Deer liver and heart?

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WHEN i used to eat liver, i thought fresh deer liver was by far the best i tasted. Fresh calf liver was a strong second and fresh pork liver on the grill wasn't bad either.

I ate too much Rumake (chicken liver wrapped in bacon) when i was much younger and i got very sick. Now i cant stand the smell, texture or taste of liver.

Deer heart though is another story. It may not be the best cut but if it doesn't have a BIG HOLE in it from a bullet, it isn't bad. Properly cleaned then cooked on the grill with lots of garlic butter, pepper and served on toasted french bread its a ok camp meal.
 
When I used to hunt with this group of guys... One person always insisted, keep the deer hearts and livers. We'd carry one gallon zip lock bags for just that. He did not want shot up ones through.

He pickles the deer hearts and makes liver paste out of the deer liver. I had some of his liver paste.. I have had better but on salty crackers.. not too bad. As for the pickled deer heart.. I don't eat pickled foods. Even though I grew up in a house full of pickled herring, pickled fish, pickled eggs, and pigs feet.. just never cared for the vinegar taste.

I have taken deer heart, sliced it thick. Dipped it in egg, then rolled in flour and fried it in a very hot pan that you'd made bacon in. The bacon fat/grease, really adds a nice flavor to the heart and its actually pretty good.
 
We would always eat the heart and liver in deer camp, until I cut into a liver and it was full of liver flukes. To this day I can hardly even look at deer liver.
 
Organ meat sausage (heart, liver and kidneys) make a real nice meatloaf and venison braunschweiger is delightful!
 
Like my doctor says, ONCE A WEEK.

I’ve never eaten either, but a buddy swears by chicken frying the heart. He slices it into thin steaks and has an egg wash and flower he dips/rolls it in, then into the Crisco Creek for a swim!
 
Don't like liver no matter how its made. But I do save it and boil it off for my dogs. They seem to enjoy it. As for the heart, this year if I get one I'm going to give it to my friend and have him pickle it for me. I tried and it was like eating a boot sole.
 
I used to eat the deer heart's every one that wasn't shot up. Guess the taste buds have changed as it doesn't taste good to me anymore.
Never ate the liver. You do know what the kidneys are there for, right? No thanks!!
Lmao, kidneys? Ever heard of prairie oysters/mountain oysters? Lol
Walk
 
I'm lucky enough to have a restaurant in town that has liver and onions on the menu. I gotta' go in once a month for a batch. Can't help it. Deer is better than beef, but it doesn't last very long around here. I would NEVER leave heart/liver in the woods if it looked good on the outside. Gonna' try out some pronghorn this year, as I was lucky enough to wind up with a couple of tags. Back in PA where I was born, very few gut piles included heart/liver. That started back in the Fifties for me, though.
 
My best friend and running buddy is a large animal veterinarian and I was in the dairy business for 30 years, it's kind'a hard to gross either one of us out. That said, if you want to turn him green, just mention eating liver, of any kind. He'll eat mountain oysters or the heart, but there ain't no way he'd put a bite of liver in his mouth. His tales of what some of the livers look like that he's seen in packing houses and what he sees when performing a necropsy on stock; like liver flukes, fatty livers, abscesses and such and the liver's function as a filter for the body has turned me off of eating liver, even though I grew up eating it and liking it.
The heart is OK, my son in law would take a deer heart over a backstrap. I won't go that far, but it's OK. I used to know some old timers that wanted the lungs, but I've never been hungry enough to try those.
 
I cooked deer gonads for our hunting club using a Meateater recipe. All agreed they tasted good. Haven’t done it again. They were good but a bit too creamy.
 
Liver is one of my favourite foods. Could not tell you how many hearts I’ve eaten, even a few kidneys, but do not ever recall eating “oysters”. Will say this, my early childhood was a farm lifestyle. Cattle ranching more specifically and self sufficient. Cut/wrapped our own cow, pigs and a couple hundred chickens each year. Castration, de-horning, branding and shots was a few days of darn hard work. All “oysters” were kept but pretty sure none made it to my plate!!
Walk
 

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