When we buy beef at the grocery store, the bone is often removed and the fat trimmed away. But in the past, people used all parts of the animal, both because they didn’t want to waste anything, but also for the nutrient value.

Marrow bones are either the femur, shank or tibia bone of a steer that is cut for eating. The femur is the largest bone in the animal and has the best marrow to bone ratio.

TruBeef Organic. has information on cooking with marrow bones in today’s modern kitchens.

INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

USE OF BONE AND FAT IN SOUP-MAKING
Bone contains a substance which long cooking changes into a jellylike mass called gelatin. In the center of the bone there is a fatty substance called marrow. This fat in the bone and that in and around the muscles liquefies in making soup stock. In cooling, the fat rises to the top, hardens, excludes the air from the stock, and thus prevents it from spoiling readily. Hence, in soup-making, it is of advantage to use both the fat and the bone with the lean meat. The fat, however, should be removed carefully from the stock before using.

MARROW-BONE SOUP
Take four pounds of marrow-bones, broken to pieces, and the marrow left in, and one pound salt pork or ham-bones. Also two onions, two stalks of celery, three tomatoes, four parboiled potatoes, sliced, a bunch of herbs, pepper and salt, and five quarts of water.

Put on the bones in the water and cook slowly four hours, leaving three quarts of water. Strain into a bowl and surround this with cold water to make the fat rise. Take this off and return the soup to the fire, with the parboiled potatoes and the sliced onions—which should have lain ten minutes in scalding water, to take off their strong taste—the celery, tomatoes, and herbs.

Boil slowly until you can rub the vegetables through a colander. Add them to the soup, season, heat almost to the third boil, and serve.

AYRSHIRE SOUP
4 lbs. of lean beef.
2 lbs. of marrow-bones well cracked. 
2 onions.
2 turnips.
3 stalks of celery.
Bunch of sweet herbs.
6 large potatoes.
1⁄2 cup of oatmeal.
Pepper and salt.
6 quarts of cold water.

Chop the vegetables and herbs, cut the meat fine, and break up the bones. Put the oatmeal to soak in a pint of water. Slice the potatoes and parboil them in hot water for ten minutes. Add them then to the other vegetables and put them all, with the meat and bones, into a soup-pot, with the water.

Stew for four hours, until the liquor in the pot has fallen one-third. Strain through a colander, and set aside two quarts of the stock until tomorrow. Season it all and return the rest to the fire. Boil up and skim, add the oatmeal, and stew, covered, forty minutes, stirring often, lest it should burn.

MARROW DUJMPINGS FOR SOUP
Grate the crust of a breakfast roll, and break the remainder into crumbs. Soak these in cold milk, drain, and add two ounces of flour. Chop up half a pound of beef marrow freed from skin and sinews. Beat up the yolks of five eggs and mix all together thoroughly. If too moist, add some of the grated crumbs, then pepper and salt to taste. Form into small round dumplings and boil them in the soup for half an hour before serving.

FINE MARROW PUDDING
Mince very small one-fourth pound of nice beef marrow, and grate or crumble one-half pound of almond sponge cake. Cut in half, one-fourth pound of sultana or seedless raisins, chop two peels of candied citron, mix them with the raisins, and dredge both thickly with flour. 

Add a large heaped tablespoon of loaf-sugar,* a small nutmeg grated, and a wine glass*of mixed wine and brandy. Mix all these ingredients well and put them into a deep dish. Lay a border of puff-paste all round the rim, and fill the dish up to the top with a nice custard made in the proportion of four eggs to a pint of well-sweetened milk, flavored with either bitter almonds,* rose-water, peach-water, or vanilla. Bake this pudding half an hour. When cool, sift sugar over it.

*loaf-sugar – sugar sold in a hard block, which has to be broken and then pounded into sugar granules.
*wine glass – one-fourth cup.
*bitter almonds – a variety of almond with a bitter taste sometimes used as flavoring or in oils. The almond variety sold by the food industry today is the sweet almond.

MARROW TOAST
Let the butcher break up a marrow-bone. Take out the marrow in as large pieces as possible, and put them into a stew-pan with a little boiling water, rather highly salted. When the marrow has boiled for a minute, drain the water away through a fine strainer. Have ready a slice of lightly-toasted bread, place the marrow on it, and put it into a Dutch oven before the fire for five minutes, or until it is done. Sprinkle over it a little pepper and salt, and a small teaspoonful of parsley, chopped fine. The toast must be served very hot. 

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TruBeef Organic. has information on cooking with marrow bones in today’s modern kitchens.

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Do You Eat Much Beef or Make Homemade Soup? Please Leave a Comment Below.

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