Roasted Bone Marrow, Fergus Henderson [Pictures]

LTH,

Fergus Henderson's Roasted bone marrow with parsley salad was a hit on New Year's Eve. Only, slight, problem we neglected to preorder veal bones, only beef marrow bones were available.

Very simple recipe. First roast marrow bones.


Put on a platter.


Scoop a little marrow on toast, top with parsley salad (parsley, shallot, caper, s/p, lemon juice, evo)


Eat, enjoy, go see a cardiologist.


Enjoy,
Gary

Beautiful, Gary.

I fell in love with this preparation when I first saw Anthony Bourdain fawn over it while eating at St. John (on his show "A Cook's Tour).

Looking at your pics, I am immediately reminded of a meal of osso buco I had at A Tavola a couple winters ago. About halfway through my meal, I asked the waiter for a marrow spoon or some other similar instrument. He looked at me a tad confused and came back with a butter knife that was much too wide. I asked him to find something smaller, and gently explained that a good portion of the appeal of osso buco is the promise of marrow. Eventually, I managed to get most of it out with a smaller butter knife, but I felt like a bit of a neanderthal, digging through bones with crude tools.

There's gold in dem bones.

Best,
EC

Hi,

I assume the elegant prolonged scoop in the pictures is for bone marrow. You don't see those very often. Or does it have another purpose and found convenient for this as well?

EC - after reading about your tooling problem in the restaurant, I thought this could be another use for my crab forks, which have tiny tines at one end and a small pointed spoon to extract from the crevices.

Very simple to execute and elegant.

Thanks!

Cathy2 wrote:I assume the elegant prolonged scoop in the pictures is for bone marrow. You don't see those very often. Or does it have another purpose and found convenient for this as well?

EC - after reading about your tooling problem in the restaurant, I thought this could be another use for my crab forks, which have tiny tines at one end and a small pointed spoon to extract from the crevices.

Gary's tool there is a textbook marrow spoon, basically a prolonged shovel. Many of the ones I've seen look a lot like smaller table scrapers that bus boys use to clean up crumbs. You don't see a real marrow spoon too often in stores any more. Google searches produce a lot of referenfces in antique stores.

I have had restaurants bring out a crab fork with osso buco before, they work well too (as long as the bone is not longer than the spoon, which has happened).

Best,
EC

Mmmmm, bone marrow.

I used to enjoy this in briased oxtails ("Rabo") at my favorite cuban restaurant on New York's West Side, served only Mondays when I guess they make a huge batch of it for the waiting crowds.

La Rosita
2809 Broadway (bet. 108th and 109th)
New York, NY 10025
(212) 663-7804

eatchicago wrote:but I felt like a bit of a neanderthal, digging through bones with crude tools.

EC,

Yes, but a well fed Neanderthal.

Enjoy,
Gary

Cathy2 wrote:I assume the elegant prolonged scoop in the pictures is for bone marrow.

Cathy,

Yes, Pewter Marrow Spoons.

Lana, who is incredibly well organized, had the brochure which came with the Spoons, they were a gift to Andy and Lana from a Boston cousin. I snapped a picture for those who may be interested in ordering. No idea on cost, as they were a gift.


In a pinch Shellfish forks work for marrow, I particularly like Global Shellfish Forks, available at J B Prince



Contact info for Marrow Spoons.


Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:

eatchicago wrote:but I felt like a bit of a neanderthal, digging through bones with crude tools.

EC,

Yes, but a well fed Neanderthal.

Enjoy,
Gary

Neandethal? I alway spick up the bone and suck the marrow out. I guess that puts me at Australopithecus.

Anyway, chopsticks work pretty well too.

Another marrow note, Farm City Meats on Devon often has bags of marrow bones (goat or lamb) available for quite cheap. I like to keep some around when I make up a long simmered indian meat dish to give some flavor to the broth. And so that my kids can fight for the marrow.

As Thoreau says, "to suck the marrow out of life!"

mmmmm life marrow

Here, Here, Zim. That is my approach, too. Tonight I picked up a couple of lovely pieces of osso buco from Trotters to Go. On the way out, I grabbed a mini-boule of sour dough which I toasted slightly for my marrow to rest on.

