Bone Marrow: Delicious, Nutritious and Underappreciated
If you’re truly interested in consuming the original Primal brain food, look no further than bone marrow: perhaps the first reliable source of large, fatty animal products our scrappy ancestors were able to procure. Yes, before we became spear-using cunning tacticians surrounding, stalking, and out-maneuvering large prehistoric ungulates, we feasted on the bones of fallen prey. Or, more accurately, we feasted on what lurked inside the bones (and the skulls, for that matter). Animal fat and protein improved the quality of our diet by making digestion less energy intensive. Bone marrow, especially, was highly caloric and nutrient dense, allowing early human ancestors to divert metabolic resources away from the costly digestion of roughage and toward bigger, costlier brains. This spurred the increase in hominid brain size that we still enjoy today.
That was around two million years ago, when Homo habilis used rudimentary stone tools to strip and smash bones. He was small and relatively diminutive – too small to take down big game – but he could hoist a big smashing stone overhead once the apex predators had gone. And he could probably fend off the hyenas, the vultures, and any other scavengers dead set on sucking the marrow. In fact, we may have learned about the delicious, nourishing paste by watching vultures drop femurs from the sky and pick out the marrow.
There’s clearly something special (nutritionally) about bone marrow. Animals go for the marrow, instinctively, for example. Wolves given access to full deer carcasses gravitated toward those bones with “high marrow yields,” taking care to “destroy the epiphyses” where the marrow was most plentiful. When I toss my dog a big smorgasbord of raw bones, organs, and muscle meat, he heads straight for the marrow before anything else, every single time. It goes marrow, liver, heart, muscle meat. It’s interesting to see what the high-powered, raw senses of a nearly obligate carnivore chooses when determining which animal product is best to eat.
As for the nutritional content, consider this data (PDF) on standard “African ruminant marrow”, courtesy of Loren Cordain. Three and a half ounces of the stuff contain 488 calories, 51 grams of fat (mostly monounsaturated, as I understand), and 7 grams of protein – extremely dense. I can understand why we were driven to come up with new methods of obtaining it. The way wild animals and traditional cultures prized it as much or more so than other fatty, rich cuts suggests that there’s more to marrow than just the fat.
As we all know, meat, especially fatty meat, contains more than just a lopsided macronutrient ratio. Meat, or any animal product, really, is the best, densest source of fat-soluble vitamins around. Liver, heart, brains, ribeye are all prize cuts for their taste, their nutrition, and the various bioavailable micronutrients that come loaded in every delicious bite. Plus, marrow isn’t just static stuff inside the bones. It fulfills a role. It fulfills many roles, actually. It’s made of osteoblasts (which form bone cells using minerals), adipocytes (fat cells), fibroblasts (which form connective tissue), and osteoclasts (which are responsible for bone resorption). I was unable to obtain detailed info regarding the mineral/vitamin content of bone marrow, but if it’s involved in bone and connective tissue formation/resorption, there are probably some choice components that make consumption particularly advantageous.
There’s another reason – a big reason, actually – why animals of all stripes are drawn toward bone marrow and why you should head down to the butcher for some bones: the taste. A subtle, creamy nuttiness, sometimes a bit sweet, always extremely rich, is not to be casually disregarded. The taste is incredible, either eaten straight up with a touch of sea salt or as part of a rich, hearty stew. Its high quality fuel imbued with vitamins and minerals, but it’s delicious fuel that’d be worth eating even if it were devoid of nutrition. Luckily for us, though (and counter to what we’re taught about nutrition), what appeals to our taste buds on a basic level usually also nourishes. Marrow may be a “sinful treat” for most, but it deserves to be a kitchen staple for Primal eaters.
Bones are cheap, and most people that buy them buy them for their dogs. You’ll even see marrow bones marked as “dog bones” in shops. Personally, I’m glad they’re an underappreciated food. If people think of them as dog food, they stay inexpensive. Dogs crave them, love them, but they can’t really spur demand and constrain supply. They alone can’t drive the prices up. So, for the time being, marrow bones, even the grass-fed stuff, remain highly affordable.
Look for broad bones with big thick tubes of marrow. The bones themselves are great fun for making stock afterwards, but you’re paying for the marrow, so make sure you pick some meaty ones. I’d skip Whole Foods. They charge about four bucks a pound for marrow bones, and they’re from conventional, grain-fed cows. If you’re buying grain-fed, you might as well buy them from a local grocer for a couple bucks or, better yet, from an Asian grocer for less than a dollar per pound. Grass-fed is best, of course, and the best way to get quality grass-fed bone marrow bones is from local or online farmers. Try Eat Wild if your farmers’ market meat guy doesn’t carry any. A few of the bone-in cuts will also have a nice shot of marrow, so keep that in mind.
The simplest, best way to prepare marrow is to roast the bones upright at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Fat will leak out the bottom, and you want to eat it all, so use a pan, or at least catch the drippings with molded foil. When the marrow begins to slightly bubble, it’s ready to be eaten. Thicker bones may need a bit more time in the oven, or you could do what I do and eat it slightly pink. Buy from a trustworthy, reputable source and you’ll be fine. Use a narrow spoon or fork to scrape out the marrow (you can even use a dedicated marrow spoon, if you can find one) and top with a bit of coarse sea salt. Serve with a small parsley, shallot, and lemon juice salad to cut through the creaminess of the marrow.
