Beef marrow?

I recently received a box of frozen beef marrow. These are whole pieces of raw, de-boned marrow, 6"-10" long:



My main reason for buying this was to fry up for tacos de tuétano. I've also sauteed and blended them into a bordelaise sauce for steak. And finally, I've made a modified version of Fergus Henderson's marrow and parsley salad. All of these were very good, especially the tacos, but I'm looking to try something different.

What other cuisines make use of this part of the beast? Any Italian preparations? Thanks.

Bill/SFNM

Pichelsteiner Eintopf
A casserole made of layers of beef, pork, lamb and marrow with potato, onion, leek, cabbage, celery root and carrot.

Wonder if you can use it for any type of pate? I looked in Charcuterie and didn't see any mention of it, but would it be weird to line/coat a cooking vessel with marrow instead of pork fat? Would it burn? Is it fatty enough?

Just a thought...

Marrow makes a fine dumpling filler. Marrow ravioli with truffle? A marrow "soup dumpling" with slivers of wood ear mushrooms? How about as the filling for a savory fritter -- a brioche "jelly donut" or bretzel "churro" filled with parsley-flecked marrow and covered with smoked salt.

If you know anyone who subscribes to Art Culinaire, I found reference to a veal shank with bone marrow ravioli recipe in issue 18, pg. 22. There's also a mention of marrow flan.

Meat custard.

Sign me up.

JeffB wrote:Marrow makes a fine dumpling filler. Marrow ravioli with truffle? A marrow "soup dumpling" with slivers of wood ear mushrooms? How about as the filling for a savory fritter -- a brioche "jelly donut" or bretzel "churro" filled with parsley-flecked marrow and covered with smoked salt.

Bill,

I'll stick to traditional stuff...

As Jeff suggests, dumplings are a good way to go and there are some traditional recipes I seen of that ilk. I remember a gnocchi recipe from the Trentino (sort of Italian, I guess) that includes marrow in the dumplings -- that might be in a cookbook I have from Trento: I'll check and if it's there will pass along details.

Old Genovese recipes for ravioli sometimes included marrow in the filling.

Old recipes for risotto alla milanese usually included marrow (nice for serving alongside the marrowy ossibuchi). So too some other northern Italian rice dishes.

I think I'd make a risotto...

Antonius

Marrow is used all over. It's apparently just modern-day America that's squeamish about it. I'll never forget attending a luncheon at which osso buco was served. The chef had garnished each plate by sticking a little sprig of rosemary into the marrow at the center of each bone. I was appalled to see an untouched forest of rosemary return to the kitchen at meal's end. "Come back, come back!" I wanted to cry out. "I'll eat it!" I sincerely hope the kitchen did not consign all that lovely marrow to the trash.

Here's a discussion of some medieval uses of marrow, including a recipe for Lombardy custard.

15th-century English beef steak

Moroccan-spiced turbot roasted on marrow bones. Although it calls for the bones, you could probably adapt it.

Susur Lee's sable with beef marrow-porcini mushroom crust and black truffle vinaigrette

Michel Troisgros' beef tenderloin with Fleurie and marrow

Chateaubriand

New Zealand steak and marrow.

Australian smoked fillet of beef with pepperberry glaze

Norwegian boneless birds

Czech liver dumplings

Madeira sauce

Ligurian tocco

According to F. Marian McNeill's The Scots Kitchen, its lore and recipes, haggis royal contains "Mutton, suet, beef-marrow, bread-crumbs or oatmeal, anchovies, parsley, lemon, pepper, cayenne, eggs, red wine."

I am very grateful to get back replies with such appealing options for the bone marrow. I want to try them all! Especially the ravioli. And the gnocchi, and everything on LAZ's awesome list. I'm thinking of ravioli in a tocco sauce. My sincere thanks.

A, were you able to find a gnocchi receipe?

LAZ, although I have been unable to shed certain long-held "squeamish" aversions, marrow has never been one of them. Cow tongue is one of the most frustrating for me because I love its taste and texture in sandwiches and guisados , but have to try very hard to suppress the image of a cow chewing it's cud and sticking its tongue out at me!

