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Recipes:
Stout steamed beef heart with smoked oyster dressing
Ingredients: beef heart (I used a pound per person, as you’ll lose a lot when cutting out the fat and gristle; if you like to keep those in, you’ll only need around half-pound per person); smoked oysters (one can per pound of beef heart); bread (two slices per pound of heart); onion; salt and pepper; lots of butter; stout beer (1 bottle per two pounds of beef heart).
Directions: the beef heart can be very tough, so I marinated it in beer for two overnights, inside a cool place (refrigerator). Any beer will do well, but I typically use Sam Adams Boston Lager, as it’s clean and crisp with a nice body to it. After the first night of marinating, the heart is a bit more tender, so take it out of the marinade (do not throw away!) and cut out the fat and gristle, making sure to clean out the inside valves. Then put the heart back in the beer marinade and add a little more fresh beer if necessary. You can of course use another marinade, such as Worcestershire sauce; anything that will help break down the meat will work.
On the same night as you clean up the heart, put the bread out to dry overnight. You can give it a small kickstart by toasting slightly first, but I usually wait to see what it looks like the next day, and then toast a little if needed.
On the third day (after two overnights in the marinade), take the beef heart out and let it warm up to room temperature. While the heart is warming up, make the stuffing, starting by cutting the dried bread into small pieces. In a saucepan, melt butter (I used a tablespoon per pound of heart, but use as much or little as you prefer; the stuffing will not become dry as it will also steam in the heart from the stout beer). In the melted butter, put cut up onion (to taste) and let brown (you can also use dried onion if onion itself is too strong for you). Once the onion browns, stir in the bread and smoked oyster, until all ingredients have softened and mixed together.
Once the beef heart has dried, season both the outside and the inside with salt and pepper (and garlic salt if you like it), rubbing the seasonings into the meat. Then put the stuffing inside and on top of the heart. Depending on how much room is in the valve area, you may have stuffing falling off the top of the heart. It’s fine, don’t worry about it.
Place the beef heart and stuffing on a piece of aluminum foil. Make sure whatever you use is strong, as it needs to hold in the heart and the stout beer. Fold the foil up and around the heart, creating a bowl like structure. Then pour in the stout beer, using about 8 oz. of the bottle for every two pounds of heart. The remaining few ounces of the beer are to be drunk and enjoyed as you cook. Place the foil-cupped heart-dressing-stout package into a baking dish and cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking time will vary, but takes about 90 minutes for each pound of heart. The stout will keep everything steamed, allowing the stuffing to come out moist and the heart to come out with the consistency of liver.
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