Bone Marrow

[sarea_okelani]

Yesterday I bought 6 pieces of marrow bones. (One was given raw to my dog, as marrow bones have been proven to be a great recreational bone, keeping dogs busy for hours as they chew happily away -- and it keeps their teeth clean and tartar-free at the same time!) I've been doing a LOT of research and reading about eating bone marrow, which has

Comments

[roseincognitus]

My mom used to pop the marrow out of the bones, mix it with spices and make a small meat ball that she dropped into soup. It was one of my favorite meals, but one I haven't had in years. We used to just make sure they were cut into short pieces, like the ones pictured, and the marrow slid right out. She'd boil the bones to make stock, but she didn't fry the marrow or anything - they cooked as they were dropped into the soup. SO good and tasty! You're making me hungry! Lol. I never ate it raw, but I think my dad did, just to taste the flavoring was right.

[gfrancie]

It is good when you cook it up and spread it on toast. I remember in the book Apricots on the Nile there was mention of eating that as a snack.

[a_boleyn]

I was surprised that none of your research mentioned osso bucco which is the quintessential dish with a fat marrow bone in the middle. I have scooped out the marrow from this dish and it didn't thrill me as much as the veal shank around the bone. :) Check it out.

http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004205osso_buco.php

Here's a wiki link as well with more info about the dish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osso_buco

[sarea_okelani]

Thanks. :) An oversight on my part. Since osso bucco is mainly about the shank meat itself, I didn't think to include it. But you're right, marrow does flavor that dish, and in fact traditional gremolata is most popularly used with osso bucco as well.

[a_boleyn]

I hadn't ever thought of marrow as the main ingredient in a dish but, like in osso bucco, as a lovely lagniappe (aka something extra that you didn't expect). :)I do like the little bone marrow that you get in pork chops but as marrow is SO rich it's a bit much for me on its own.

You might serve it with a crusty grilled bread the way you would do bruschetta where you rub a slice of raw tomato over the bread. You could simmer the bones in a flavourful broth just to cook them and then serve them individually in a bowl with a spoon suitable for scooping out the marrow and rubbing it over the crusty bread. If you included some of the broth, it could be sopped up with the rest of the grilled bread.

And have a glass of a dry white wine to wash it down or whatever goes along with something that's fairly heavy. It would be a nice appetizer ... I think.

[basking_lizard]

My mom cooks marrow bones in her beef soup all the time, and I found an excellent source for them at our local farmer's market. I love how rich-tasting they make my soup stocks and I enjoy eating them if they stay whole.

I haven't tried them in other ways, but perhaps I will take a look at this cookbook. thanks for the tip! (and your pic is gorgeous, I really want to run into the kitchen and start a pot of soup! :)

[dithie]

Since we're talking about bone marrow, can I ask a question to all the food_pornsters?

I had heard that it was considered unsafe to eat bone marrow, even when properly cooked, because of the risk of mad-cow disease. I'm assuming you all put no stake in these warnings, but I'm curious about your reasons, and I'm curious to hear from anyone who does abstain from marrow in these troubled times. I don't abstain personally from bone marrow, but I can't say that I've thought to eat it by itself. Those bones are pretty tempting though.

Here's an (admittedly old) NY Times article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/25/us/mad-cow-disease-in-the-united-states-advice-for-eating-meat-safely.html?sec=health

[noelleleithe]

Marrow, organ meats, and other higher-risk parts have never been part of my diet, but if they were, I'd consider avoiding them for that reason. The risk (in the US, at least) is extremely low, and it would be a lot of work to avoid all possible sources, but I generally buy boneless beef, watch where I get my ground beef from, and don't eat marrow or make homemade beef stock. :)

[sarea_okelani]

I don't understand why boneless beef is considered "safer." It didn't cut itself out of the cow, making sure it touched no other part. Isn't it possible to buy a cut of boneless beef that was resting right up against bone, but you wouldn't necessarily know it? I buy beef back ribs that have been scraped of meat -- that meat went somewhere. And the machinery that cuts up beef flesh could also have cut bone or been exposed to it. I think this is one of those things we tell each other and ourselves because it makes us feel safer, even if it isn't, necessarily

[noelleleithe]

The article does talk about processes used to remove beef from the bones and how some of them can get parts of the bone and nerve/spinal tissue with it. Bone-in meat is even lower risk than the already low risk from the "high-risk" stuff, but meat that's been cut off the bone (at the store or at home) is safest. Well, actually, grass-fed beef is safest, since the danger comes from animals getting feed that contains animal by-products.

As I said, I don't much care for the "high-risk" stuff anyway, so I just don't eat it. I also work for an infectious disease publication that regularly runs articles on prion diseases, though, so I'd probably be more wary anyway. :)