SC - Marrow

[Philip & Susan Troy]

James L. Matterer wrote:

>  Can anyone give me advice on the availability of marrow, or what a good
> substitute may be? The dish I'm re-creating is "A bake Mete Ryalle" from
> Austin's Two 15th c. Cookery-Books, p 55, which calls for "cromyd Marow"
> (crumbled marrow), as well as a "gobet of marow."

Marrow is found inside certain large bones. For practical cookery
purposes, the thing to get is a beef or veal shank bone. You can get one
from either a butcher shop or the supermarket butcher. This may involve
purchasing the actual shank (with the meat on it, in other words), or
the butcher may have stripped bones on hand. If he doesn't, see if he
has either veal shanks cut for osso bucco, or more commonly, the cut of
beef generally called "soup meat", which is just sliced beef shank, bone
and all. Beef shank meat is relatively inexpensive, and makes wonderful
stews.

If you explain to the butcher (assuming he is reasonable, decent, and
has the time, all of which are partially contingent on how and when you
approach him) you may be able to get stripped beef or veal shank bones,
either for free, or some very nominal fee, and the butcher might even be
willing to segment or split the bones on a bandsaw for you, to
facilitate removal of the marrow. (My experience has been that my
butcher loves to get involved in any "crazy, harebrained scheme" I care
to propose, because he gets tired of weighing out hamburger all day, and
thrives on challenge.)

If the bones are cut into short segments, you can go in with a
thin-bladed knife to remove the marrow, or you can blanch the bones in
boiling water for a minute or two, which will loosen the marrow to the
point where it will slip out nicely. If the bone is split, you can
pretty much go in with a spoon and scoop it out.

As for a substitute, I suppose the closest would be beef or veal suet,
parboiled before using. The texture would be a bit different, and the
flavor not as rich, but the effect would be somewhat similar. Suet would
probably make a better substitute for the crumbled marrow than for large
chunks. I recommend grating it. 

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com
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