Since I was at home tonight, a fast food straw sufficed in pushing 95% of the luxurious marrow out of the bone. I still could not resist running my fingers through the bone to get the last bits of marrow.

YourPalWill wrote:Here, Here, Zim. Tonight I picked up a couple of lovely pieces of osso buco from Trotters to Go.

Will,

Though I occasionally go to Trotter's to Go last week I finally figured out why they call it Trotter's to Go. After shopping there you have to go to the bank and restock your wallet.

I was in the neighborhood and in the mood for one of their smoked salmon sandwiches, reasonable at about $6 per sandwich, at least reasonable given the quality.

I was feeling peckish so, in addition to the very delicious Darjeeling Tea Cured Smoked Salmon sandwich with pickled vegetable slaw, bought a small, and I do mean small, container of Wheat Berries with dried fruits, toasted nuts and streusel topping and a small container of Ahi tuna Poke.

Add one Izze sparkling grapefruit soda and Wow e z Wow, quite a chunk of change for an on the go meal eaten in my car. As I said, the food was quite good for preprepared, though I thought the streusel topping on the wheat berries sticky sweet, but even given it's Trotter's to go, not Jewel to go, poor value for my dollar.

Enjoy,
Gary

I have to admit, Gary, that the osso buco was a impulse purchase splurge for me. Generally, my dinners at TTG consist of the tenderloin sandwich with bermuda onion and stilton (for a reasonable $7.50) and a cookie (for a less than reasonable $1.50). For dinner at under $10, it works on some nights for me. It is really easy to break the bank in that place.

Today's World Eats column in the trib presents a short primer on osso buco. Though the piece repeatedly misspells "gremolata," and states that the dish is Tuscan (it's associated more with Lombardy, particularly when served with risotto alla Milanese and gremolata as described in the column), I was struck by how awfully good the version at Merlo looked in the photo.

Anyone tried it? I find this to be the most comforting of foods, and easy enough to make at home. Like lots of Italian, it's a good combination of a long-term, finish early recipe (the veal) and an a la minute recipe (the rice). But it's also one of my favorite meals to eat out. My benchmark here was the osso buco served at the underappreciated Trattoria Parma (the only place to get bollito misto, too). La Risotteria Nord was good as well. I've hit a slump lately, getting a horrid lamb version at Carlucci in the western burbs a few weeks back. Bice?

Run as fast as you can from Bice. Ordinary food, very high prices.

JeffB wrote:[...] I was struck by how awfully good the version at Merlo looked in the photo. Anyone tried it?

A member of my party ordered it recently at Merlo, and I wasn't terribly impressed with the portion that I was offered. At the time, the osso buco was prepared in a very concentrated tomato sauce, and two bites were enough to tire me of its sweetly cloying taste.

I was not terribly impressed with the risotto which accompanied the osso buco either, but I must say that I have nearly never been satisfied with a restaurant preparation of risotto.

FWIW, and in spite of the above, the Cesari Amarone Classico della Valpolicella showed fairly well in this dish's presence.

Erik M.

Thanks Erik. I guess I'm not surprised. I have tried to love Merlo, which I like, but I find it a little overpriced and underportioned myself. No, people, I don't expect Rosebud from Merlo. By continental standards, the place is a bit precious for what is essentially straight-ahead Italian-heartland food.

Now, the house made pasta is exemplary, and I'm excited to have a place that offers relatively rare things like bottarga. The dining room and service are very much what you might get in a rustic place in Italy. I appreciate what they are doing. Kudos for not having tiramisu.

Oh, and they have Dover Sole.

Merlo's fresh mozzerella is a thing of beauty as well.

Hi,
just a forward to the roast marrow entries. my wife and I ate them at a restaurant called st johns in London last September and I have not been able to get them out of my mind since. I thought at the time they were the poor mans fois gras and I enjoyed them almost as much.
I am a jeweller in England with cousins in Chicago. www.griffinjewellers.co.uk and www.fabergejewellery.net and interestingly we have in stock a hallmarked sterling silver marrow spoon, these are still manufactured in Sheffield England, although not the most popular and romantic of gifts, interesting all the same. I will try and remember to take an image sometime this week and post in.
Yours David white

HI,

The original post was inspired by Fergus Henderson's recipe who owns St. John's restaurant.

