Rich and buttery, roasted bone marrow is a great appetizer for a nice dinner in. I pair it with a bright and citrusy parsley salad to balance out the richness of the marrow and grilled bread.
Rich roasted bone marrow on toast might be one of my favorite things to eat. Ever. I get it at restaurants on the regs, but honestly never thought to make it until I saw them at a local butcher shop. It’s inexpensive, super fast and easy to throw together and super special. Serve atop some grilled buttered bread and a lemony, bright parsley salad. A little sprinkling of salt is also a must.
I think this should be on your to-do list this weekend. That’s all!
How to roast bone marrow:
- Roast! Place the marrow in the preheated oven. Roast until it’s softened but not melted away.
- Make the sides. While the marrow roasts, prepare the parsley salad and grill the bread.
- Serve. After that, spread the marrow on the bread and sprinkle with salt.
What to serve with roasted bone marrow:
- This parsley salad! It’s bright and fresh and pairs well with the richness of the marrow. I happen to love parsley, however if you don’t, feel free to use a handful of arugula instead.
- Grilled bread. With lots of olive oil. The smooth marrow on the grilled bread is perfection. Just brush melted butter or olive oil on the bread and toast in a skillet and you can do it all during the time it takes to roast the marrow.
Tips and Tricks:
- Having a hard time finding bone marrow? Look at a local butcher shop or similarly, a market in the same vein, like a meat market or specialty grocery store.
Roasted Bone Marrow Recipe
Ingredients
For the Bone Marrow
- 3-3 3" pieces of beef bone marrow
For the Parsley Salad
- 1 handful of flat-leaf Italian parsley leaves picked from stems
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 tablespoon capers
- juice from 1 lemon
- coarse sea salt
- 1 loaf french bread
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F. Put the bones in an ovenproof roasting pan or on a foil-lined baking sheet. Transfer to the oven and roast for about 15-18 minutes. You’re looking for loose and giving marrow, but marrow that’s not yet melted away.
- Meanwhile, lightly chop the parsley and mix it with the shallots and capers. Just before serving, dress salad with lemon juice; salt and pepper to taste.
- Brush the pieces of bread with the melted butter and place in a grill pan until nice and toasted. Don’t completely season this dish before serving; let the diner do the last-minute seasoning. To eat, scrape the marrow from the bone onto the toast; season it with coarse sea salt. Place a pinch of parsley salad on top; eat immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe? Let me know on instagram!
Looking for more appetizers? Here are some of my favorites:
Wow….Mexicans love bone marrow and my dad who was a Yaqui Indian said they used to fight over who got to eat it. We wrapped in tortillas…delicious!!!
For some reason, when I have tried to cook with bone marrow, some of the marrow on the inside (a very small amount) will soften, and the rest remains bony and unpleasant to eat. I am not sure why. It has happened consistently. Am I missing something? All I do is put it on a roasting pan in the oven at 450. I have also done 350 because a different recipe suggested that. And I have left it in as long as 45 mins with no difference being made.
I would appreciate any help because I love bone marrow!
I love the classic combination of marrow and parsley. If I ever have left over marrow and parsley after a meal (which I usually don’t), I like to render all the fat out of the marrow, let cool, mix fat with parsley and room temperature butter. Then I have compound marrow butter that I can refrigerate or freeze to put on a nice steak!
That is so wild. I must do this!
I guess if you’re actually going to try this, I should provide a bit more direction. The butter should be malleable so get it close to room temperate first. Since marrow is mostly monosaturated fat, you should refrigerate that so it solidifies. chop finely the parsley and shallots. Add a clove of garlic for an extra kick. As you’re mixing (I do it by hand), you may have return it to the fridge once or twice just to keep the whole thing from melting too much. Once you have the compound butter, you can wrap it in plastic wrap and shape it to a cylinder so its nice and round for service.
I’m testing out the ratio of marrow fat to butter. So far I’ve found that 1:1 (fat:butter) gives great flavor but leaves the butter a bit too soft. 1:2 or even 1:3 will give you more of a buttery consistency. I do like 1:1 though since I keep it in the freezer and it melts nicely on steak.
edit: monosaturated = monounsaturated.
