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To Boil Marrow-Bones
359. The large ends of the marrow bones should be sawn, so that they will stand upright both when boiling and when served, and the cut ends first be covered with a paste of flour and water, and then with a cloth tightly tied over each to prevent the escape of the marrow. Boil them from one and a half to two hours, according to the size. Remove the paste and serve hot on a napkin, with pieces of toasted bread arranged round. The marrow-bones should be more than halfboiled if required to be kept before using. BOILED BEEF (SALTED). 360. Requires, like all boiled meats, vigilant skimming. The addi-
A Victorian service of beef marrow, eaten hot from the bone with toast. The whole technique is a sealing job: everything depends on stopping the marrow from melting out into the water.
- Ask the butcher to sawYou want the thick ends of beef shin or femur, cut across into 3-4 inch lengths with flat ends so they stand upright. Ask for them sawn rather than cleaved, or the bone shatters and splinters end up in the marrow.
- The flour paste is the hingeA stiff dough of flour and water, no fat, pressed over both cut ends and bound down with cloth or kitchen string, is what keeps the marrow in the bone. If it cracks or the tie loosens, the marrow renders into the pot and there is nothing to serve.
- Rethink the timeAn hour and a half to two hours of boiling is longer than the marrow alone needs; the book ties it to the size of the bones. Marrow is generally soft and translucent within 20-30 minutes of gentle simmering, and beyond that it tends to slump to fat. Roasting at around 450F for 15-20 minutes is a common modern alternative and gives a firmer result.
- Simmer, do not boilA rolling boil can work the paste loose and force fat out past the seal. Keep the water at a bare tremble, with the bones standing upright.
- Soaking firstBones are often soaked in cold salted water for several hours, with the water changed once or twice, to draw out blood and keep the marrow pale. The book does not call for it.
- "Serve hot on a napkin"A folded linen napkin on the platter absorbs drips and stops the bones sliding. Provide narrow marrow spoons or the handle of a teaspoon, and dry toast rather than buttered.
- YieldOne good-sized bone per person as a savoury or first course; two if it is the whole of a light meal. Salt and coarse pepper at the table are all it wants.
- KeepingThe note about half-boiling bones that are to be kept belongs to a kitchen with a cold larder and same-day service. Marrow is very high in fat and turns rancid quickly; cook it and eat it the same day.
Marrow was treated as a delicacy in British cookery well before this book, valued as much for richness as for economy. Boiled marrow-bones served upright on a napkin were a familiar nineteenth-century dish, and they lingered on club and chophouse menus after they had become less common at home. The flour-and-water paste seal is the same luting trick used for pie edges and pot lids in the period, applied here to keep the melting marrow from escaping into the water.