If you have never had bone marrow, you aren’t living. I am not being dramatic, I am not being funny, I am serious. This is a dish you MUST try before you die. #bucketlist
Bone marrow has been one of my all-time favorite dishes ever since I tried it. Then, my G.I. told me that I should eat bone marrow or drink bone marrow broth if I ever have the chance to help my Crohn’s disease. YES! Finally, something positive from this horrible disease…I NEED to eat bone marrow. It is healthy, it will help my insides heal. Done. However, here in Little Rock, butchers don’t seem to have these bones available, so I have only tried it in restaurants…which is expensive. Until I was selling pralines at the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market on Saturday and Farm Girl Meats was there…with beef femur bones. Hallelujah!
I was told these “marrow bones” were sliced length wise and ready to roast. However, they were not. The hubs and I tried to figure the best way to cut these bones, and an oscillating tool seemed our best shot. Drew worked for nearly an hour cutting these bones length-wise, but they were cut perfectly!
Once you get actual cut marrow bones, the best way to prepare them is to soak them in salt water at least for 8 hours. This pulls the blood out, creating a cleaner taste and better texture. I actually soaked these for 17 hours, just to see if it made a difference. I think it did…this was the best bone marrow I have ever had. Great texture, clean flavor, fantastic!
To cook these beauties, I brushed a little extra virgin olive oil on the top because this allows the marrow to heat quickly and cook more evenly. I added salt and pepper. I also placed some plain bread on the pan to soak up any extra marrow fat that seeps out while cooking. (Spoiler alert: That was genius.)
I also made some “crack bread”. This is a simple recipe where I brush extra virgin olive oil on cooked bread pieces, followed by a little garlic salt and rosemary. This made the perfect little crostini to apply our marrow.
The cooking process is SO easy. I pre-heated the oven to 450 degrees and cooked the marrow for about 20 minutes. I added the bread for only 10 minutes, and I turned the pieces halfway to evenly cook both sides. This process worked perfectly!
(I also cooked one bone un-sliced lengh-wise so I could compare the marrow from both options)
If you know marrow, it is extremely fatty and rich, and a little citrus and vinegar helps break up that intense flavor. So, I plated the marrow and “crack bread” with a spring mix that was topped with dried dates and a cherry vinaigrette. HOWEVER, this was not enough to cut the intense flavor. We ended up adding pickled carrots and daikon that I had in the fridge on the top of each marrow crostini, and that worked so well! So, definitely have some pickled veggies ready to even out the intense fatty deliciousness that marrow brings.
Here is just some of the marrow spread on some crack bread. It spread perfectly, just like butter.
Here is where I got in trouble. I literally ate half of what you see here. That is entirely too much bone marrow! Afterwards, I felt like I drank a gallon of bacon grease. My mouth still feels oily. Ugh, all that fat made me feel terrible. So, control yourself, unlike I did. Only cook and eat a small amount at a time, and you will have the best appetizer of your life. As for me, it might be a year before I can even think of eating bone marrow again. But it was goooood while it lasted.
