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Slow-cooking a beef heart is simple, economical and delicious. With just a few minutes of preparation, it yields enough meat to feed a family for days and a stock that imparts a nutrient-dense, meaty base to multiple dishes. Both the cooked meat and the stock store well in the fridge and the freezer too.
Instructions
- 1 whole beef heart
- Ample non-chlorinated water
- A carrot and an onion
- optional: fresh herbs
Ingredients
- Hold the heart under running water, cleaning it of any blood and allowing the water to pass through its cavities.
- Place the heart, whole, into your slow cooker.
- Add the whole carrot, the whole, unpeeled onion and optional herbs then fill the slow-cooker with unchlorinated water. If possible, cover the heart, if not get the water level as high as you safely can.
- Turn the slow cooker onto low and leave overnight. It can cook for anything from 12 to 24+ hours.
- The next day, when cooked, lift the heart out of the slow cooker and place it on a plate. Carve off slices to enjoy the meat warm.
- Store the remaining heart in the fridge (for up to 5 days) – it will give you ready-to-slice meat for lunches and dinners. You can also freeze portions of the cooked heart – I double wrap mine in baking paper and tie tightly with string.
- Meanwhile, discard the carrot and onion and then pour the liquid remaining in the slow cooker through a sieve into a bowl. This meat stock can be used as cooking liquid for grains and pulses, reduced and made into gravy, or you can make it the basis for a stew. Just like the cooked meat, It also freezes really well.
This sounds amazing! I do not have a slow cooker though. Could this be made on the stovetop on lowest heat setting?
Yes, it could. With a big pan and the lowest heat you have. If I was doing it this way, I’d start it early morning so that I could watch it during the day.
If I don’t own a slow cooker I am assuming I can use a stock pot on low simmer as I do for bone stock and broth.
Yes, you could!
Is using bottled water to clean / cook the heart best? Our water is unfortunately chlorinated.
I could also use distilled water?
You could use either of these options, yes. Or perhaps an easier option is to pour out a large amount of water the night before and leave it to stand. This way a lot of the chlorine will evaporate.
Hello 👋 would this recipe work in an instapot or pressure cooker?
Thanks!
I have a Dutch oven from All Clad. I have slow-cooked meat all night in it–cover with water and put in oven at 250. It works great, and I think it’s what I’ll do with the beef heart I have. Any Dutch oven will work, of course.
I need a recipe for the oven. Does anyone have one?