There is a new book called Bones : Recipes, History, and Lore. The jacket cover is Roasted bone marrow with parsley salad, which was also inspired by Fergus Henderson.

I went to a program recently of someone who collects antique tableware. One of the more expensive pieces was a 16th century bone marrow scoop.

Regards,

I too saw that episode with Anthony Bourdaine and Fegus Henderson, it looks so good.
So you roasted the leg bones for how long at 375? Was the oven set for about an hour?
50 minutes? Looks like a great party.
I hadn't been aware from that show, that in fact they were veal bones as opposed to beef.
I inquired at my butcher's whether he could get beef leg bones, he said sure...."why you got a dog?"
I laughed, then barked.

Looks great, Gary - I've never had them and would like to try them.

Cound you give the approximate roasting time? I see your temp OK, but would appreciate the timing.

Thanks

Mike

MikeLM wrote:Cound you give the approximate roasting time? I see your temp OK, but would appreciate the timing.

Short and Mike,

Timing.......depends. Not a good answer, but there are variables such as veal or beef bones, size, both height and diameter.

Fergus Henderson recommends 20-minutes at approximately 400 Fahrenheit, but that is with choice veal bones. My recommendation, in particular with larger beef marrow bones, is to check after 20-minutes, but allow double that, if not more. The marrow should be loose, wobbly with a distinct fatty sheen. Be careful not to overcook or the luscious marrow will simply melt away.

New York Times video of Mark Bittman and Fergus Henderson roasting marrow bones.

Enjoy,
Gary

Those look wonderful. Glad this thread was resurrected, as marrow is one of my ATF foods. For some, there seems to be a large gross-out factor involved with bone marrow. They don't know what they are missing.

I recently served crispy pan-fried bone marrow as an appetizer for a holiday dinner. I lifted the preparation from Lola via Ruhlman's Blog. The two-day soak is a bit of a pain, but it is worth it in the end.

Came out great, if I do say so myself. (And I do.) Highly recommend if you have some adventurous eaters over. And it is always fun to tease the squeamish.


(pic also lifted from Ruhlman)

saw F. Hendersons recipe, and the parsley salad. I prefer doing my own thing.

Halved bones, olive oil, salt , black pepper. Roasted @ 350 for 20 minutes in the convection oven, then under the broiler for 10 mins. Caremlized majic. Served with a homemade red onion/balsamic jam this dish had it all, sweet, savory, buttery, texture, egg yolk. Over the top, gilding the lily, what ever catch phrase is appropriate. Mercy...!




Mine, served with above mentioned jam, and sunnyside up quail eggs:



honestly the best version of bone marrow I have eaten(better than recent versions I have had @ Maude's & O & E imho.)

I did smoke the whole segment from B & L for 6 hours, they were ok, really concentrated the marrow down, light smoke, etc. The oven roasted halved segments Gepherth's were a much better product to work with imho.

I bought a bag of beef bones at an amish butcher shop in Arthur, Il. at 28 cents a pound. They are pretty long-6 inches(?) as I did not have time for further processing. I am thinking 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees. Do you all think that that should be enough-for a start? I am the only one that likes them in the family. Where can I get bones locally? And what is the going price?

What restaurants in chicago serve marrow bones?

Purple Pig serves a pretty fantastic bone marrow plate

I haven't had them for a couple years but enjoyed the marrow bones at Volo.

Similarly to RAB above, I had a few marrow bones that I removed from shanks for chili and, instead of roasting them, I removed the marrow from the bones and fried them.

A fun experiment and a hedonistic treat to be sure. In the prep work, I had done a good bit of soaking in salt water to clean out some of the impurities. I would highly advise the soaking given some of the water changes.

Ok I roasted the bones yesterday adding onion, celery, carrot, and bay leaf to the pan-I figure I will be able to get some sort of stock after I dig all the marrow out. I had one perfect bone-a nice long shank that gave me that unctous goo I desired. The other bones were a bit of work and they were not very straight and the marrow openings were smaller. My question is this-how do I order good marrow bones from the butcher? I want to get bones from an amish butcher, a mexican carnicera -or perhaps Peoria Meats (yes I am looking to save a few pennies) I now know I want veal bones- but which bones produce the most marrow? What should I tell them?