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How to roast bone marrow for one of the most delicious organ meats dishes youโve ever tried!
During the early 1900s, bone marrow was an important sacred food for the pre-industrialized Indian cultures living in the Rocky Mountain range far into the Canadian North.
Dr. Weston A . Price studied these cultures firsthand and documented in his masterpiece Nutrition and Physical Degeneration that bone marrow was provided as a special dietary ration for growing children and also served as a substitute for milk when necessary.
Bone marrow is not a typical food in the Western diet, but it should be. ย
It is not only one of the most delicious of all the sacred foods, itโs also one of the most inexpensive!ย
Not much nutritional analysis of bone marrow is available to date, but indications are that it contains a significant amount of the animal form of Vitamin K2 (MK4) due to its importance in the diets of healthy traditional cultures.
Estimates are that a 50 gram serving of bone marrow (2, 2-inch pieces) contains about 11 mcg of MK4. This is similar to the amount of Vitamin K2 in 25 grams of gouda cheese, a primary source of this elusive nutrient.
In addition, bone marrow is comprised almost entirely of fat including immune stimulating lipids called alkyglycerols. (1)
These beneficial substances are a likely reason why some children suffering from leukemia quickly returned to a normal white blood cell counts and improved energy when they consumed this sacred food under the care of Swedish oncologist Dr. Astrid Brohult. (2)
Sourcing and Preparation Tips
In the easy recipe below, I share my go-to recipe for preparing bone marrow for a quick lunch or dinner.
I like to serve it on sourdough toast or crackers, but it can be enjoyed alone as well.
Marrow can also be blended into soups to boost nutrition considerably.
I recommend a local butcher or grassfed beef farms as the best places to source bone marrow.
If youโd like a more elaborate dish, try these other savory ideas too.
Roasted Bone Marrow
Easy recipe for roasting marrow bones with serving suggestions for a quick lunch or dinner.
Ingredients
- 8 pieces marrow bones about 2 inches thick, thawed or right out of the freezer
- 4 slices sourdough bread optional
- sprouted or sourdough crackers optional
Instructions
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Pre-heat oven to 350 ยฐF/ 177 ยฐC.
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Place pieces of bone marrow in a glass baking dish or stainless steel cookie sheet.
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Bake for 20 minutes until each piece of marrow is bubbly and browned on top.
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Remove baking dish from the oven and carefully scrape marrow out of each piece of bone into a clean, glass bowl using a fork.
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Spread marrow on crackers or lightly toasted pieces of sourdough bread.
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Cool and refrigerate leftovers in a glass dish with a tight-fitting lid for up to four days.
Recipe Video
(1) Food Feature: Bone Marrow, Weston A. Price Foundation
(2) Bone marrow meal lifeline for chemo devastation
(3) Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
Hey Bonnie, Thanks for the tip on “pemmican “. I had never heard of it before. A search led me to some interesting sites! It’s like I feel connected to my ancestors or something.
agree makes the best broth/soup see LindenLeas likes Soup.
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Thanks Sarah! This posting is great, as I am looking for ways to improve my kids and my own immune system. I am used to eat bone marrow since in Mexico City, where I am from, is common to eat, they even have a taco place that makes braised bone marrow tacos with some fresh tomatillo salsa on top, delish! oh and tongue too, cooked in tomato chipotle sauce or just slowly steamed, chopped on a small corn tortilla, throw some chopped cilantro, onions, salsa and you have a tasty taco too.
Yum! I haven’t seen marrow in any of our Mexican restaurants and take out here in California, but will start looking and asking. Lingua is one of my son’s favorites.
Hi Sarah
I’m in Australia, so I think I would roast them at 180 celcius in my oven…but how long do I roast them for?
Thank you
I don’t ever really time it .. just until they look done. I’m guessing 20 minutes or so.
I don’t have a convection oven so I roast the bones at 350? For how long?
I have the bones but I’m kind of intimidated by them. I want to make stock. I was going to puree the marrow into the stock? Any recommendations?
Sure, you can cook the marrow while making beef stock as well. I do that also.
See my video on how to make beef stock if this is new to you:
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-traditional-stocks-and-soups/
I make pemmican per NT’s recipe and use marrow fat instead of tallow. In the voyager era, pemmican made with marrow fat was considered the most nutritious and fetched the highest price on the market.
HI SARAH
I made pemmican per NT’s recipe and was concerned about the shelf life. It states that the jar could be left out at room temperature for months.
Please advise.
Thanks, Renee
I can’t wait to try this. We are beef farmers and I never knew that we were throwing away the best parts (liver, heart, bones, tongue) In the past, we kept these parts for our dogs. No wonder they are so healthy!! In fact, our butcher is not allowed by law to save the liver, but we take it before it goes to be cut up. (go figure!) I am looking forward to trying these parts when we butcher our next grass fed steer! I also am interested to hear which bones to save. Also, is there nutritional value in the tongue?
Tongue is nutritious, yes. I remember eating tongue (of what animal I don’t remember!) when I was traveling in Japan some years ago. It was really tasty as I recall.
Amy,
In Dorie Greenspan’s cook book Around My French Table she has a recipe for beef cheeks… which sounds delicious. Maybe you could save those as well? Not sure where they rank on the health scale, but how awesome to be able to cook from head to tail!
Out here in California, tongue (lingua in Spanish) and beef cheeks are big in Mexican restaurants and take outs. You see them mostly in burritos. My son loves lingua burritos and tacos and while a student in college made many an inexpensive meal out of tongue. He even got his roommates eating it.
I just got off the phone with my trustworthy supplier. “Which bones do you want?”, he asked. Sarah, suggestions on which bones to ask for? Do different bones have different benefits or flavors? (Thanks for the hug!)
Just finished making some yesterday.
Sarah, while watching this, I just wanted to HUG you! I knew I wanted to try organ meats, though didn’t know how to start. My body is delighted with anticipation! Yea!
Consider yourself hugged ๐