the Egg and thinly sliced 

blind99

dang that is genius!  everyone is worried about bacon causing heart trouble...  this thing is like a bacon hug for the heart!

Botch

OhioEgger said:

When I was a kid we at chicken gizzards a LOT. Cheapest meat you could buy and I still love them. I know I'm kind of in the minority, but I think they're offal good.

As are your puns, I almost flagged you!