Cooking with beef heart - do I need to remove the tough bits before grinding?

Before I had a mincer/grinder, I would always remove all the white bits from beef heart before cutting it up and cooking it. Now that I have a manual grinder, I am wondering if this is still necessary?

Can I just cut it into chunks and grind it up as-is?

Or remove some of the tough stuff but not all of it?

What do you do to prepare beef heart for cooking in soups and stews?

love me some beef heart!

I have yet to grind it up. I usually cube it up and sort of simmer it with water, onion, thyme, black pepper, salt.

I am not sure what you are referring to by tough bits, I usually cut the upper portion off the veins? I mostly deal with sheep/goat hearts. If I remember correctly the cow heart has a sort of inner divider?

are you talking about all the heart fat? if so I leave that on...

Yes - I meant those dividing bits and veins - they are a bit fiddly to remove. There is also some white stuff on the outside that I was removing because it seemed tough - is this the fat? Leaving that on would definitely make it easier!

oh you must be talking about my favourite part! yes without a photo, id call it the heart fat. In all honesty the heart if my favourite organ to eat.

This white bit is what I am talking about. Yes I leave it on.

I have the same questions about chicken hearts. A bit squeamish over here, would it be worth it to cut out the big tube thing before mincing it up? is it gonna have a weird texture?

jordan barton wrote:oh you must be talking about my favourite part! yes without a photo, id call it the heart fat. In all honesty the heart if my favourite organ to eat.

This white bit is what I am talking about. Yes I leave it on.

Thank you! That will make it easier.

It's my favourite organ to eat too - I like to cook it long and slow and it gets tender and tastes basically the same as non-organ meat, especially if there are plenty of herbs or spices.