If you are a food enthusiast and you have not tasted a bone marrow meal, it is high time you explore its distinctive flavor and texture. Bone marrow is a spongy tissue normally found at the center of the bones. It is highly concentrated in the hip, spine, and thigh bones.
For many, bone marrow is best for making bone broth or spread over roasted vegetables, meat dishes, or bread. Its rich, slightly sweet flavor and smooth texture make it a delicious meal. In addition, the nuttiness and the umami flavor allow you to serve bone marrow in several ways.
Bone marrow from animals such as goats, sheep, cows, and moose is highly popular all over the world. If you want to learn more about bone marrow, then you are at the right place.
What Are The Types Of Bone Marrow?
While bone marrows come from different animals, there are two main types that you should know. Generally, the classification of bone marrow is based on its color.
Red Bone Marrow
The red bone marrow is responsible for producing blood cells, and the stem cells in the red bone marrow create both the white and red cells.
Yellow Bone Marrow
The yellow bone marrow is best known for storing fats. The fats stored by the yellow bone marrow are responsible for the production of energy and the development of the body’s bone, muscles, cartilage, and fat cells.
What Does Raw Bone Marrow Taste Like?
Bone marrow, when raw, appears like a part of the bone and can either be yellow, off-white, or red, depending on the meat.
When raw, bone marrow has an umami flavor and tastes incredibly cream and buttery due to its high-fat content. That taste changes when it is well cooked as it becomes mild sweet with an incredible savory flavor.
What Does Smoked Bone Marrow Taste Like?
If you have never exploited the sweetness of bone marrow, you probably think that the only way to cook it is through boiling. Well, you’re mistaken, as there are numerous ways of preparing bone marrow and converting it into a delicious meal.
Smoking it, for instance, adds an extra layer of flavor. The taste of smoked bone marrow is mildly sweet with a buttery, Smoky flavor.
How To Make Smoked Bone Marrow
If you love smoked food, then smoking bone marrow will be the best option for you to prepare it. Here is how to smoke bone marrow for a delicious meal.
1. Make Sure That The Bone Marrow Is Clean And Well-Trimmed
Preparing a delicious meal starts by ensuring that your bone marrow is clean and well-trimmed. So, how do you ensure that the bone marrow is clean and well-trimmed? It is straightforward; as long as the bones containing the bone marrow are clean and well-trimmed, they are also clean.
If you notice that the bones are not clean, then the best practice is to soak them in salt water for about 24 hours before you can consider smoking them.
2. Smoke The Bone Marrow
After verifying that the bone marrows are clean, the next critical step is to smoke them. Start by firing your grill to 300F. Use hardwood lump charcoal with your favorite wood chips to attain the desired flavor. Once the grill is ready, place the bone marrow on a baking sheet before placing them on the smoker. They will take about 40 minutes to cook to the desired level of doneness.
3. Prepare The Salad
As you wait for the bone marrow to be ready, you can proceed to prepare a salad. While bone marrow is delicious, it can be best served with a simple salad such as a mixture of green onion, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper, and garlic to intensify its flavor.
What Does Roasted Bone Marrow Taste Like?
Another famous method of cooking bone marrow is roasting it. Although roasting might not give it a better flavor than smoking, it is one of the best methods of making delicious bone marrow.
When perfectly roasted, bone marrow has an excellent semi-sweet, buttery flavor with a creamy texture that melts on the mouth. It is essential to understand that it can take a nutty, umami taste.
How To Roast Bone Marrow
The process is straightforward if you want to make roasted bone marrow at home. Here are some of the steps to follow.
1. Purchase The Bone Marrow
The first step is to order the bone marrow from your trusted local store. When buying the bone marrow, you should ask the butcher to clean the bones and trim any bits of meat that might be present. Further, pay attention to the color and the scent of the bone marrow you are getting. Faint pink is the standard color you will see in fresh bone marrows.
2. Soak The Bone Marrow
While soaking the bone marrow before roasting is not a must, it is the right way to clear blood that might still be present in the bone marrow and interfere with its natural taste. Add water into the bowl and salt before adding your bone marrow, and refrigerate it for 24 hours.
3. Prepare The Bones
When ready to roast the bones, you must dry them off using a kitchen towel or paper. The good thing with bone marrow is that they do not require any seasoning or vegetable oil. Heat the grill to a high temperature of about 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Roast The Bones
Once the grill is set at the right temperature, the next step is to roast the bones. Depending on the size of the bones, it should take about 30 minutes to complete the roasting.
What Does Cooked Bone Marrow Taste Like?
Cooked bone marrow tastes delicious. It has a slightly silky texture and sweet flavor and is best served with toast or salad. Further, well-cooked bone marrow has a pretty soft flavor that is fatty but not chewy. Notably, the taste of bone marrow varies depending on the type of animal.
How To Buy The Best Bone Marrow
After deciding that you want to cook bone marrow at home, the next task is ensuring you get the best quality. The following tips should help you purchase the best quality bone marrow for your next delicious meal.
- Purchase bone marrows that have been thoroughly cleaned and trimmed. Further, the pale pinkish color indicates freshness, especially when purchasing bone marrows from a cow.
- Organic and free-range means quality products with minimal side effects. Some butchers may be unwilling to provide accurate information, so you must do your due diligence.
- Ask the butcher to cut a few of them vertically to allow you to examine the quality. Moreover, by vertically cutting the bones, you can tell how much bone marrow is in the bones.
- To avoid purchasing low-quality bone marrows, always ensure that you get them from a reputable store.
- Nutritional Value Of Bone Marrows
| Description | Nutritional value |
| Calories | 110 |
| Protein | 1 gram |
| Fat | 12 grams |
| Vitamin E | 2% |
| Iron | 4% of RDI |
| Phosphorus | 1% of RDI |
| Vitamin A | 1% of RDI |
| Riboflavin | 6% of the RDI |
| Thiamine | 1 % of the RDI |
| Vitamin B12 | 7% of the RDI |
What Are The Uses Of Bone Marrow?
Bone marrows have several uses, some of which include;
- You can use well-cooked bone marrow to spread on toast or salad to make it more delicious.
- You use bone marrow as an appetizer before serving the main meal. Bone marrow soup can serve as an excellent side dish.
- Bone marrow is a combination of various nutrients with a unique flavor. Therefore, bone marrow has a significant health boost for many.
Conclusion
Bone marrow is a delicious meal that reaches many nutrients, including essential vitamins that you can hardly find in muscle meat. While some people believe that bone marrow is best eaten raw, you have an avalanche of methods to cook it. It depends on your taste and preference and whether you want to serve it as a side dish or the main meal.
Scot has loved smoking food in his free time for the last few years. Each major holiday or off-weekend, Scot spends days testing and prepping new recipes for perfection.