Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts

Britain isn’t known as a nation of offal lovers, but we certainly eat it.

It’s highly probable you’ve eaten offal before as it features in a several popular national dishes. Haggis is made by stuffing a sheep’s stomach with liver, heart, lungs and oats. Faggots are balls of minced pork and pig offal wrapped in caul fat. Sweetbreads have almost become a staple of the modern gastropub menu while steak and kidney pie is a classic.

Looking to our European neighbours, many of us enjoy Italian calves liver with onions or sage and butter and a beautifully dressed green salad with chicken livers or gizzards is popular on any French menu prix fixe. And who doesn’t love a rich liver paté?

Although offal such as brawn, chitterlings, tongue, tripe and trotters have fallen from favour in recent decades, take heart – the offal I’m encouraging you to try is not so challenging!

Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts

There’s a belief that all offal has a strange texture (like tripe and liver) and a strong flavour (like kidneys) but this isn’t true. Fresh chicken hearts don’t have a strong or distinct taste and they aren’t gritty, gelatinous or crunchy. When grilled quickly on a high heat, they’re tender morsels with a surprisingly subtle red meat taste. In texture, they’re softer than you might expect, with a hint of bounciness like flash-fried fresh squid.

Chicken hearts, although slightly high in cholesterol, are rich in essential B vitamins (including B12, riboflavin and folic acid) and minerals (including zinc, selenium, iron and potassium).

Around the world, they’re extremely popular.

Across South America, the asado (barbecue) is king and an array of steaks is accompanied by sausages and offal. In Brazil, chicken hearts roasted on skewers are an integral part of a churrascaria (grill house) menu.

Although it’s easy to think of the Indian subcontinent as a region of vegetarians, this dismisses the diversity of meat eaten across India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. All have traditional recipes prizing offal, such as the Punjabi Katakat in which a mix of offal is fried in butter and spices.

Offal is most prominent in the cuisines of East Asia. The expression “nothing goes to waste” is put to practice nowhere as well as China, where the popularity of offal is not only due to a desire not to waste any part of the animal but also a belief that many types of offal confer health benefits. As such, offal is considered a delicacy and chicken hearts are enjoyed stir-fried, braised and grilled in many different recipes. In Korea, grilled chicken hearts in a barbeque marinade are commonly sold in street bars, perhaps with a pot of fiery gochujang (a fermented condiment of chilli, rice, soybeans and salt) on the side. In Indonesia and Malaysia, they are one of many types of offal used to make gulai, a type of curry with a rich, spicy, turmeric-heavy sauce.

But my favourite way of enjoying chicken hearts is Japanese yakitori, where different cuts of chicken are threaded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal. Tare, a sweet and salty dipping sauce is sometimes also brushed onto the meat before grilling. Yakitori is popular in izakaya (Japanese pubs) which serve short menus of small dishes designed for nibbling with drinks.

Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts

Buying Chicken Hearts

Chicken hearts are not (yet) readily available in supermarkets but Turkish grocery stores with butchers’ counters often sell them and very cheaply too. Alternatively, talk to your local butcher and ask him to order some for you.

5 from 2 votes

Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 32 chicken hearts (approximately)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp pureed ginger
  • 1 tsp pureed garlic
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 3 tsp mirin (rice wine) (or substitute 2 tsp of dry sherry + 1 tsp sugar)

Instructions

  • Combine the soy sauce, pureed ginger, pureed garlic, sugar and mirin.

  • Toss the chicken hearts in the marinade before threading onto skewers. I fit about 8 hearts each onto 4 skewers.

  • Grill on a barbecue or cook in a heavy-based griddle on the stove. Cook on a high heat for just a few minutes each side (overcooking will result in tough hearts). Brush with extra marinade during cooking.

  • Serve immediately.

Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts

 

 

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31 Comments to "Japanese-style Yakitori Chicken Hearts"

  1. Food Urchin

    Well I think you know that I love offal and have barbecued chicken hearts before to unsuspecting guests before using a simple herb marinade. Will have to give this recipe a go though.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Oh yes indeed. It’s a fairly simple marinade, can be used on other cuts as well. Hope you like!

    Reply
  2. Heather

    Interesting, i tried these in Tokyo and found them to be very crunchy – I liked the taste but crunchiness put me off a little.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’ve never had them crunchy before — was it a crunch on the outside as though they were cooked on high heat or throughout? Wondering if they were just over or undercooked. I’ve eaten many hearts, mostly in South American and Asian dishes, but not encountered crunchy ones before.
    The yakitori I never developed a taste for is the cartilage pieces – I like minced cartilage within chicken balls but not whole pieces of it – way too crunchy for me!

    Reply
    Heather

    It was crunchy all the way through, maybe it was cartilage then? That’s my only experience of eating ‘heart’ so nothing to compare it to. The chef spoke little English (and me even less japanese!) so may well have been a translation issue!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Maybe so! Did it look at all like the ones in my photo, shape wise? They’re rarely cut into pieces I think, so the shape is pretty distinctive…

    Reply
  3. Heather

    I think the shape was the same but not sure! I shall just have to try them again 🙂

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hope you like. If you go to the South American rodizio restaurants in London, they often have chicken hearts!

