I wasn't so sure about this month's FoodBlogRoll Joust of heart, plum and kohlrabi because I knew I couldn't get kohlrabi and I had never prepared heart before. But I wanted more practice with my sous vide bath since I'm starting dinners in the next week. I cracked open a cookbook that I haven't found too useful, although its very good - Under Pressure by Keller. I riffed off of his confit of calf's heart to make this dish:
Brine
180 g Kosher salt
60 g Curing salt
105 g Sugar
3 kg Cold water
Boil half of the water, add salts and sugar and stir to dissolve. Add remaining cold water and then heart. Cover and let sit overnight.
Heart
1 Cow's heart
500 g Rendered duck fat, cold
Remove heart from brine and pat dry. Rub fat around heart and vacuum. Cook sous vide for 24 hours at 174.9ºF (79.4ºC). Remove the heart from the bag, strain reserving fat and hold until service. Put fat in saucepan and heat.
Trim excess fat and tissue from heart and slice meat very thinly - I used a meat slicer.
Turnips
Baby turnips
15 g Rendered duck fat
Salt
Sugar
30 g Chick stock
Clean and trim turnips, toss with salt and sugar. Coat in fat and vacuum. Cook sous vide 30 minutes at 185ºF (85ºC). Place turnips and fat in saucepan and add stock. Season and glaze the turnips in the sauce.
Plums
2 C Red table wine
4 Plums, pitted and quartered
1 T Whole peppercorns - I used Balinese long peppers
50 g Sugar
Place everything in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Let rest covered until service.
Drop meat into hot fat for a few seconds. Lay the plums on the base, top with turnips, then meat. Drizzle plate with a good balsamico.
Let me just say that I really loved this and ate almost the entire heart - I am very iron enriched right now!
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5 comments:
Hmm, heart and rendered duck fat - very cheeky! ;) It does look really good. I'd love for it to be my first taste of a heart dish.
You just don't see anyone cooking heart of anything, any more, except that when I cook chicken gizzards, all the little hearts are separated out, dusted with seasoned flour, and flash-fried for Chris, who deems them "Gucci Popcorn."
Way back when a small-town butcher would and could order you almost any part of most any animal, my parents used to regularly get "a pair of brains" from the little corner store.
And in my teenage zest for kitchen experiment, and knowing the rich mouthfeel of chicken hearts, I had the idea that to win that chili-cooking contest, I'd just get him to order me a calf's heart.
I had him grind it twice with the beef chunks and a little pork fat, and it was marvelous, rich chili, with an undescribable something which none of the other ground-beef entries had. And I didn't tell the secret ingredient until it had been tasted, the whole two gallons eaten by the eager judges, bystanders and other cooks, and I HAD to print out the recipe.
Your beautiful plate looks luscious.
Very creative and resourceful...and beautifully photographed. I could not get past the 'heart' ingredient but you make it look actually tempting.
Okay. I've posted my recipes. Hopefully, others will follow. I'm still amazed at how people are turned off by heart meat. It's so good, and good for you!
I had the same experience, racheld. Once folks have tried it,though, they have to have the recipe. Yup. Just don't reveal the little 'secret' ingredient to whet the appetites.
Yours looks so yummy, Blogquat. I don't have a sous vide machine, but I have adapated it to solar cooking and get a great result.
Nice job Rob. I've eaten heart before (not cooked by me) and I agree that it is tasty. It's just not usually available where I live so I had to skip this round. Looks like they're moving the joust to another site that I'm completely unfamiliar with so I don't know if I'll be following it anymore or not.
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