Organ meat in jerky?

[Desk Jockey]

So I heard about a jerky product on the Meateater that contains heart and liver That sounded interesting. I am also cleaning out the freezer from last season and found a deer liver I ground for boudin that I never made and I have a heart too. I was thinking about experimenting with some mix of ground organ meat and regular ground meat to make jerky. Anyone ever tried?

 

[Murdy]

Sounds interesting. I have not tried or tasted anything like this. I have 2 thoughts though. I worked for a sausage maker for a while, and we'd grind beef heart into our beef summer sausage. It's nice meat, but didn't really change the character of the product. Liver, on the other hand, is a strong taste. My grandfather used to make a Czech sausage (jaternice) that was only about a third liver, iirc. The most pronounced taste was liver. So, I'd go easy on the liver in the mix.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Boudin is about 20-25% so I am thinking in that range + a lot of spice

 

[Drenalin]

The first heart I ate, I made into jerky. It was great, but heart is far too good a meat to ever turn it into jerky again in my opinion. Agree with the other reply on liver being a strong flavor.

 

[HairyScandinavian]

Personally I'd rather eat it in boudin than waste it on jerky.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Personally I'd rather eat it in boudin than waste it on jerky.

Fair point. I have enough to do both so I am going to give it a whirl.

 

[LostArra]

I've used elk and deer liver in a Louisiana Dirty Rice recipe and it was a crowd favorite even with non-game eaters and some who turned their nose at the thought of liver. Original recipe calls for pork sausage (preferred) or ground meat and chicken livers chopped fine but I subbed game liver. It was delicious.