The custom dictates that the heart goes to the shooter, and considering the range, it must be seen almost as unseemly to forgo one's reward?

The heart is really a nice piece. If any Sagittarius in the future wants to get rid of their heart, we can solve it smoothly in the hidden. Your hunting team does not need to know anything. Just come here! With the exception of certain parts, the ones you usually find in the game freezer counter, moose meat is not very commercialized in comparison, which means that even my most reliable taps combed zero.

Someone might ask why you should write a post about a piece of meat that the majority of citizens will have a hard time getting over? Well, in Sweden approximately 80,000 moose are shot every year. The goal is usually around 100,000. Out of 300,000 hunters, 270,000 say they hunt moose. The numbers are of course approximate, but there is clearly a reader base for a post about hot smoked elk heart. It is also not uncommon for hunters to possess a smoker.

Hunting, fishing and smoking are interests that encourage each other. A bit like onion, carrot and celery. The slaughter weight for an adult moose bull is around 190 kg, for a moose cow around 160 kg and for a calf around 64 kg. It is usually said that the weight of the heart is 1/100th of the slaughter weight. A fully grown bull thus has a heart that weighs just under 2 kg(!). Around 10,000 tonnes of moose meat are obtained by the Swedish hunters every year. Game meat corresponds to around 4% of all meat consumed in Sweden and is a healthy and climate-smart alternative to other meat.

Game meat is lean and contains higher levels of substances such as omega-3, zinc and iron than regular domesticated meat. Game meat is a Swedish renewable natural resource that is truly organic. As you have already understood, I have got hold of a moose heart. It was from a friend to a friend, who I would love to be friends with. There were no counterclaims except a small taste of the result. Said and done. After reciprocating a piece of the freshly smoked heart, the question soon came whether I also wanted sea fowl? Another week later I was given four home brewed beers to taste as a thank you. I think I must have met him heart to heart. I've never met the guy per se, but I like him already and can very well see how we can enjoy each other in the future.

The nature romantic in me says that the heart should preferably be enjoyed in the forest in front of a fire. There is boiling coffee, running water in the foreground, freshly baked bread, butter, fly rod and gun. The whole package. It's almost as if the allergy sufferer wants to throw in a loose, airy jingle as well. The picture I painted sounded very nice until I looked out into the cloudy weather and couldn't tell if it was morning, noon or evening? You are also comfortable. I'm not in the least bit excited to drive 30 miles to eat smoked elk heart by a stream of water. The landowners would probably also have opinions about why I am sitting on their land with an untethered hunting dog, rifle and no fishing license. They probably wouldn't buy at all that it's all just props for my moose heart consumption? I arrange a rustic cutting board indoors instead. The coffee is exchanged for that beer I got and I light the fire in the stove...
 

Method:

With a moose heart as big as a smaller football, it can be difficult to get started with the cutting. You get the feeling that you don't really know where to start. It is difficult to describe in text the exact order in which the cuts should be made. My tip is to lift the heart up with both hands and feel around a bit. You then quite soon get an idea of the different parts of the heart.

Make the first cut where it feels like the heart is the least tight together.

After exhalation, the heart can then be divided into three parts.

Two sides, the combs, and a slightly thinner piece that I don't have the word for.

Then trim away tendons, connective tissue and things you wouldn't want left on a beef tenderloin.

According to me, only the meat should be left and then there will be a part to cut away. The more accurate you are, the nicer it will be later when the meat has to be sliced and laid out.

Prepare the brine.

Mix the salts with cold water. If fine-grained salt is used, the water does not need to be heated beforehand. Let the salt stand for a while and stir occasionally.

Take some of the stock and boil the spices in. Let the spices simmer for a while under the lid and then cool.

Then beat the boiled down back into the law. By simmering the spices, the flavors come out better.

Weight the pieces of meat down below the surface of the layers, a regular plate usually does the trick. I let the heart lie in the solution for three days when the salt solution is 12%.

Move a little between the pieces sometime every day and the color will be more even on the meat. If the pieces are too close together, the layers will not fit.

After three days in the slow cooker, I remove and rinse the meat under running cold water.

Dry the meat completely with paper.

Preferably then let it rest and dry on a wire rack in the fridge overnight. It cannot be emphasized enough how important it is that the pieces are dry before you start smoking. It is not a must to let the meat dry in the fridge overnight, but then really make sure to dry, dry again and again.

Then smoke the heart at 80°C until the internal temperature of the meat is 65°C. I use maple briquettes, but a balanced smoke flavor like the one you get from alder also works well.