    Reply
  4. yuko

    Hi! Nice to meet you. I’m yuko from Japan. I enjoyed reading your blog because you love Japanese food. If we have a chance, I’d love to exchange information on British and Japanese food.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Would be a pleasure, Yuko! I do love Japanese food. We visited Japan for the first time in 2012, and I wrote about it on the blog here: http://www.kaveyeats.com/tag/japan
    We also went again last year (2013) and I’m going to be writing more posts for the blog soon.

    Reply
  5. Koj

    Nice post – I’m not Chinese but I hate anything going to waste. I gave a class on jointing a chicken last week and was left with 24 hearts and livers. I briefly blanched the hearts, then trimmed them up and sliced them in half – and quickly seared them with a dousing of tare on their way out to my guests as pre dinner canapes – 1 heart, sliced into to, made a good size nibble on a cocktail stick.

    I made a pate with the livers (traditional: livers, onions, thyme, brandy, port and butter) but instead of sealing with butter I made a ginger teriyaki jelly to seal the top. Lovely sweet saltiness with a hint of East Asian flavours.

    My best offal experience was in a motsu restaurant near Haneda airport – I was asked if I liked sashimi (in Japanese). What arrived was a plate of pig sashimi – heart, liver, tripe, tongue and something from the back of the neck (sign language used!). Once I was over the initial shock, I was pleasantly surprised – the textures migt be a bit challenging to some – the Japanese like soft, slippery things (qv sea urchin and tofu) but the biggest revelation was that being uncooked, none of it had that nasal iron flavour). Although I must admit, I do wonder how I would have coped without lots of freshly grated ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    I’ve never tried pig sashimi, but I’d definitely like to!

    I must admit, I seal my chicken liver pate with butter, but the ginger teriyaki jelly sounds amazing!

    Reply
    adrian

    Hi koj. I love the sound of your pate any chance you would share your recipe with us. Adrian

    Reply
    Kavey

    Hi Adrian, I don’t think Koj would be likely to see your response to him as this is an old post but perhaps you can ping him on Twitter and reference him to his comment here to let him know about your question?

    Reply
  6. Timmy

    So, I assume, since hearts are so lean, they must be left deliberately “undercooked” to remain palatable. Am I correct in assuming that there should still be some pink in the center? Every recipe I come across says to cook them all the way through (some suggesting an hour or two cooking time, which seems outrageous)…but I have to assume that its due to typical American hysteria surrounding the cooking of meats/poultry.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Hi Timmy, I would not presume to contradict U.S. guidelines, as I am not a qualified food safety professional. I would comment, however, that I’m not alone, speaking as a European cook, in finding much of U.S. food safety guidance enormously over cautious. I cannot instruct you on your approach but my personal approach is not to worry about a hint of pink.

    Reply
  7. Dr G Walker

    Tip – I’ve eaten these many times in Japan and this is my 1st effort replicating the dish. You really have to grill these over charcoal for the authentic Japanese flavour. The marinade described in the menu does the trick and I will be cooking this again.

    Bravo for posting the recipe and description.

    Reply
  8. kaveyeats

    I have absolutely no idea, I’m afraid. I’m based in London, England and have never been too Long Island.

    Reply
    Andi

    Hi Ted,
    just check the menu of Asian and of course Brazilian/Argentinian Restaurants. I’m pretty sure you’ll find plenty in NY.
    I’m from Germany and I know chicken hearts from my grandma. It was braised and the chicken hearts were still a little bit chewy, but in a good way.
    Today I prefer the Asado method from South America. It’s also chargrilled, but the spices vary from the Asian recipes.
    I like all ways, to be honest.
    Personally I cut the hearts at the fat, so you remove the arteries and blood remains and have a lean product.

    Reply
  9. dude

    hi
    just tried you recipe. In contrast to your picture i grilled them darker, to make sure that they are not raw. I feel like i doesn’t hurt to have them on the grill longer. The result was really nice actually quite tasty. Would prefer a nice chili source to it, but ate it with same wasabi though.

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    No reason not to add chilli to your marinade if you like, though I’ve gone for classic Japanese style here. On the cooking, it’s down to personal preference I would say! Glad you enjoyed making them! Thanks for letting me know how you got on.

    Reply
  10. kaveyeats

    So pleased you enjoyed it, especially as it was your first time trying chicken hearts! Thank you for taking the time to let me know, you’ve made my day! 😁

    Reply
  11. Irina

    Do you need to clean the chicken hearts before cooking? If you do, how do you do it?

    Reply
    Brett Littlefair

    Made them for my Japanese wife an myself love them will be a regular snack in this Australian house

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Aah that’s made my day that you and your Japanese wife so enjoyed my recipe! Thank you for letting me know!

    Reply

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