Barbecued Smoked Hickory Chicken Hearts

While lesser known in the UK, chicken hearts are actually an incredibly popular Brazilian BBQ ingredient. You'll also find them in both Japanese and Spanish cooking too.

While us Brits are known for our love of offal it tends to be in the form of steak and kidney pies, or classic liver and bacon. Dishes usually rich and sometimes a little stodgy.

Chicken hearts are surprisingly light, tender and delicious. They are perfect for those who are not offal lovers as they are more reminiscent of a rare steak in texture, and do not carry the mineral bitterness in flavour like other types of offal.

Ingredients

250g

Properly Free Range Chicken Hearts
1 tbsp

Smoked Hickory Rub
A pinch

Pure Sea Salt
A glug

Olive Oil

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Method

In a bowl, pour in a good glug of olive oil, add a good pinch of salt and about a tbsp of our smoked hickory rub, then mix together.
Take the chicken hearts and discard any blood, patting the hearts dry with a cloth.
Add the hearts to the marinade and leave for as long as you can. Overnight is ideal but 2 hours will do.
Take a few skewers and load the hearts on, being careful not to pack them too tightly.
Once your BBQ has reached a good hot heat where the coals have turned grey, place the skewers over the heat, avoiding any direct flame. Keep turning the skewers and cook for around 5-7 minutes until they have crisped up and cooked through.
Remove from the heat and enjoy them while they are warm and nicely caramelised.