Bill/SFNM

Bill/SFNM wrote:
A, were you able to find a gnocchi receipe?

Bill,

Yes, I did find the recipe... But be forewarned: it's an Italian recipe and on top of that an old recipe, which means it is especially bereft of details and explanation, assuming that the reader will have all the basic skills to fill in the lacking information.

The dumplings include just a very few ingredients: 'white flour', beef marrow (melted and passed through a sieve), an egg and a little salt. Make the dough, roll it into a cylinder, cut off little pieces and form the gnocchi. Boil them in broth.

*

Marrow used to be very commonly used in Italian cooking -- at least in the regions where beef was consumed with some regularity -- but is not so much used these days. The modern neglect of marrow is noted not only by the Italian source of the recipe presented in the Englishman's site linked to above but others as well, e.g. Plotkin, who claims it is generally replaced now in tocco with mushrooms (or an increased presence thereof). Health concerns of various sorts have been responsible for the decreased use.

In addition to the very famous Ligurian tocco (di carne), there's an interesting version from Lucca (in Tuscany, of course, but just a short way from the eastern end of Liguria) which includes cloves and nutmeg in the sauce, along with a rather different mix of meats.

Antonius

Was searchin online for a tacos de tuetano recipe and came across this post. My question for you is: Where can one buy a bag of marrow?

Thanks!

cmojeda wrote:Was searchin online for a tacos de tuetano recipe and came across this post. My question for you is: Where can one buy a bag of marrow?

Thanks!

I know Bill makes occasional purchases from Niman Ranch and I took a shot by going to their website and searching for marrow.

Where did you get this bone marrow from. I have been trying and my guys say they can't produce enough

pot au feu, perhaps?

Hi,

I received the following in an e-mail today:

we're a small family farm trad beef and lamb and poultry and organic we butcher our own products recently bought a band saw ,im interested in bone marrow and noticed if you saw the bones small enough you can pop the marrow out with your thumb is this wrong

What thoughts can you offer? Is there an ideal cutting thickness for marrow bones?

Regards,

Marrow bones that I normally see are generally around 3" - 4" in length/height.

Cathy2 wrote:Is there an ideal cutting thickness for marrow bones?

It depends on you're going to cook it.

When I make bulalo, a Filipino bone marrow stew, I go for longer bones that are cut in half with the ends intact. In a tall stockpot, the bones are simmered for a long time with the cut side up to keep the marrow from dissolving into the stew. At the end of cooking, the center is almost liquid.

Steve - thanks!

Kanin,

Do you get those bones cut to order at an Asian meat market? I don't recall seeing the bones arranged as you described. How do you serve and eat this dish?

Regards,

If you ask really nicely, any of the meat counters at Argyle will do it for you. Try Tai Nam or Viet Hoa.

You tap the joint end of the bone like bottle of ketchup onto steaming hot rice. If you're lucky, the marrow will come out in one piece. The stew itself is very lightly seasoned, so we always season each spoonful with a splash of fish sauce.

kanin wrote:If you ask really nicely, any of the meat counters at Argyle will do it for you.

Cathy2, you don't have to go that far. Ask for marrow bones, or beef leg bones, or soup bones, or dog bones, or whatever you want to call them, at the meat counter at your local Sunset or Dominick's or Jewel, and they'll cut as many as you want to whatever length you want. I saw ones precut and packaged ($1.99/lb, which is more than you have to pay at times when they're really trying to get rid of them) at the Libertyville Jewel yesterday.

I bought a big leg bone, full of marrow, from Heartland (it was expensive, about $3.00) -- I thought it made for a murky, slightly slimy broth.

David Hammond wrote:I thought it made for a murky, slightly slimy broth.

You really have a way with words. You should write menus for a Goth restaurant.

My source for marrow (without the bone) has dried up. Does anyone know of a supplier for beef marrow without the bone that might be willing to ship? Thanks!

Bill,

We get it by the pound from Allen Bros.



Evil

When we were in San Francisco a few weeks ago, RN74 had roasted marrow bones with bacon marmalade and grilled bread. OMG!