Alright, I got my warm-weather deer butchered and it's in the freezer. I always eat the heart first and learned how to actually filet the heart to grill it just like a steak. I think it is a much better way to cut it than just slicing to make rings to pan fry. Here's a few photos and what I do. Heart is wonderful meat if treated right.



The pericardium and the atriums have already been cut off in the first photo. There is no meat value with these. They go in the scrap bowl to be sorted out and frozen with other trimmings for my dogs and chickens.

What's left is the ventricles. They are the two large and muscular portions of the heart. If you look down into the heart after cutting off the atriums you will see that there is a muscular division down the middle. Here's where you take a knife and make two cuts, one down the length of each ventricle near the edges. Where to cut will be apparent when you look at the heart. It would not have looked like anything for me to take a photo so just trust me on that.

The heart then becomes a flat piece of meat that's about the same thickness overall and is now a steak.

All that needs to be done from this point is to take a very sharp knife and remove the valve portions and trim off the valve ligaments. That's the thread-like things in the below photo.





On the above photo you can see by the trimmings off to the side there isn't much loss of meat and my deer heart is now a nice flat piece of tender meat ready to grill. I marinade in a vinegar and olive oil salad dressing (homemade). I do this with sheep and hog as well. Always works!

Right off the grill medium rare. Could have cut it with a fork. Very tender.

Looks good.Kind of like butterflying it.I like to partially freeze it and then cut into 1/4" thick slices.I season, then pan fry in butter just browning to about medium rare.Yum

Ooooooooooo. That looks good Ann.

Thanks for the tip and pics!

looks good

Try this, guys, you will be sold on heart forever.

I do the same thing but I also "skin" the outside.
I love it with the liver and onions..............

Awww shucks Ann.
'
I don't see any bite's taken out of it
like you'd expect from bloody dribbles
off your chin when it's fresh!

Looks good, one of my favorite meats.
Usually the evening of the kill.

Thanks for sharing how you do it.

George

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Thanks Ann
Looks awesome

That is the first thing we eat. Usually at camp. I just slice, season and either grill or fry to rare/medium rare.

Good eats. I like your method to open it up.

Jeremy

Makes my mouth water!

If I did eat organs, I would go for that!

Admittedly, it does look good!

the heart is a muscle, just like the tongue.

for Elk and Beef hearts we cut the top off and take the inner chambers out [just like you would a bell pepper]
then we stuff the hearts [anything works] and bake them like a roast or turkey.
then slice it with all the stuff in it and serve each piece.

it might make good sandwiches the next day but I have never seen leftovers.

combine that with a stack of pancakes and Maple serpal and eggs in elk camp, is a good start for the day..Liver for supper..Those parts are handy in camp..Lots of ketchup on Liver and onions makes a good enough meal, although not my favorite, Backstrap and inside felets are easy to get to and oh so much better than liver...