November 16, 2009 12:52 am

Foods That Seem Scary But Aren't: Bone Marrow

I still remember my first experience with roasted marrow bones. A friend, born and raised in Paris and thus accustomed to many a gastronomical experience, invited my then boyfriend and I over for dinner. As we entered her tiny SoHo studio, we were hit with the smell of something...exquisite. Her boyfriend opened up the broiler of their beat-up old oven and showed us what was cooking: sizzling hunks of bone with a creamy, fatty center. I was mesmerized.

Served with sea salt, toast points and a refreshing parsley salad, I had no idea what to expect. But as I slid my spoon into the bubbling center and took my first bite, I was hooked. There is almost no way to describe the flavor. It's meaty, and savory, and fatty in the best way possible. It's incredibly rich, and perfectly offset by the small hunks of salt. The parsley salad cleanses the palate and off you go to bite number two. And three. And...

Fortunately for everyone, roasting bone marrow is really simple. I have only one word of caution: check the bones before you leave the butcher. We didn't describe them *quite* correctly the first time, and ended up with a bag of veal bones you would use to make stock. Just go to your local butcher and ask for center-cut beef or veal marrow bones. If you're lucky enough to go to Los Paisanos in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, you can even watch them cut the legs on their table saw!

Back home, follow this recipe, adapted from Fergus Henderson's book The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. It tells you how to roast the marrow (on a baking sheet, into the very hot oven, done!) and make the parsley salad. All in all, the hardest thing to do is make the toast. So do yourself a favor. Get a great bottle of red and roast up some bones. You will not be sorry, I promise.

Los Paisanos Meat Market
162 Smith Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.855.2641

Photo credit: metromix.com

— Written by Kristy Kershaw

< PREVIOUS ENTRY NEXT ENTRY >

Share This >

Login to comment