Chicken hearts (coração de frango) are the offal that actually belong on a Brazilian skewer. When you go to a Latin, Asian, or Halal butcher — or the supermarket freezer and giblets tray — ask for chicken hearts. There is no clean replacement. It is not tripe and it is not a steak. Hearts are packed tight, salted, and cooked over embers until the center hits 165°F (74°C). Overcook them and they turn to rubber.
Safety instructions
Cook chicken to 165°F (74°C), checked with an instant-read thermometer in the center of the thickest piece. Higher-risk people wait for 165°F (74°C).
What to buy
One kilo of chicken hearts serves about six as an early round. In a US store they sit in the freezer or with the giblets.
Seasoning
- 2 1/4 lb (1 kg) cleaned chicken hearts
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) coarse salt (sal grosso), crushed slightly so it sticks
Salt and skewer. No overnight marinade. A home variant adds 3 crushed garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons oil; that is a same-day smear, not the churrascaria default. The salt version goes first.
On the fire
Flames are the enemy here: they char the outside long before the center is done. Hearts go out immediately with toasted cassava flour (farofa), as the first round while the beef is still going.
Method
- Thaw in the fridge. Trim the white arteries and loose fat at the top. Rinse and dry.
- Salt and skewer. No overnight marinade.
- Pack the hearts tight on a long flat skewer so they cook as one piece.
- Medium embers, no flames, 20–30 cm (8–12 in) from the embers so they brown without flare, about 20 to 30 minutes, turning.
- Pull when the center is just cooked through, or 165°F (74°C).
How you know it is done
They are browned and firm, springy rather than rubbery, and a thermometer in the center of a heart reads 165°F (74°C).
Make-ahead
Thaw in the fridge. Salt and skewer the same day. No overnight marinade.
Leave a Reply