**GIVEAWAY IS OVER** This is a very exciting post for me! I grew up eating tongue and sweet breads but until recently, I’d never tried the heart or cheeks of a cow. While the entrails and internal organs of the animal are officially called “offal”, I like to call them GOLD! Well this delicious Gold, aka. beef heart, beef cheek and chicken skins, came from an incredible website called KOL Foods. KOL Foods sells kosher organic pastured chicken and duck and the only kosher domestic 100% grass-fed beef in the USA. You can feel good about the meat you eat! But don’t worry, they don’t just sell hearts and sweet breads. They also sell steaks, roasts, sausages, lamb, turkey, chicken, duck, salmon and more! In fact, KOL Foods is giving away a 3 lb. whole boiler chicken at the bottom of this post so don’t forget to enter. KOL Foods is also giving away a beef heart, beef cheeks and chicken skins so you can make your very own terrine! Of course, you can use your winnings however you want (braise the cheek, grill the heart and fry up those cracklin’s). Have fun in the kitchen and try something new.
I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the wonderful products KOL Foods sent my way and out of nowhere, the idea of the terrine came into my head. I think I’ve been watching too much Top Chef. If you’re wondering what a terrine is, Google defines it as “a meat, fish, or vegetable mixture that has been cooked or otherwise prepared in advance and allowed to cool or set in its container”. That just about sums it up. A terrine is meant to be eaten cold on it’s own or on crusty bread. I’ve been eating the terrine on it’s own because it’s just that good! If you’re scared of the ingredients I’ve used in this beautiful terrine, you can use other meats like ground meat and lamb. Terrines are very versatile so have fun with it!
Beef Heart and Cheek Terrine
1 (2 lb) beef heart, deveined, soaked, salted and washed
1 (1 lb) beef cheek, deveined, soaked, salted and washed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tsp crushed juniper berries
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup red wine
1/4 cup soy milk
2 eggs, whisked
1 cup raw shelled pistachios
1 package chicken skins (around 10-12 skins), can also use lamb bacon
I heated the olive oil in a medium sauce pan and sauteed the onions until translucent but not brown. I set them aside to cool and moved on to the fun part: grinding the meat! For Chanukah this year, my parents bought me a meat grinder for my beautiful new KitchenAid Raspberry Ice 5-Quart Stand Mixer and now I finally got to use it!
I sliced up the beef heart and cheeks then pushed them through the grinder at medium-low speed. Please note that beef cheeks have alot of connective tissue so try to cut some of that out before grinding. I had to take apart the grinder at one point to pull out the tissue. Oops!
When the meat was all ground up, I put it through the grinder one more time. As I pushed the ground meat back through the grinder, I also added the sauteed onions and spices and pushed it through the grinder. I stirred in the eggs, soy milk and red wine and stirred until completely combine.
I lined the bottom of a loaf pan (if you have a terrine pan, you can definitely use that as well) crosswise with strips of chicken skin. You can also use lamb bacon for this recipe but I thought the chicken skins would be a fun new twist. I placed the skins down as close together as possible without overlapping and I left 2 inches of chicken skin overhang on both sides. Looks yummy, huh?!?
I filled the bottom of the pan with a third of the meat mixture, then added half of the pistachios. I added another third of the meat mix then the remaining pistachios. I covered the top with the remaining meat mixture.
I covered the top of the meat with the chicken skins, crossing the sides over each other.
I covered the terrine with plastic wrap and refrigerated for 8 hours, giving time for the flavors to marinate. This is a very important step in the process but if you have no time, you can cook the terrine right away. No one will get angry at you! I promise. 8 hours later, I removed the plastic wrap, tightly covered the loaf pan with three layers of foil and placed the pan in a casserole dish. I filled the dish with 1 inch of boiling water and placed the terrine in a 350 degree F oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The terrine was ready when an instant read thermometer inserted into the terrine (through the foil) hit 155-160 degrees F. I removed the terrine from the oven, discarded the foil and let it rest for 30 minutes. There was tons of juice from the meat in the pan so I poured some of it out into the sink.
I put a piece of parchment paper over the terrine then put a piece of foil-lined cardboard, cut to the shape of the terrine over the parchment paper. I placed a few heavy cans of tomato sauce on top of the cardboard to weigh down the meat and make it very dense for slicing. Some people use a brick but I didn’t have an extra brick lying around so the cans did the trick.
I chilled the terrine in the refrigerator for 24 hours before slicing. This step is super-duper important! That’s right, I said super-duper. You want your terrine to be dense and easy to slice. 24 very-patient hours later, I took the terrine out of the fridge. I took off the canned tomatoes and discarded the foil-lined cardboard and parchment paper. I ran a dull knife around the edges of the terrine to loosen it then placed the pan in a casserole dish with 1 inch of hot water for just a minute to loosen the terrine. I tipped the terrine to drain any excess liquid then placed a cutting board on top of the terrine and flipped it over. The terrine should slide right out of the loaf pan.
I gently wiped the chicken skins with a paper towel to remove any excess fat then sliced into it. What a cool moment after all that work! Drooling yet? You can eat this terrine on it’s own cold or toast up some crunchy bread, rub with fresh garlic and eat a slice of terrine on the bread.
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