Thanks for explaining this in such detail, Ron. Sounds rad! I think I’m digging the idea of doing 1:1 and just getting help from the freezer. 🙂
This is not a Bourdain recipe! In the my last supper book he says that he would eat Fergus Henderson’s bone marrow w/ Parsely salad. It’s a Fergus Henderson recipe!
This is when recipe copyright can get complicated and really confusing. From my understanding he wrote the recipe (in his words), which was obviously inspired–if not straight-up duplicated–from one of his favorite meal’s by Henderson. So, the directions that I followed were Bourdain’s; and in copyright world it makes technically his recipe, not Henderson’s. Does this make sense? But I mean, it’s obviously no secret that in real life, it’s totally Henderson’s. 🙂
Oh Wow! I love this! I had it once in St. John restaurant in London… Amazing! Love your blog too, it’s one of my favourites.
Anna x
Uhhhhh…being as I’m a newly converted non-vegetarian, this kind of freaks me out. Tell me, what the heck does bone marrow even taste like?!
The consistency is almost like a curd. Like a lemon curd? It’s smooth and creamy. (I’m not sure if I’m helping with convincing you it’s not gross…hahaha.)
I’m in culinary school and we made bone marrow flan this past week! It was pretty delicious 🙂
Bone marrow flan?! Whoa. That sounds crazy/awesome.
Your bone marrow sounds yummy and your photo is lovely. I can totally sympathize with both your eye allergy and loosing your car at the mall. Sadly for me the time I lost my car at the mall, my eyes were fine. Apparently far better than my memory or my sense of direction. I did discover, however, that those guys in the funny little MALL SECURITY carts will actually drive you around and help you find your car!!
Cheers!
Laughing so hard I’m almost in tears. I am the queen of getting lost in parking lots, unfamiliar neighborhoods, etc. I have at least two epic stories. The first time happened in college when I was returning some personal items to an ex-boyfriend, who I of course still had feelings for, and who had since moved to a new dorm on the other side of a huge campus that I was not very familiar with (we went to different schools). After having a somewhat awkward chat, I left, but try as I might, I couldn’t find my car afterwards, and got so frustrated that I eventually gave in and called him; gentleman that he is, he (only slightly begrudgingly) helped me track it down #mortified. Equally bad, or arguably worse (again during those silly college years), I drove out late one evening to visit a friend at her school for a house party and parked my car without much of a thought. The next morning when I got up to leave (markedly hungover and a bit brain-dead, mind you) I couldn’t find the car if my life depended on it. I eventually decided that it must have been stolen and called the non-emergency police and reported the supposed theft. Turns out it was a few blocks away… I sure did feel sheepish when I got a call back from the police saying they found it. Naturally, my darling friend loves to recall this story whenever introducing me to others. So, it’s safe to say that I can commiserate.
On another note entirely, I had no doubts about bookmarking this recipe, I really had no idea that the technique for roasting bone marrow was this simple, and I’m certain that my dear boyfriend will eagerly devour these (bone marrow is a favorite albeit indulgent appetizer for us). Thanks for sharing!
HAHAHAHA! The last story is too much. I lost my car at the airport once and swore it was stolen…until I found it 30 minutes later. Womp womp.
Oh no! Seriously, if I could change one thing about myself, it would be to have a better sense of direction. At least these escapades make for good stories.
That sounds crazy. I’ve always wanted to check out LA – I’ve heard so many good things, but then the negative about the pollution and the traffic…I’m hoping to check it out this Summer – especially since you said it’s one of the prettiest places you’ve been!
Also, wonderful recipe! Your blog is one of my favorites 🙂
You poor thing.. I’ve done that too! If you have an emergency or automatic opener.. I usually set off the alarm with my remote so I can find my car by sound, lol! I’ve never even tasted marrow.. this looks fantastic and very gourmet! Love your photos as well:) xo
So good to hear I’m in good company when it comes to the dreaded allergy eyeball! I always felt like the only one!
Also, YUM. Can’t wait to try this! I made your arroz con pollo last night and it was delicious!
Oh that’s soooo awesome! Yay!