Cold Day, Warm Bones

I really wanted to center this post around my powerful dislike of Henry David Thoreau and how the only contribution he ever made to American society or literature is the suggestion to suck the marrow out of things. But, you know what? Fuck that guy.

Instead, let’s just talk about bone marrow and how it’s yummy and you should totally be eating it.

Yesterday was overcast, breezy, and cold–pretty standard for San Francisco in late May. I was hungry and craving something warm and comforting, but, most of all, quick, so I could minimize time spent out of bed. Bone marrow to the rescue.

Ingredients

• 2 reasonably sized marrow bones sliced down the center
• .5 cups of arugula
• 1 tsp of pumpkin seeds
• 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2. Season bones with salt and pepper.
3. Place the bones, bone side down, in a baking dish or a foil-lined baking sheet
4. Cook for 15 minutes, but check in on your bones in those later minutes. You do NOT want the marrow to liquify completely and ooze out of the bones. If you hear a sizzle from run-off juices, it’s probably time to remove the bones from heat.
5. Remove the bones from heat.
6. While the bones are cooling (down from “burn your face” to “I can eat this”), lightly toss arugula with pumpkin seeds, creating a little bed of greens upon which to rest your weary bones. (I’m sorry. Have I mentioned the brain injury?)
7. Place bones atop greens and sprinkle with parsley. 
8. Eat immediately while the marrow is still hot.

The tiny arugula salad isn’t a necessity, but I like it for catching any marrow drippings. Once I’m through with the bones, a quick stir and the little salad is nicely dressed in goddamn delicious bone marrow.

Nutritional Information

• Calories: 374 –– based off roughly 5 ounces of roasted marrow
• Carbs: 0g
• Fat: 32g
• Protein: 1g –– from the pumpkin seeds!
• Fiber: 0g

A Few Tips

• If you’re super hardcore about tracking calories or macros, remember to remove the weight of the bones from your calculations. While not entirely accurate, I just weigh the bones before and after eating.
• Not sure where to get marrow bones? I went to my local grocery store and asked the butcher for them. They’re typically NOT on display, but butchers seem fine with heading back to the freezer to grab some.
• If possible, ask your butcher to slice the bones down the middle to make for easy eating. If you’re feeling lucky, you could even ask them to trim away any excess bone. Don’t pay for what you can’t eat.
• Shop around. The first store I tried charged $6/lb for marrow bones, but they were mostly bone and not that great. The second store charged $7.50/lb but the bones were already trimmed and the marrow was plentiful.

If you end up trying this, let me know how it goes! It’s my new favorite snack!