Bone with a juicy center?

October 15, 2009 5:20 PM

I purchased some expensive beef bones by accident $3/lb, and was planning to make stock with them. However, after a quick roast, I saw the inner circle became something soft and edible, while the outer circle remained bone. What did I get, and should I still make stock with these?
posted by tasty to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Best answer: It's marrow. You can eat it, or it will make your stock delicious.
posted by bradbane at 5:21 PM on October 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

Marrow bones. As seen on the St. John menu in London.
posted by holgate at 5:22 PM on October 15, 2009

I have had cooked beef marrow from roasted beef bones, which I spread on some good, crusty bread. Delicious!
posted by spinifex23 at 5:28 PM on October 15, 2009

BTW, the marrow is exactly the reason your expensive beef bones were expensive in the first place.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:30 PM on October 15, 2009 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! I've never heard of eating bone marrow before.

So would making soup with it be a waste?
posted by tasty at 5:31 PM on October 15, 2009 [1 favorite]

Best answer: It would be a waste, yes. But some people don't enjoy the gelatinous texture. So try some of it, spread it on a little toast, and see how you like it. It is the yummiest. You can use a little bit of it to make a sauce delicious or mix with rice or my favorite, saute some mushrooms in butter, spread the marrow on crusty bread, and top with the mushrooms. It doesn't really get better than that.

If you find you really don't like the taste sensation of marrow, you can make soup with it, and it will be a totally fantastic soup.
posted by Mizu at 5:38 PM on October 15, 2009

Best answer: Well, there's a number of ways to utilize the ingredient, but, no, using it for soup would not be a waste. Use the beef flanken/marrow bones to season your soup, then extract them at the end for some delicious off the bone eating. The best chicken soup I've ever had, strangely enough, was season with chicken, standard stock vegetables (celery, parsnip, carrots, etc.) and beef bones. It's delicious!
posted by seppyk at 5:41 PM on October 15, 2009

YOU ARE SO LUCKY. Bone Marrow is the butter God uses on his bread. Just scoop it out, spread it on some toast with a coarse salt. Maybe a very small spot of jam or something. Jeebus.

If you cook it too long it will melt. So don't.
posted by GilloD at 6:23 PM on October 15, 2009 [2 favorites]

A bit late since you've already roasted them, but next time...

Soak the bones in a bit of warm water to loosen the marrow. Push the marrow out and soak in brine 12-24 hours, changing the brine a few times. Lightly flour and pan-fry in oil - temp needs to be just right to get the breading golden-delicious without melting the marrow too much. Serve with toasted baguette slices, pickled shallots, crunchy sea salt, lemon, and torn parsley. Seriously, this is pretty much the best thing ever.
posted by sanko at 7:04 PM on October 15, 2009 [6 favorites]

There's even specialized utensils for getting the marrow out (though by no means do you have to have them). 1982 NYT article on marrow and marrow spoons.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:56 PM on October 15, 2009

A bone marrow demiglace would be just... well, I'm failing to come up with a sufficiently superlative word.

I, personally, don't like marrow on its own. But I do adore a stock made from it.
posted by Netzapper at 9:57 PM on October 15, 2009

Bone marrow is the shit in NYC right now. Everyone and their uncles are serving it here, bone in and roasted, topped with sea salt and parsley or maybe a sweet red wine + shallot reduction, toast on the side. OR add it to a tomato basil sauce with grilled octopus and serve over fusili (Marea style). It's so awesome it could restore shaved Samson's powers.
posted by chalbe at 7:15 AM on October 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

Marrow will make your stock tasty, but it will end up with a lot of "scum" (not a very apt word, really) floating on the top of your stock. Make sure you skim it well.

Or, yeah - just eat the stuff straight up, as suggested above. It's also awesome when mixed into maztoh balls for soup.
posted by Citrus at 7:28 AM on October 16, 2009

Eat the marrow eat the marrow eat the marrow eat the marrow eat the marrow.
Have you ever had Osso Bucco? If so, you'll know that it's incredibly delicious, more-so then a regular beef stew. Most of the savoury flavour, the richness and creamyness, comes from the marrow. If you've not had Osso Bucco before... Please do, posthaste.
It's good on toast, it's great for making a gravy "Pop", you can mix it with breadcrumbs and herbs as a stuffing for chicken or pork, you can whip it into mashed potatoes, or you can freeze it, send it to me, and I'll find a use for it.
posted by Quadlex at 3:58 PM on October 18, 2009

You, my friend, accidentally purchased marrow bones. Marrow is one of the most delicious parts of our bovine friends, and if you haven't had it, you really, really should try.

Make stock with the bones and then:
Melt the marrow in a saucepan.
Add finely ground breadcrumbs (bonus points if you make your own) to absorb the melted fat. Add some of your home made stock.
Simmer about an hour/hour and a half, moistening with a little stock if it gets kinda dry.
You're looking for something the consistency of thick mustard.
Season it. This one can take a heavy hand with the black pepper, it likes it.

This is called "peara" in Italian and is an ancient sauce for boiled meat. It's equally good on grilled hanger or skirt steak, though. Or roast.
posted by kaiseki at 2:34 AM on October 23, 2009