Getting every last bit of marrow out can be hard for beginners. The interior of the bone isn’t smooth, but rather rutted and uneven. If your spoon or fork isn’t fulfilling its duty to your satisfaction, use a combination of applied suction and probing tongue. The suction will loosen any stubborn bits, allowing the tongue to snap ‘em right up. Another option entirely is to forgo the cutlery and apply suction directly to the loaded bone. It’s a tricky move, because you’ve got to strike a balance between warm enough to slide out and hot enough to burn your mouth, but if you’re able to master the preemptive slurp, nothing compares to a mouthful of gelatinous marrow.
If you haven’t tried it yet, get out there and buy some marrow bones. Beef is standard, but any other large mammals will work. And the next time you do a big bone-in roast, whether it’s beef, veal, random African ruminant, or lamb leg, treasure the bone. Don’t dump it into the stock pot right away. Instead, lay it out lovingly on a flat, sturdy surface. Slice it lengthwise if you’ve got the means; otherwise, take a sledgehammer or a big rock and reduce the bone to pieces. Pick the shards clean and suck them dry. Then, and only then, may you toss them in the stockpot (although seeing as how those shards went spelunking in your mouth, you may want to limit the resultant soup’s ultimate audience).
Sucking on marrow bones seems to unlock latent primal (small “p”) urges in all of us, but that’s okay (as long as you avoid it as a first date meal). If you find yourself turning progressively more feral as the marrow disappears from the bone, don’t worry. Even vegetarians have been observed scrounging, slurping, and gnawing at the remains of a bone marrow meal. When it comes to getting the last delicious bits of bone marrow, total paleo reenactment is the only justifiable course of action.
Are you a fan of bone marrow? Never tried it? Share your thoughts in the comment board. Thanks, everyone!
Sifu Renka Flickr Photo (CC)
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
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Something i have yet to try, will get right on that!
my 92 year old grandfather always sucks the marrow out of chicken bones after he’s done eating the meat. my chinese friends also make sure to eat all the cartilage. but my husband wins the prize- while getting ready to make soup from the neck bones of a pig, he plucked out the spinal cord and ate it without even cooking it. he said chinese cooks always do that. he got sick with something later- don’t know if it was related or not.
I wouldn’t recommend eating anything from a pig raw. Pigs are very… parasitic.
As I understand it, the high rate of parasite development in pigs is a direct result of traditional American farming practices, like the use of scrap feed (often containing pork scraps) and housing conditions, that favor the life-cycles of the parasites. Rare(r) pork is becoming more and more the norm at restaurants as higher quality cleanly raised pigs are more able to be sourced.
I’ve tried it and scraped it out and put it in soup I made. Problem is, the grass fed beef joint where I got them charges out the wazoo for them. 6 marrow bones (small ones at that, about and inch and a half long and that much in diameter was over 6 bucks! I can get a whole pound of ground beef for that.
On the other hand… They also sell “pet food” which according to the ingredients is “Raw beef and organ meat trim – including liver, heart, kidney and tongue. All things most like a dog or cats natural diet”. Sounds like something I’D like!
I found using wooden chopsticks to be a good method for getting bone marrow out.
I’ve actually been making stock and marrow at the same time. In a slow cooker I put the bones with water about half way up. Once the marrow is done, I take the bones out, eat the marrow and then return the bones to the stock to simmer longer. Makes for a good mid-day snack while you’re waiting for soup later.
Not only that it’s in you to give, http://www.bookreviewsandmore.ca/2007/06/there-more-than-blood-in-you-to-give.html the first in a 4 part series about donating Bone Marrow through the Unrelated Bone Marrow Donor Network.
I also have a friend who eats chicken’s bone,s marrow and all.
I just finished eating the last bit of lamb I had made with the marrows. It seems more of an American cultural phenomenon where organs, marrow etc. are looked upon as ‘weird’ and ‘yuck’. Sometimes my spleen pops out of my left eye when I go on a date and the girl goes: “I don’t eat anything with bones in it”.
One way to make a nice ‘marrow only’ broth is to boil the bones in salt, chillies, pepper, ginger, garlic, cinnamon sticks, cloves and cardamom. Gotta love spices!
I don’t eat anything with bones in it either because I take the bones out first to suck out the marrow and make stock!
Sounds like something I will definietly have to try- seems like a good alternative for this poor college student!
I’ve never tried bone marrow, but I’m sold after reading this.
A sledgehammer on the bones sounds very primal indeed! I’m tempted to grab my hammer right now and head for the mountains in search of prey.
Try paleolithic flake technology and brush up on your flint napping skills. It’s the best and most traditional way to open up dem bones.
Thank you, Aaron. I believe I will!
