This is a new one for me, but I saw this item on a menu and thought I could try it. I have made bacon, pastrami etc. but haven't cooked or cured heart, so any suggestions are welcome.
The heart was 3# untrimmed.
When I opened the package, I was a little surprised to see it had been sort of butterflied already, but that was fine with me. I was probably going to do that myself anyway because I thought the whole heart may have been too thick for the cure without injection, which I don't have anything for. The fat was easy to trim. I found some silver skin-type material on the outer surface which I will leave alone if there is a next time. it did not come off easily and I took a few chunks out of the muscle. Sorry no pictures that would have been helpful.
I made a wet cure and added coriander seeds, bay leaves, a few juniper berries, course ground and whole black pepper, mustard seeds, a little celery seed garlic and onion powders to the #1, salt, sugar and water. I'll make up a more traditional pastrami rub heavy on coriander and black pepper for after the cure.
Here it is in a gallon ziplock bag ready for a week-long nap in the fridge. I'll take it out of the cure Friday or Saturday and smoke it Sunday along with some belly bacon that's already on its way. Stay tuned...
The heart was 3# untrimmed.
When I opened the package, I was a little surprised to see it had been sort of butterflied already, but that was fine with me. I was probably going to do that myself anyway because I thought the whole heart may have been too thick for the cure without injection, which I don't have anything for. The fat was easy to trim. I found some silver skin-type material on the outer surface which I will leave alone if there is a next time. it did not come off easily and I took a few chunks out of the muscle. Sorry no pictures that would have been helpful.
I made a wet cure and added coriander seeds, bay leaves, a few juniper berries, course ground and whole black pepper, mustard seeds, a little celery seed garlic and onion powders to the #1, salt, sugar and water. I'll make up a more traditional pastrami rub heavy on coriander and black pepper for after the cure.
Here it is in a gallon ziplock bag ready for a week-long nap in the fridge. I'll take it out of the cure Friday or Saturday and smoke it Sunday along with some belly bacon that's already on its way. Stay tuned...
