duck hearts

Tom Scholberg

Tom Scholberg

Well-known member
Does anyone out there have a good recipe for duck hearts? I love venison heart so when cleaning this last batch of ducks I saved the hearts and am looking for a good way to fix them. This would be the place to find that out!!
 
Soak them in cold water for 1 hour. Replace bloody water with fresh water and repeat.

Cut hearts in half and rinse.

Heat butter in a cast iron skillet.

Throw in the heart halves as well as some sprinkles of garlic powder, pepper, and salt.

Done around in 5 minutes.

Sooooooo good!!
 
I usually just throw em in the cavity when I'm bagging the ducks for the freezer. (When breasting ducks I don't go fishing for the hearts.)

Then just cook them in the duck's cavity while the rest of it cooks. Lotta times I'll stockpile a bunch of hearts with the smaller ducks or ducks that are shot up a little bit.

But, if you plan to pickle deer hearts, why not just save all your duck hearts and pickle em with the deer heart(s) ?
 
Have not been brave enough to try this yet Tom. How do the deer hearts taste? What is their texture? please let us know how the duck hearts turn out.
 
Seriously guys...hearts of birds are amazing. Try it with the recipe I posted above. You won't be disappointed. My wife likes them more than the breast meat. After a weekend hunting with Dad, we only have enough for one evenings appetizer. (about 20 plus hearts). Boy do I wish for more though.

Also use the same recipe with goose hearts, dove hearts, and feral pigeon hearts...u will love them all!!

I have also eaten gizzards...but don't really like the texture. Too tough. Not like tender hearts! Good luck.
 
Never tried this recipe above, but when I breast out my birds I save the thighs, wings, and other salvageable bits of meat to make duck stock. The hearts go into the freezer bags with the rest of the breasted out carcass, and make the stock a lot richer.

Chinese hot and sour soup made with duck stock is awesome.
 
I don't know what to do with the gizzards. As for the liver, with the way toxic substances accumulate in liver, I just don't feel comfortable eating it from a wild animals--or farm animals, for that matter. I grudgingly gave up using lobster tomalley in my lobster stew for the same reason.
 
open the gizzard, clean out the schmutz, washing in cold water---Stew, slice and fry, do a beer batter and deep fry. The only ones i would worry about are those whose diet is primarily zebra mussels, and since the bills have returned(allegedly), i guess it has not been identified as a problem.
Course, i am an old fart, and not too worried about time constraints!!
 
I've been thinking more about this Mr. Scholberg...

Is there any reason not to pickle duck hearts with your deer heart(s)?

If it's a volume issue, I'll save a bunch of hearts and contribute to the project . . . hearts, jars, labor, etc.

Just as long as I get a taste when they're ready!
 
I wanted to try some as I`ve never had duck hearts in 10-12 yrs of hunting them. We shot 5 big honkers so I decided to try out them out with the salt,pepper,garlic powder on the frying pan.

Was excellent, dads eaten alot of the duck hearts over the years and he enjoyed them.

IMG_1265.jpg

 
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