Here’s a book I recommend
http://www.amazon.com/Bones-Recipes-History-Jennifer-Mclagan/dp/0060585374/ref=pd_sim_k_1
Luckily for us, the farmer we get our grass fed 1/4 cow from gives the bones and offal for free…As no one else who gets part of that cow wants them usually, we get all of the bones, the liver, the heart and the tongue.
When I order, I also go for Shank steaks, as you get that nice marrow bone in the center…YUMMY!!!
Lucky us!!!
Here’s a great video of two young girls devouring there marrow bones
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq7t03_MDHo
Notice how healthy they (and their mother) look and not overweight like most!
“As for the nutritional content, consider this data (PDF) on standard “African ruminant marrow”, courtesy of Loren Cordain. Three and a half ounces of the stuff contain 488 calories, 51 grams of fat (mostly monounsaturated, as I understand), and 7 grams of protein – extremely dense.”
Bless you Mark! A few months ago I searched high and low for this information and failed. Bone marrow is like ambrosia.
I used to eat marrow when I was a kid. I definitely have to start eating it again.
I haven’t thought about eating marrow for years. But when I was a kid, I also used to crack the chicken bones and suck out the marrow. I don’t think anyone else in my family did that. I probably read about marrow somewhere, but I think it was mostly instinctive!
Meanwhile, I made what was going to be a delicious gelatinous ham stock from my Easter leftovers–full of melted connective tissue and lots of yummy fat. But at some point I recently acquired a resident rodent, and my cat is no huntress. Guess what drowned itself in my ham stock! The rat, not the cat. Boohoohoo. I’m pretty primal but I’m not primal enough to eat rat! And yes, I shrieked a girly shriek. So down the drain it went.
“if you’re able to master the preemptive slurp, nothing compares to a mouthful of gelatinous marrow.”
this made me LOL. good work.
I oftern eat whole chicken bones. If the bones are cooked enough that the outter bone is crunchy enough to eat, has the marrow has lost most of the nutrition?
One of the traits distinguishing fat-soluble vitamins from water-soluble is that FS vitamins stand up much better to heat exposure. So you’re still getting plenty of those, plus the minerals, which are not affected by cooking.
With water-solubles it’s a bit more tricky. The good news is you can get at least some of your Bs from raw muscle meats and raw fish, and of course vitamin C’s readily obtained through fruits and leaves. (If you can find raw milk, it’s available there too.)
I grew up eating bone marrow, because my father did. He came over to Canada from Poland, where he and his parents escaped from the Nazi death camps – having very little money and needing to start life over, they were very poor for a few years. Bone marrow and fish oil were his “vitamins” in those days.
Bone marrow is very well known in most of Europe to be extremely healthy, but it seems the last generation has forgotten (and in America, did anyone ever really know?). It’s truly delicious stuff, I loved it more than candy or pasta as a child!
Hey, another Slav!
My Serbian parents’ favourite childhood treat was bone marrow spread on some bread and sprinkled with paprika…. I always thought it was gross and refused to try it. Now I wish I had!
Ukrainian here… Pretty much the same story!
I have never tried bone marrow, but after reading this I must give it a try very very soon.
It sounds very delicious and I love the fact that it is very nutritious. Always love to try something different!
Officially being primal is so awesome. Eating no grains (except for 300 calories of irish steel cut oats a week) opens up opportunities to eat so many different kinds of foods. It’s awesome. Had I not be interested in Primal food then I would not be up for trying bone marrow!
Fortunately I am
Why the Irish oatmeal?
I used to eat cereal 6 days a week for breakfast. I did this for several years but stopped about 6 months ago.
Around two times a week the cereal was oatmeal.
I always had old fashioned quaker oats. Then, I discovered irish steel cut oats. I love them do death – way better then old fashioned.
Irish oatmeal is the only grain I eat and I only eat 300 calories a week. Not bad for someone who ate tons of grains just a few months ago.
And, oatmeal in moderation promotes clear skin because of the selenium content (I think thats it).
I make it healthy and add berries, hemp seeds, almonds, etc. One serving has around 24 carbs I believe – not too bad.
Plus, I do not have many idea for breakfast right now. Do you want to help me out? I eat chocolate coconut pancakes on sunday, an omelette 3 days a week, oatmeal twice a week, and a green smoothie with one avocado the other day.
Any ideas that do not include eggs would be great! Anyone??????????
Try fruit and cottage cheese maybe.
I also like stir fried veggies and bacon.
You might try this link Todd: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-blueprint-breakfast-photos/
This morning I had my first ‘primal’ smoothie I made with 1/4 c. full-fat greek yogurt, 1/4 c. coconut milk about 1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk, 1 scoop of whey powder, 1/2 c. frozen blueberries and 1/4 of a frozen banana (for the thickness but I want to ditch the banana so I’m gonna mess with that) and some ground flax seeds.
I was an oatmeal-o-phile until about three weeks ago and I can’t say I’ve even thought about an oatmeal breakfast since.
Reply to Milton:
I don’t eat dairy. Especially during right now during my primal based diet experiment with absolutely no dairy.
But, down the road when I can afford grass fed, raw cottage cheese, I shall try some.
Bacon with steamed veggies sounds good. Thanks!
