Chicken Heart In Pressure Cooker (Tough and Gamey)

BigFatGuy | Jan 7, 202001:23 PM 7

I have a small (4 qt) stainless stovetop pressure cooker... the low-tech kind with the jiggling weight.

I took a lb of chicken hearts (they were well cleaned, no blood or gristle), browned them very well in the cooker, browned an onion and a bunch of garlic, tossed it all in with a bottle of Summer Ale, and cooked it under pressure for 30 minutes.

After browning, the hearts were a little chewy, but tasted very good... kind of a fried-dark-meat-chicken type taste. After pressure cooking, the hearts actually seem to have gotten tougher.

I figured they just needed more time, so the hearts spent another 20 minutes under pressure with another half-can of cheap light beer added. No real change, although at this point the vegetables have disintegrated into a thick sludge.

After this much time in the pot, the hearts had taken on a gamey/livery taste.

During cooking the pressure was set to the point that the weight "danced" and vented steam in a slight hiss, not at full "is my kitchen going to explode" throttle.

I'm new to pressure cooking, but I have a freezer full of tough wild boar meat that would greatly benefit from me figuring out how to make tough meat tender instead of making slightly tough meat tougher. :-)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Chicken Heart In Pressure Cooker (Tough and Gamey)

7 Comments

a
acgold7 01/07/20 1:28PM Tough meats in general have a bell curve of toughness, there they peak and then rapidly fall off. Different meats have different...

Tough meats in general have a bell curve of toughness, there they peak and then rapidly fall off. Different meats have different times and temps for this.

When I was a kid working at KFC, we did livers for only 20 minutes under pressure, but gizzards for an hour. Hearts should fall between the two. But as yours didn't tenderize after 50 minutes, they might take longer.

That being said, hearts are supposed to be a little chewy.

(Good luck finding a KFC that has livers and gizzards these days.)
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  BigFatGuy 01/07/20 1:50PM re: acgold7 Chester's Chicken (only found at Loves Truck Stops in the western US as far as I know) serves deep-fried hearts and gizzards, but...
  
  Chester's Chicken (only found at Loves Truck Stops in the western US as far as I know) serves deep-fried hearts and gizzards, but the gizzards are tougher than an old shoe.
  
  What can the pre-pressure browning do? Is it possible to brown the meat such that it will never get tender under pressure? I don't like the idea of not browning the meat, but I'll do what I must. :-)
  
  Thanks!
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    acgold7 01/07/20 4:36PM re: BigFatGuy I actually know Chester's! I always stop by the unit in the Winlock (WA) Shell station on my trips down south! Love that place...
    
    I actually know Chester's! I always stop by the unit in the Winlock (WA) Shell station on my trips down south! Love that place!
    
    I don't think the browning is the issue. You could try less time. God knows they're cheap.
    
    Next time you're at Chester's, ask them how long they fry the hearts for.
hotoynoodle 01/07/20 2:28PM they take 5 minutes to brown and saute on the stove so comparing them to wild boar is apples and oranges. :-)

they take 5 minutes to brown and saute on the stove so comparing them to wild boar is apples and oranges. :-)
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  BigFatGuy 01/07/20 2:39PM re: hotoynoodle True, but it's a lot easier to get Chicken Hearts to play with and learn how to pressure-cook on. :-)
  
  True, but it's a lot easier to get Chicken Hearts to play with and learn how to pressure-cook on. :-)
  1. hotoynoodle 01/07/20 3:03PM re: BigFatGuy they're not going to cook anything at all like hunks of boar though, even if cheap.
    
    they're not going to cook anything at all like hunks of boar though, even if cheap.
dave_c 01/07/20 3:35PM Just shooting from the hip, I would have cooked the hearts 15 to 20 minutes at pressure. The pressure/temperature sounds correct...

Just shooting from the hip, I would have cooked the hearts 15 to 20 minutes at pressure.
The pressure/temperature sounds correct where the weight was jiggling and venting - not rattling madly.