Beef Heart!

[PRMoon]

I just bought beef heart for the first time. It was cheap as all hell! I got it at less than a dollar a pound in the scraps section of the super market (calfs tail, beef comb, beef kidney et etc mostly organ meat). I showed my g/f and she was disgusted! Score one, cause that b*tch makes a habit of cooking my food at her whim, which I would be okay with if she didn't eat it or invite guest over to eat it with her! So I wait till she goes to work and I grill one of these bad boys up. Holy crap it's the leanest beef I've ever had. There's almost no marbling but I put some grill seasonig on it and it was awesome.

I know heart is muscle so it makes perfect sense why it doesn't taste like other organ meats (I like liver and intestines too but they don't have the protein content). It's a great way to bulk up or maintain for cheap if you like steak or red meats.

 

[Werman]

If you like organ meats, I would only eat them every now and then. Like 1-2 times per month. They are CRAZY high in cholesterol, and that includes beef heart. Stick with red meat 1-2 times per week, fish 1-2 times, and poultry the rest.

 

[Throttle]

nonsense. high levels of dietary cholesterol are not the reason to avoid any food unless you have familial hypercholesterolemia (if you don't know what that means, and you've ever gotten blood work done, you probably don't have it).

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=125749

 

[Werman]

I used to eat chicken liver quite often. When I turned 30, I got my cholesterol checked. Low and behold, it was high. When the doctor asked about my diet, I told him I ate chicken livers. He advised against this. I knocked off the organ meat, and a year later, it was fine.

Coincidence?

 

[Hughman]

High cholesterol in food =/= high cholesterol in blood.
High saturated fat = High cholesterol in blood

Now I have no idea if animal organs are high in saturated fats or not. I imagine heart is pretty low as it's pure muscle. Certainly lower than 'normal' red meats. EDIT: Thanks to the power of Google, beef heart is high in saturated fat, at about 20%. A whole heart is about 400-500 kcals.

Chicken liver with onions and gravy and a small portion of rice, or just a hunk of bread, is real nice. High in vitamins and protein. And costs pennies to make.

 

[PRMoon]

I'd wager none of you have looked at the statistics for cholestoral and fat content POST butchring and fillet. Beef heart BEFORE you trim the fat off of the outside has a ton of fat and cholestoral. If you get it butcherd though it's just lean meat with almost no fat. So sayeth the butcher, "It's the LEANEST cut of meet available from a cow" since there's no marbeling."