The cookbook Nourishing Traditions has recipes for reducing the phytic acid content of oats, which contain a lot, if you’re that attached to them. Believe me, I understand; I feel the same way about rice. (I’m Cajun. What can I say?)
I haven’t made many coverts to this, but I have sauteed chicken livers (sometimes with chicken hearts, if I can get them) for breakfast. Sometimes I add some spinach. It really good sauteed in coconut ghee, with some salt and pepper.
Chicken livers are pretty cheap, too.
Thanks a lot for the ideas guys. I really do appreciate it.
I am not completely attached to oatmeal. But, I just bought a large tin of it. So I have 18 servings to eat up. I can make it last. I’ll have my second serving of the week on Saturday and then I will go with 1 serving a week allowing it to last about 17 more weeks.
I LOVE smoothies to death. So easy and you can make them very healthy.
Mark (or anyone else)
Is there a limit as to how many smoothies/shakes you should eat? If not, I would go for 2-3 a day, literally.
Julie,
Thanks for the link. It gives me loads of ideas!
I found this – I must try this immediately
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/omelet-muffins/
I am going to make this smoothie tomorrow… what do you guys think???
-1 california avocado
-2 Tbs coconut oil
-1/2 cup frozen blueberries
-1 scoop whey protein powder
FitDay says 622 cals, 50g fat, 27g protein, 21 g carbs (11 is fiber).
Not too bad, yea?
Hey Todd, there is a free cookbook at liveprimal.com; It has a lot of great breakfast ideas. My wife is in a similar situation, she ate a lot of grains until recently. Now we bake banana bread, muffins, biscotti, etc. for her breakfasts. They’re all primal!
Check out some of MDA’s ideas at: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/primal-breakfast-suggestions-people-on-the-go/
The last paragraph was one of the best you’ve ever written!
I second that!!
I am a big fan of the marrow, but I have hard time finding it. Any suggestion?
Dont say “go and ask at butcheries”… I can’t find any in my area… 92660
What about “Bristol Farms”? Google search brought it up as the first link… they seem to have an extensive butcher counter from their webpage and a location in your zip?
http://www.bristolfarms.com/departments/meat.html
I eat a lot of it when I was a kid. My mom would boil the bones in a stew where the marrow would become so soft, it just fell out (then the dog got the bone.)
Sometimes she would leave the marrow in the stew, but other times, I would slap it on some white bread (of death) with some butter and salt. Good times! Good times!
I believe another reason our ancestors may have gone for marrow, is that even after the meat has rotted of the bones, the marrow is protected inside the bone for some time.
I grew up eating marrow bones, another great “bone dish” is stew and soups from oxtails. With some of the bigger sections it is possible to slurp out the marrow.
I agree. Tonight’s oxtail soup dinner is already simmering in the pot!
Just this weekend I decided to try marrow for the first time. It was actually a lot tastier than I expected. I scraped a good chunk of the Easter ham’s marrow out and dug in. Thankfully my 7 year old joined in; the kid will eat anything I put in front of him.
I always use bones. I make all my own stock and especially when I hit the veal vendor at the market, I buy 20# of bones for making demi-glace. There is a great Michale Simon restaurant nearby that serves marrow on the menu and let me tell you, roasted bones are incredible.
Great one Mark!
Here’s some data on caribou bone marrow:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/ethnic-foods/8088/2
That sounds delicious! Americans are so weird. Why have I never tried this stuff before?!
Another bone marrow and demi-glace lover here.
Beef shin meat is great too – slices of leg with large marrow bones in the center. Braise the shin meat, simmer for a few hours, removing the marrow before it melts into the pot, and saving the bones for bone stock of course. mmmmm
I’ve been thinking of trying devilled marrow bones for a while, adding butter, paprika, and a dash of cayenne to the roasting bones.
Your article has inspired me to buy some bones tonight.
Tom “Fat Head” Naughton girls feasting on bone marrow. They seem to really like it!
http://www.youtube.com/user/FatHeadMovie#p/u/2/Jq7t03_MDHo
My mother always used it for making soup, and gave the bone to our dog, and she *loved* it!
I’m another of those lucky b#ggers who get’s bones and ox liver free from my ‘meat dealer’ (it’s free to customers who usually feed it to their dogs) but when I tried marrow a while ago I was really underwhelmed. It’s just a tasteless jelly as far as I can tell. In the UK I grew up eating ‘bread and dripping’, dripping being what you call beef tallow in the US, but without the bread it’s just not a goer. Maybe I’ll try cold marrow and see if I like that any better.
Darren, where do you get your marrow from in the UK? Is it just a local butcher? I’ve been searching online and I can’t find any online butchers who sell bone marrow here in the UK.
OK, wow, first time I’ve seen marrow recommended since living in England (although I’m not gonna lie, kind of grossed me out!). I imagine the “low fat” killed a lot of marrow consumption.
We were already way too enamored with what Weston Price called “the displacing foods of modern commerce” here in the States, even before the low-fat craze. Actually, that’s been a problem in England as well. But at least you guys held on to your organ meats a while longer. Some ethnic groups in the States did as well, but a lot of folks just dropped ‘em, trying to be “modern” and all that.
