Bone marrow is a soft, fatty vascular tissue in the cavities of long bones. While beef marrow is most commonly eaten, veal, lamb and moose are also used. Bone marrow features in a range of cuisines, including French (pot-au-feu), Italian (osso buco), Vietnamese (pho) and Singaporean (sup tulang, or bone soup).
While eating sup tulang in an episode of No Reservations, chefs Anthony Bourdain and Bobby Chinn followed the locals by slurping the marrow from the bone through straws. The French enjoy it by extracting the marrow from soup bones and spreading it on bread.
However, British chef Fergus Henderson, who pioneered the concept of nose-to-tail eating at his St John restaurant in London, is arguably the best known for cooking with bone marrow. His much-lauded roasted bone marrow and parsley salad is cited by chefs, food critics and patrons alike as a must-eat dish. In Melanie Dunea’s My Last Supper, Bourdain revealed it would be his chosen last meal.
Here, we share two ways with bone marrow: France’s pot-au-feu ('pot on the fire') and a luscious approach to Chinese soup dumplings.
Recipes
Photography Janyon & Anson Smart.
As seen in Feast magazine, November 2011, Issue 3. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.
