Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

Dec 14, 2016 By Joe Carei for The 5 min read

When Jeff Petrucci shows up to your door, you never know what you are going to get. Wild mushrooms, rabbits or even once a groundhog.

This time it was deer, appropriate because it was a couple of days after the start of deer season.

But, for me, he had organ meat known as offal. Some hunters just leave the organs when dressing the meat, but more and more are saving and cooking the offal. His was a shot that did not damage any organs, so I was able to get a heart, the liver and kidneys. He also gave me some choice cuts and a leg, but my mind was zeroed in on offal.

Offal is the name for organ meats. Some cultures shy away from offal while others see it as a delicacy. In France sweet bread (Pancreas) and foie gras (goose liver) are considered gourmet. In Denmark, they love leverpostej. And in Brazil, the heart is a mainstay in the churrasco barbeque.

Some cultureÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ and religionÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ offal offerings have urban legend status. The Scots have haggis, Mexicans have menudo, the Jewish chopped liver, Italian tripe and our Southern chitterlings. Humble pie was a peasant pie filled with offal. And in America, we mainly grind them and put into hotdogs.

The heart has always been a favorite of mine. It can be prepared by slicing into strips, and sautéed alone or with vegetables or stuffed and baked. You want to trim and clean venison heart before cooking. Remove the ventricles and valve openings. You can then clean like a bell pepper and go in through the top to trim the inside or slit the sides and open it up. Use the former for stuffing. Make sure you rinse all of the remaining blood. And let soak in salted water for about an hour.

Stuffed heart

1 venison heart

1 small apple diced

1 small onion diced

1 celery stalk

2 cloves garlic chopped.

¼ cup butter

½ cup brandy soaked raisins

1 teaspoon dry thyme

Salt and pepper

1 cup panko bread crumbs or ripped bread

4 slices bacon

Chop one slice of bacon and saute with apple, onion and celery. Add butter and garlic and continue to cook until onion is translucent. Add raisins, salt and pepper and thyme. Cook another minute. Toss in bread crumbs and stuff into heart. Cover top of heart with remaining strips of bacon. Wrap with cooking twine if you want to keep stuffing in heart. You have a choice you can braise in wine or stock for a couple of hours at 300 degrees or cook at 425 degrees for about an hour. Slice heart about ¼ inch slices and so stuffing is each slice.

Now, on to the liver.

After trimming the membrane off of the liver, you want to soak it in milk or butter milk, for a couple of hours or overnight. This helps remove blood and the mineral taste from the liver. The younger the deer the less soaking needs done. If you have a very mature deer, an additional soak in lemon water may be necessary.The classic way to cook the liver is by cooking liver with onions, bacon and butter with a splash of white wine. But, I took this one and made a satisfying pate that we ate with crackers.

Venison pate

1 pound venison liver

1 cup milk or buttermilk (for soaking liver)

2 tablespoons of shallots, chopped-if you find them. If not add more onion.

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves of garlic

3 slices bacon chopped

1 stick butter divided

1/2 cup of Spanish sherry or brandy

1/4 cup of whipping cream

dash of all spice

1 teaspoon of fresh thyme

¼ cup fresh chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

Soak liver in milk. Sweat onions and shallots in 2 tablespoons butter and bacon. Add garlic. Pull liver from milk and pat dry. Cut in 1-nch dice. Saute with onions and garlic until brown but not cooked all the way. Add sherry and cook down until dry. Cool. In processor, puree liver. Add cream, herbs, spice, salt and pepper. Puree. Add butter and puree until smooth, adjust with salt and pepper.. If you have a sieve or mesh strainer, push it through to remove graininess. Let rest in fridge for about 6 hours. Serve with crackers or crostini.

My mother loves kidneys — sheÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ Irish though. I admit that early on, I could live without them. But, now I enjoy them on the occasion that I have them. You want to soak the kidneys, like the liver. Before soaking, peel outer membrane and cut in half. Trim out the tough inner membrane; kitchen scissors work great for this job.

Kidneys dijon cream sauce

2 Venison kidneys

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/3 cup white wine

¾ cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

Cut kidneys in several slices. Lightly dust in flour. Heat oil to very hot. Carefully add kidney slices. Brown and turn. Hit with white wine and reduce by one half. Add cream and mustard and reduce. Finish with salt, pepper and parsley. Serve.

I could have been happy with a little venison tongue but overall, our ‘gift’ was well received. Not sure what is going to be in the back of the truck next time, but anxiously awaiting.

—â¶Ä”

Chef Joe Carei has been an award-winning chef in Fayette County nearly half of his life. The former PA Restaurateur of the Year now operates Ellie MaeÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵ Catering and Food Clubs. He can be reached at joe@elliemaescatering.com.