Marrow bones are a staple in my house, there are always a dozen or more in my fridge. My husband and kids don’t like the looks of the marrow in the bones, so I prepare it in soups or stews for the family. For myself, I will bake a couple of bones in the oven and place them on a layer of eggplant and mushroom, spiced to taste. The veges bake in the escaping marrow oil and what stays in the bone is my main meal.
A little too primal for me. I’ll leave the bone picking to the rest of ya.
After I got out of hospital a couple of years ago, my herbalist strongly recommended a bone marrow soup to help recover.
I love this post! I have not tried bone marrow yet, but now I’m inspired! Sluuuuurp!
Bone marrow rocks… have been eating it all my life, mostly in soups. Will have to try cooking them in the oven.
I just found a great recipe where you basically spread uncooked bone marrow on a steak and grill it:
http://cooking-books.blogspot.com/2009/03/steak-with-melting-marrow-gremolata.html
I’ve never eaten bone marrow before but now I’m intrigued.
I. Love. Marrow. I also learned to eat it from my dad and older generation of the family, brought from Eastern Europe.
Just today, in fact, I enjoyed a sidewalk cafe lunch with a lamb shank. I sucked every bit of marrow I could get at for dessert, to the utter amusement and disapproval of my table mates. To access it in the long, narrow bone, I used a trick I learned by watching this Anthony Bourdain video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSklJCZ40V0 — with my straw!
LLLLOOOVVEE TTTHHIIISSS! Anything affordable is right up my alley. The recession is no excuse to not eat primal after this post! Can’t wait to try this, my hubby will freak!
We purchased some organic marrow bones that we boiled to make a broth and were thinking of then consuming the marrow…but we all found it a bit too…strong. Although I really like the concept, and WANT to like it, I personally felt almost sick from tasting it.
I guess to each his/her own.
we ended up using the wicked broth for soup but felt bad for wasting the bones/marrow
(ps: it wasnt that cheap actually
)
I also find it too strong and almost sickening. I’m not that squeamish either.
“applied suction and probing tongue.” wow
i just had some bone marrow today!
i loooove the stuff, i buy from 3 farmers that have it available, and im pretty sure not many other people request them, which means i get loads of bones a week
Found a wonderful cookbook featuring the recipes of Chef Georges Perrier of Le bec fin in Philadelphia. He uses Bone Marrow in many dishes that doesn’t even feature beef. His instruction on preparing marrow and removing it from the bone is remarkable.
What’s the removal method?
I’ve had bone marrow in France. It’s a delicacy there and highly prized. It was delicious! Great flavor and big chunks of kosher salt on top.
When you think about it, French people still really go for the traditional stuff, the animal foods that have historically been so good for human beings. Then we call it a “paradox” when so many fewer of them suffer heart attacks than we do over here. Nah, I don’t think it’s any great secret. I wouldn’t be surprised if the ones suffering heart attacks over there are the ones who decided they didn’t have time to cook traditionally anymore. No wonder they didn’t want McDonald’s there.
marrow is curiously underrated in the paleo community, seeing that its so… paleo.
i eat most of my marrow raw, then simmer the bones for the glycine and cartilage etc for 24 hrs.
raw marrow is like durian to me; ambrosia…
i love bone marrow… deifnitely have had it, its cheap so of coursei have! cook it the same way too, quick calorie dense food!
if you do beef shank and further slow cook the meat around the bone…melt-in-your-mouth goodness i swear
yeah love the marrow
I even do the really primal thing and break some bones up with my teeth (if needed of course) to get marrow bounty within
I get marrow bones for $.25/lb from a local butcher.
Really tasty stuff.
Are you worried about BSE (mad cow) in marrow?
I’m not convinced you get prion diseases from eating animals. That certainly doesn’t explain scrapie or chronic wasting disease–sheep don’t eat sheep, and deer don’t eat deer.
I’ve heard it postulated that mad cow may actually be caused by a combination of mineral imbalance or deficiency (specifically of copper, I think) plus exposure to certain classes of pesticides which are used for tick control. The latter in particular is something cattle have in common with deer and sheep; even wild deer sometimes experience their territories being sprayed by humans in an attempt to control Lyme disease.
Anyway, even if it were true that we could get mad cow from eating beef, the contagious tissues are those of the central nervous system. If you’re worried, eat marrow from the leg bones and stay away from spinal tissue or beef brains.
PBers in Vancouver can get buffalo bones at $2/lb from Hills Foods. They pack a lot of marrow in them!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kteague/sets/72157623451729030/
My friend from Pakistan says they commonly ate the marrow, and gave me the advice that when breaking open a bone with an axe to first create a small weakness on one side of the bone, then flip it around and give it one big chop. Otherwise the bone is likely to splinter in many pieces if the initial weak point isn’t created.
Oh, wow, this makes me hungry! I love bone marrow! When I was a kid, my Mom thought I was so weird for eating chicken and beef marrow. I knew I was on to something! It’s so tasty.
