Anticuchos de la Tía Grimanesa: (Peruvian beef heart - anticuchos de corazón) in Lima, Peru

I have to admit I pretty much like just about anything when it comes to food aside from organs. Typically, when I've tried liver, intestines or kidneys I've found it chewy, tough and generally not very tasty. However, there is a big exception to this rule and it is called Anticuchos.
While in Lima, Peru we had the opportunity to visit Anticuchos de la Tía Grimanesa to sample anticuchos de corazón (stewed beef heart. Honestly, if I were to have just tried this without knowing what it was I'm confident I would have thought it was pieces of steak. The meat is surprisingly tender and is typically marinated in vinegar and spices (garlic, cumin and aji pepper) and is accompanied by Peruvian corn (Choclo) and boiled potatoes (papas sancochadas). I washed it down with a chilled Inca Kola.
Doña Grimanesa, the founder of this Anticucheria, spent many years selling her product for years as a street vendor before opening up a dedicated restaurant. If you're visiting Lima it is one of the top things to try before leaving.
Anticuchos de la Tía Grimanesa: (Peruvian beef heart - anticuchos de corazón) in Lima, Peru Travel Video Transcript:
So dinner time here in Lima and tonight we are going out for anticuchos, which are cow hearts. I know this sounds a little bit unusual but it is actually really tasty so we've come to a popular place. It is called La Grimanesa, we've already placed our order. Let's go get our cow heart.
So this place that we're visiting it actually started as a little street stand, so the women who opened the restaurant used to have a little cart and she used to sell her anticuchos on the street and she had a super long line because her food was delicious. She was really popular. And eventually she was able to save up enough money to open a little restaurant here in the neighborhood. So yeah, humble beginnings, but you know the recipe was great so here we are today.
So we have it. The star of the meal. This is my anticuchos. It doesn't really look like a cow's heart in my opinion. I mean, you could food me and tell me this is steak but I'm going to have my first bite.
I'm not sure how to do this. Honestly, it's a fairly tender meat. It doesn't have a lot of fat. It could pass off as steak. If no one told you this is a cow's heart you would never know.
Your turn. Time for my first bite. I'm going to try some of the sauces here. I think we have a red spicy one and a green one.
Oh, that is so so good. And that is really spicy sauce. You know the meat is really well seasoned so it takes on the flavor of whatever they've used. Like the heart it doesn't taste like an organ. I know exactly, normally when I have organs they're really tough and chewy but this is as nice of a tender cut of meat as you can find.
And we got one more side to go along with the anticucho. What are you having? This is called choclo. And it is a kind of giant corn which is unique to Peru. Yeah, let's see if we can get a good shot of those kernels because they're bigger than my nails. I know they're massive. They're huge. And the taste is great. It is quite sweet. Yeah, but is also kind of fibrous too. It's very chewy.
And price point for anybody who is willing to try cow's heart? For the cow's heart, all the side dishes and a drink it came to 33 Soles which is just over 10 US dollars. Not bad value. We're full.
This is part of our Travel in Peru series. We're making a series of videos showcasing Peruvian culture, Peruvian arts, Peruvian foods, Peruvian religion, Peruvian cuisine and Peruvian people. All things Peruano. The best of Comida Peruana and Cocina Peruana.
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All photos and video taken by Samuel Jeffery (Nomadic Samuel) and Audrey Bergner (That Backpacker).
Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network