Dear Eric: My adult son’s birthday is coming up and he requested roasted beef bone marrow be served. Would you have a recipe? What kind of bones do you buy?
Cindy
Cindy, your son is in good culinary company by requesting roasted beef-bone marrow.
For example, globetrotting celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once called the version of this dish served at London’s St. John restaurant his “death-row meal.”
I, though, like your son, think a birthday would be a much more pleasant occasion to enjoy it.
The reason why it is considered a special treat for meat eaters like us is because marrow is rich, succulent, smooth and fatty, with some calling it poor man’s foie gras.
Marrow is a white, soft substance that fills the bones of animals, including cows, of course. According to the cookbook The Art of Living According to Joe Beef, marrowbones are always from the hind legs of the animal, where you’ll find straight, thick, marrow-rich bones.
You’ll find those bones at most butcher shops and some supermarkets. It is always best to call ahead to see if the place you shop has them.
For today’s recipe, I bought them at Slater’s Meats in Oak Bay (slatersmeats.com), who cut the bones for me while I waited.
For some roast bone-marrow recipes, such as mine, the bones are cut widthwise; in others, they are cut lengthwise.
While cutting them the latter way does make it easier to get at the marrow, I prefer to have them cut widthwise, as the bones make for a much more dramatic presentation on the plate, as you see in the photo.
Roasting the bones is easy. Put them in a pan cut-side up, then roast in a hot oven 20 minutes or so, until the marrow is hot, soft and in a form you can scoop out and devour.
In my recipe, I served the roasted bone marrow as a first course and in a traditional way, with toasted bread and a refreshing parsley salad, which is a nice counter to the fatty, rich marrow.
Roasted Bone Marrow with Parsley Salad
These bones are served with toasted slices of bread that you top with the warm marrow and bright-green salad.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Makes: 4 appetizer servings
8 to 12 three- to four-inch long, marrow-rich beef bones
1 1/4 cups very coarsely chopped Italian (flat leaf) parsley
1/4 cup finely diced red onion or shallot
1 1/2 Tbsp capers
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
12 to 16 ankle-cut slices baguette, toasted
• coarse sea salt to taste
Preheat your oven to 425 F. Set bones, cut-side up, in a shallow roasting pan (if your pan is prone to sticking, line it with foil first). Roast the bones in the centre of the oven until the marrow is hot, softens, begins to separate from the bone and bubbles around the edges, about 20 minutes.
While the bones roast, place parsley, onion (or shallots) and capers in a medium bowl. Combine the oil, juice and pepper in a second, smaller bowl.
When the bones are cooked, add the oil mixture to the parsley salad and toss to combine.
Set two to three bones on each of four plates, along with some of the parsley salad and toasted baguette. Serve the salt alongside, to sprinkle on the marrow and salad once you’ve put them on the bread.
Recipe correction
Unfortunately, there was a mistake in the pork chop recipe that appeared in my June 22 column on brandied cherries. Eight pork chops were noted in the ingredient list, but it should have only been four. The corrected recipe is below. To find the recipe for the brandied cherries, go to timescolonist.com and search “Eric Akis cherries.”
Pork Chops for Two with Brandied Cherry Sauce
Seared pillows of pork accented with a rich, sweet-and-sour-tasting cherry sauce.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: About 12 minutes
Makes: two servings
1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
3 Tbsp brandied cherry syrup
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp soy sauce
3 Tbsp orange juice
4 (3 oz.) boneless pork chops
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp cornstarch
3/4 cup brandied cherries (see Note)
Combine first five ingredients in bowl, then set aside.
Season the pork with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high.
Add the pork and cook three to four minutes per side, or until cooked through (pork should have just a hint of pink in the middle). Transfer pork to plate, then discard any excess oil in the skillet.
Set the skillet back over the heat. Whisk the cornstarch into liquid mixture in the bowl until dissolved, then pour into the skillet.
Add the cherries, bring to a simmer and cook until a lightly thickened sauce forms, about two minutes. (If the sauce overly reduces, simply add a bit more stock.)
Return the pork to the skillet, turn and coat with the sauce, heat through a minute or two, and serve.
Note: When removing the brandied cherries from the jar for this recipe, be sure to leave the syrup behind, as you’ll need that for the sauce.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His latest is The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook (Appetite by Random House). His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