Is this not one of the ways that Jacob-Crutchfields’s disease is spread? Through blood (marrow) and brain products? Am I wrong?
Did not see previous posts about mad cow, but if you are going to eat ANY of this stuff, make sure it is organic, and not from a diseased cow…and I would NEVER eat chicken marrow…nasty little birds. The meat is okay, just not the marrow…other animals that are fed ground-up chicken parts do get ill from being fed their offall.
In London, famed head-to-tail eatery St Johns Restaurant’s top dish running is the roasted bone dish. Fell in love with it 12 years ago when resident in London and still relish it to this day.
Osso Bucco (veal shanks) anywhere is also heavenly and the marrow IS the dessert!
Where did the socialist post go mark?
At the risk of opening a can of worms… I love marrow and while I don’t buy 100% grass fed, it seems important to encourage people to buy humanely raised animal parts. If anyone hasn’t seen Food, Inc. , you should watch it and know where your average meat product comes from. It’s not pretty, sanitary, humane, or anything Grok could have imagined. A cow raised on a pile of it’s own manure and fed antibiotics to stay alive in that condition may have some not so nutritious byproducts of that process. I am not a bleeding heart, just think the industrial food processing is a far cry from normal or healthy. Best to all. Enjoy the marrow – I do.
I am a big fan of marrow. I usually roast it like you mentioned but I also cut the bones into inch long pieces and then put them into a soup. Either way its yummy. But it can be very very very rich so you want to have it with some refreshing like a salad. It also always gives me a bit of a high afterwards. Nothing weird just I get full of energy. I always think its because Im getting a big whack of nutrients.
Ok Mark, you talked me into it. Il’ll give it a try.
I love love LOVE bone marrow. Regularly get pork bones and make soup with watercress… and I will be the only hacking the bones into pieces getting the marrow out.
Great post Mark! My mother always sucked the marrow out of bones after a roast dinner. Once she got a bit carried away and actually chipped one of her front teeth. lol. I can now get bones from grass-fed sheep and cows, so I think I might just do that
My mother loves marrow so much it could almost be jokingly referred to as an obsession. I suppose I ought to try it, too, next time.
I have been wanting to make osso buco for some time. Anyone have a favorite recipe?
I would love to try this, it sounds so tasty! I have difficulty getting any meat on the bone into my kitchen at all, because my fiance won’t eat anything on the bone! How ridiculous is that! The girl will eat all manner of meats especially on the bone, but the ‘man’ get’s all sissy and grossed out by the sight of a chicken drumstick! Feh, I feel the need to smack him round the face with a big ol’ fish…
FINALLY…I can’t believe this post is finally here. I can’t count using the grains of sand on a beach the number of times I’ve been remanded by my mum for trying to tackle the marrow after a lamb dinner being told it’s unhealthy, bad for you, and disgusting and yet feeling this emptiness inside like something really good has been taken away from me, good enough only for the family dog no more! I’m off to the farmers market on saturday to get me some marrow bones! Thank you Mark!!
What bones are the best? My Beef order won’t be ready until June, but i would like to know what bone’s i should request when the butcher calls and as how my cow is to be prepared. Also, do you just store the unused bones in the freezer i take it?
Thanks
Not only is bone-marrow nutritous , its gourmet fare too.
Sj john restaurant of London,England, regarded as one of the best restaurants in the world, sevres a fantastic bone marrow starter!
http://www.stjohnrestaurant.com/menus/
The chefs there espouse “nose-to-tail eating” and make very good use of marrow and offal. Here’s a link to their book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Nose-Tail-Eating-British-Cooking/dp/0747572577/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b
cheers
Gosh, I love you guys. I felt like a freak most of my life for drewling every time there was a bone marrow in sight. My boyfriend was completely grossed out when he caught me in the act one day:) Before going primal I was just staying away from that stuff thinking I wasn’t doing myself any good ingesting this fatty, creamy, yummy goodness.
Chuck O, pretty much any bone that’s round in form will have a bone marrow in it. Go for the legs and feet and you can’t go wrong. Or just ask them for all the marrow bones you can get and they’ll know what to do.
My father’s story about Bone Marrow Soup that saved his brother’s life and leg:
When my father (born 1915) was a kid, his brother had a bad bicycle accident and broke his leg. It was set wrong and there were lots of problems including spending months in traction in a children’s hospital in another city. He became very weak and sick. His family brought him home because the hospital wasn’t helping. At home their mother made him bone marrow soup. That was about all he could eat. My father fed it to him because he was so weak that he couldn’t even feed himself. He got better, stronger and the bone healed. He always walked with a limp because of the damage done, but the bone healed strong. It was the bone marrow soup that saved his life and healed his bone.
I’m a first-generation American raised by famous old Russian Ballet dancers who HAD to be fit strong and healthy thru revolutions and wars and famines as well as fat times. Got raised holistic before it was called that and using herbs and food as my medicine with sauna and massage to rehab and stay Well LONG before we even had the phrase “Wellness Lifestyle.”
I’ve sucked bones all my life to great taste and benefit.
