Marrow Bone Stock

While wandering the grocery isles I found some marrow bones. Now the kid in me cringes at all things “weird”. Eating bones and organ meat is “weird” to me. I want to be more open to this but I end up thinking way too much about it and then can’t eat it. This was how I used to be about meat on the bone. Couldn’t/wouldn’t eat it. Now I think bone in meat is much tastier and makes a great stock homemade stock.

I’ve never tried to make a beef stock before from marrow bones. But with the big push I’ve been seeing on paleo sites to eat nose to tail, I figured I’d give it a go. Besides, marrow bones didn’t look all that different than any other bone I’ve eaten off of.

First thing everyone who tries this recipe needs to know it that there is a definite smell to the bones while roasting and simmering. It’s very beefy. Yes, I described a beef product as beefy. The smell is very strong and I almost just gave it all to the dogs because I thought the bones had gone bad. The smell is apparently normal. I found out after a bit of perusing the web. It will lessen over the next two days. Yes, two.

This stock made almost 2 gallons and I will be using it this weekend for some French onion soup. But for now here is the how to.

Roast bones with a little salt and pepper for an hour at 400.

Place bones in a large stock pot and fill with water. Add about 2-3 tbsp of black pepper corns, and 3 bay leaves. Simmer on low for a day. Remove the bay leaves and add celery, carrots, and an onion. No need to chop the celery and carrots but you’ll want to slice the onion in half.

Simmer for another day. After two days of cooking, remove from the heat.

Strain the solids out. Pour into containers. Some people remove the fat others don’t.

I’m a leave the fat in sort of girl. The stock is a rich dark color, it smells   beefy and the vegetables made a great addition. I’ll let you know how it works as a soup this weekend.