Actually cooking organ meats week after week
I’ve cooked organ meats enough to have made plenty of mistakes, but also to find their sweet spots and to know some of them pretty well. Alas, this recipe for Grilled Beef Heart is a gem, turning the simplest salad into something special and truly nourishing. And special thanks to Lara for opening her heart, asking about heart, and inspiring this post….
“Tomorrow is just another day. I’m afraid you’re going to screw up the rest of your lives…”
Sauteed Brains were inspired by the 1988 film Stand and Deliver. And are a reminder that every day is our best day. That tomorrow is no different. That we already have everything we want. Use your mind, harness some discipline, and shape your life as you dream it be.
I was too young to watch Stand and Deliver when it was released, but was always intrigued. I’m just catching up 30 years later. It’s loosely based on the true story of math teacher Jaime Escalante. He leaves his professional job to become a teacher at a working class school in Los Angeles. He realizes his students have untapped potential and works to bring them up to their grade level and then beyond, taking AP Calculus by senior year.
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Platter of Carnitas with Heart and a plate of butterleaf lettuce tacos with Carnitas
This past spring, I bought a half pig from a local farm. My friend McCullough helped me break it down into cuts for my family. Since then, we’ve eaten our way through the chest freezer and only a single heart remained from that little pig. In gratitude to all that made this possible, I made Carnitas with Heart as the last dish from that slaughter.
For weeks I had been wondering, ‘What could I do with that last heart?’ Heart needs to be prepared rare, or slow and low. I didn’t want to go rare with the pork heart, so knew I needed to go slow and low to break down all the connective tissue. Yet, I wanted to add a bit more to the meal. So I picked another one of our favorite pork dishes, added the heart, and prepared it all together. It worked well….