We used to FIGHT over the marrow bones from soup and spread it on GOOD bread. My butcher tells me most of my neighbors buy the marrow bones for their DOGS–Thanks for telling people how good for PEOPLE it is too Mark!
I’ve recently ordered some grass fed meats from a supplier in TX: http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com
They sell marrow bones at ~ 1$ – 1.4$/lb. You will need to add S&H to that so you’ll be better off ordering other stuff as well. But the marrow bones were a great value.
not just mammal bones… most fish bones are chewable, and I have yet to meet the chicken bone I couldnt chew and swallow.
For your marrow recipe can the bones be cooked from frozen or should they be defrosted first?
i found this article immensely enlightening.
in the past year i experienced an intense and overlong period of malnutrition.
when presented with food again, strange cravings ensued
the top most of which was boned meat
and much to my embarrassment, the soft stuff lurking in them. including the bones of pot roasts and hams, when prepared
i now can see through this article that it was simply a primal body response to the most nutritious part of the animal.
I like to pressure cook the bones…then get the marrow out and use the stock and the marrow in stew or soup. I like the way the gelatin in the marrow sets up and thickens the stew or soup.
Hey does anyone know if marrow is acid-causing in the degistive system? I’m on a very strict diet for candidiasis (so bad it started causing MS symtoms!!) and I’ve been advised to eat meat only twice a week
because it causes an acidic condition, making my problems worse. Anybody know if it’s the same for saturated animal fats?? ….I’m still eating lard, which I refuse to give up!!!
For anyone in the UK, I’ve found a great Butcher’s up in Scotland who pride themselves in their grass fed beef, free range pork, and game. They also sell marrow bones £1/kg. They deliver all over the UK. Website is: http://www.macbeths.com
I read Cure Tooth Decay:Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition. The author was driven to find answers when his toddler daughter’s teeth started to rot away. He implemented what he learned from the work of Weston Price. Bone marrow was a daily meal for his daughter in order to restore her health.
i would try that too.
My Mom is from Germany, one of my favorite “Mom” dishes is bone marrow dumplings.
Just look to regions of the world that have been through a few famines in past history, there’ll be plenty of these recipes.
The Meat is so Toxic these days I would be super wary of your source of animal flesh…
Since I practice compassion for all living beings and I myself would never kill an animal, I also do not pay people to do it for me.
That being said, I do love your website. ~ The book The World Peace Diet has alot to say about animals which could help you find the highest sources of bone marrow possible.~
peace to you!~
Tammy, what is it exactly that you eat then? It’s obviously not meat, but it couldn’t be vegetarian either since that also requires paying someone to kill living beings. You don’t think farmers just let insect and mammalian “pests” consume their crops do you? I suppose you could grow all your own food and pick the pests off by hand, but that doesn’t seem very practical.
While I agree it is important to be as compassionate as possible towards animals, I do not think it’s realistic to think that people can survive without animals dying and being killed. Whether you consume the animals directly or they die in the production of the food you eat, they are still being killed. Personally, I cannot understand the implication that one form of killing is compassionate and the other is not.
Bone marrow can also be used, and eaten, raw. Mikael has a great recipe that I encourage everyone to try at http://www.gastroville.com/2009/10/08/paleo-style-beef-tartar/
To pop the raw marrow out of the bones, just let the bones soak for one hour in cold water and then push with your thumb. One you have those little medals of bone marrow, they’re great in your vegetables too — I always have some in sauteed cabbage or in baked chards.
Sally Fallon wrote a great article on the merits of broth, bone marrow exaction in the process being one of the main factors for the nutrition. She argues that more ’soup’ kitchens could ‘cure’ world hunger due to the inexpensive way to feed such pure nutrition to those without.
I was in Sydney on vacation and I had a chance to try bone marrow at Aria Restaurant. Probably one of the best dinners I’ve ever had. The marrow tasted fatty but it also tasted good at the same time.
I should try it again at home.
Inspired by this post, I went off to the grocery store to try bone marrow for the first time. They didn’t have any, so I decided to try something else I’ve been meaning to incorporate into my diet… beef liver! I can see why your dog prefers it over muscle meat. It is delicious and the texture is creamy and much easier to chew.
However, I noticed one problem that I also had when I stopped cutting all the fat off meat and eating it instead… I have a psychological block due to years of living in a culture where “fat, organs, and marrow are gross!” Judging by my girlfriend’s refusal to be in the room when I ate my meal, I am far from alone.
Does anyone else find that one of the hardest parts of transitioning to paleo-type diets is that they come up against these internal barriers even though they find the foods delicious? Does anyone have any ideas how to overcome this?
I find it kinda hilarious that the very foods we have an innate tendency to want to eat (based on documented hunter-gatherers) are the same ones that we have been indoctrinated into thinking are disgusting.
I love eating raw bone marrow. I just buy the bones and “pop” the marrow out.
So where is a good place to look for bone with marrow? I live in the city and only have access to Whole Foods and the like. Will the butcher counter in my super market have them? Are they advertised at the counter or should I just ask?
