I really like bone marrow on toast!  When I was a child, my mother used to make a soup that had pieces of beef shank with the marrow bones.  My brother and I would fight over the bones so that we could scoop out the marrow and lather that onto a piece of toast.  It was like foie gras!  These days in restaurants, just the bone marrow is served on toast so it has become very popular.  Here is an amazingly easy roasted bone marrow recipe that's so simple to make, yet people think that this is a "restaurant item" and cannot be made at home.  Once you've tried it at home, you're not going to want to order it at a restaurant again!

Tips for making this amazingly easy bone marrow.

Bone marrow

Marrow bones usually come from the femur, tibia and shank of steers.  Finding the right cut of beef bones is probably the most challenging part.  The bones are cut either across the leg, resulting in round discs or along the bone, resulting in long shafts.  The long shaft bones are difficult to find in regular markets.  However, I have found these bones in the frozen section of Asian grocery stores like Ranch 99.  If you know your butcher, you can always ask them if they have beef bones and whether they can cut them for you.

When choosing your beef bones, make sure that they have plenty of marrow. Press your nail into both ends of the marrow to make sure they are indeed marrow and not bone.  The marrow tends to be softer than bone.  The more marrow, the better!

Soak the marrow bones thoroughly in salted water for 12 to 24 hours to remove the blood and bone dust from the bones before roasting.

Spread olive oil and season with coarse sea salt and roast in a very hot, preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.  Avoid overbaking the marrow as this will cause marrow to completely render or melt, leaving nothing to scoop!

Ensure that the marrow and toast is eaten warm so plan your roasting accordingly.

Bone marrow accompaniments.

Bread

I like using hearty, chunky sourdough bread that will soak up the marrow and do its job! Slice the bread and place it between the marrow bones 5 minutes before the marrow is done to slightly toast the bread and allow the bread to soak up any rendering that melts onto the baking tray.

Mignonette

A mignonette is an acidic "dressing" that is usually served with oysters.  I feel that a mignonette works well as an accompaniment, because the richness of the fat is cut by the acidity of the mignonette.  For this adapted mignonette recipe, I use finely diced crunchy vegetables.

 Salt is added to the vegetables to remove as much water as possible to give it an extra crunch.  

White wine vinegar is added to pickle the vegetables.  The acidity and the crunchy texture complement the richness of the fatty marrow.  I usually put this on the side for people to spoon themselves.  Some people prefer to taste the richness of the marrow in its entirety.

Salad

A green salad with a vinaigrette dressing goes well with the bone marrow.  I usually serve these together.  Enjoy!