I dont know if has been mentioned or not but this reminds me of a korean comfort food my mom used to always make. Sullung-Tang. Not familiar with bones but I am pretty sure there is a lot of bone marrow in the bones they use for the recipe. the broth is made by boiling down the bone and marrow inside for a few hours…very tasty…but it might be an aquired taste
http://muffintop.wordpress.com/2006/12/20/sullung-tang-korean-beef-knucklebone-soup/
omigosh. WONDERFUL!
About halfway through messin with the bones I thought of a grapefruit spoon – it was very useful!
I will do this again. My Wegmans keeps marrowbones with the frozen turkeys.
I went to the Mercat de la Boqueria (http://www.boqueria.info/Eng/index.php) today in Barcelona and purchased two bones with deeply imbedded marrow, some ground beef, and chicharron. On my walk back to my hostel, I could not stop thinking about the marrow. So what did I do? I stopped at a park bench and took the raw marrow out with my hands. Tasted like the best batch of fresh, creamy, homemade butter, but it was delicious MARROW!
looks interesting may be trying it out
You Must Be Kidding
All that Primal stuff and nutrition about Bone Marrow … Not only is it UNHEALTHY IT IS ridiculas to suggest that just because an other amimal goes for it that it is good for humans.
All you have done here is quote other websites from searches…a no brainer..the truth is that this stuff at the end of the day is all fat and not the good fat and is unhealthy, not as is suggested. Yea it tastes creamy cause it is animal fat PERIOD.
Oh, and where are your citations for those “facts,” sir?
It isn’t a suggestion that another animal goes for it… It is the truth that human beings have been “going for it” for millenia.
Unless nature screwed up, I’d venture to say you’re wrong.
Unkidding, if it were wrong, I would have clogged arteries, heart disease and menstrual cramps and hang nails since saturated fat gets blamed for everything. I can attest that these things do NOT happen with saturated fat because I have been eating this way for years…I have been consuming even more saturated fats over the past 3 years.I have regular check-ups and it is amazing….my health gets better with each passing year.
Yes, it tastes creamy because it’s supposed to be EATEN…Period.
Bone marrow is NOT unhealthy – it is transplanted medically into other human beings for survival…
The younger an animal the less fat is in the marrow – younger animals are almost entirely red marrow – ie non-fat…
From Wikipedia: There are two types of bone marrow: red marrow (consisting mainly of hematopoietic (stem cells) ) tissue and yellow marrow (consisting mainly of fat cells). Red blood cells, platelets and most white blood cells arise in red marrow. Both types of bone marrow contain numerous blood vessels and capillaries.
At birth, all bone marrow is red. With age, more and more of it is converted to the yellow type. About half of adult bone marrow is red.[1] Red marrow is found mainly in the flat bones, such as the hip bone, breast bone, skull, ribs, vertebrae and shoulder blades, and in the cancellous (“spongy”) material at the epiphyseal ends of the long bones such as the femur and humerus. Yellow marrow is found in the hollow interior of the middle portion of long bones.
In cases of severe blood loss, the body can convert yellow marrow back to red marrow to increase blood cell production.
About the stem cells in the red marrow: Bone marrow contains three types of stem cells:[2]
Hematopoietic stem cells give rise to the three classes of blood cells that are found in the circulation: white blood cells (leukocytes), red blood cells (erythrocytes), and platelets (thrombocytes).
Mesenchymal stem cells are found arrayed around the central sinus in the bone marrow. They have the capability to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myocytes, and many other types of cells. They also function as “gatekeeper” cells of the bone marrow.
Endothelial stem cells.
Again from wikipedia – you can look it up for their sources:
Bone marrow as a food
Many cultures utilize bone marrow as a food. The Vietnamese prize beef bone as the soup base for their national staple phở; Alaskan Natives eat the bone marrow of caribou and moose; Indians use slow-cooked marrow as the core ingredient of the Indian dish Nalli Nihari; Mexicans use beef bone marrow from leg bones, called tuetano, which is cooked and served as filling for tacos or tostadas; it is also considered to be the highlight of the Italian dish ossobuco (braised veal shanks); beef marrowbones are often included in the French pot-au-feu broth, the cooked marrow being traditionally eaten on toasted bread with sprinkled coarse sea salt. Though once used in various preparations, including pemmican, bone marrow has fallen out of favor as a food in the United States, though bone marrow is used in many gourmet restaurants and is popular among foodies. In the Philippines, the soup “Bulalo” is made primarily of beef stock and marrow bones, seasoned with vegetables and boiled meat. In Hungary tibia is a main ingredient of beef soup; the bone is chopped into short (10-15cm) pieces and the ends are covered with salt to prevent the marrow from leaving the bone while cooking. Upon serving the soup the marrow is usually spread on toast.
Diners in the 18th century used a marrow scoop (or marrow spoon), often of silver and with a long thin bowl, as a table implement for removing marrow from a bone.
Some anthropologists believe that early humans were scavengers rather than hunters. Marrow would then have been a major protein source for tool-using hominids, who were able to crack open the bones of carcasses left by top predators such as lions.[6]
Get that: A MAJOR PROTEIN SOURCE!!!