A casual scan of the shelves of your local bookstore quickly reveals an overwhelming array of cookbooks. For one interested in truly healthy cooking, the choice can be overwhelming. Which to choose, what recipes are best? Certainly none of them feature unique recipes for bone marrow custard, an incredibly nutrient dense and delicious dish!
I don’t recommend many modern cookbooks on this blog for the simple reason that few are authentic from cover to cover from a traditional cooking perspective. Most are only partially accurate with excellent recipes here and there with the remainder promoting faddish, or downright incorrect information. This misleads those earnestly seeking a wholesome, balanced cooking style that works long term.
I am pleased to say that in recent weeks, a giant among cookbooks has joined the ranks and it contains recipes and information that I can get behind 100% and wholeheartedly recommend for anyone interested in a time tested cooking approach that is worthy of learning yourself, but also priceless knowledge to pass along to your children and grandchildren.
This cookbook was created by longtime food blogger and friend Jenny McGruther and is aptly named The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle. The cookbook is nothing short of a work of art and features recipes using bone broths, fermented vegetables, grass-fed meats, wholesome fats, raw dairy and kombuchas in a wondrous variety of visually tantalizing recipes that promises to please the palate as well as preserve youthful health and vigor.
To demonstrate the creativity, breadth and depth of this cookbook, I asked Jenny if I could feature her recipe for Bone Marrow Custard on The Healthy Home Economist.
Benefits of Bone Marrow in the Diet
During the early 1900’s and for centuries prior, bone marrow was an important sacred food for the preindustrialized Indian cultures living in the Rocky Mountain range far into the Canadian north country. Dr. Weston A . Price studied these cultures firsthand documenting that bone marrow was provided as a special dietary ration for growing children and also served as a substitute for milk when necessary.
Bone marrow is not a typical food in the Western diet, but it should be. Bone marrow is not only one of the most delicious of all the sacred foods, it’s also one of the most inexpensive! My local butcher offers large bags of marrow for just a few dollars per pound!
In old cookbooks, bone marrow is often used for sweet custards and desserts as it is comprised primarily of fat and tastes like browned butter. Cream and eggs complement roasted marrow in this simple savory custard recipe featured below, while the fresh flat-leaf parsley adds a clean, bright flavor to balance the richness. Jenny often serves this custard for a late but substantial breakfast with sliced fruit, though it pairs nicely with a crisp green salad at lunchtime.
Recipe below used with permission from The Nourished Kitchen: Farm-to-Table Recipes for the Traditional Foods Lifestyle
Bone Marrow Custard Recipe With Black Pepper And Parsley
Bone marrow custard is a nutritious dish ideal for a substantial breakfast with sliced fruit, and also pairs nicely with a crisp green salad at lunchtime.
Ingredients
- 5 lbs beef marrow bones about 1 inch thick
- 5 eggs
- 2 cups cream heavy
- 1 tsp sea salt unrefined, finely ground
- 1 tsp black pepper finely ground
- 1 Tbl fresh parsley minced, flat-leaf
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 425°F/218 °C
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Put the bones in a single layer in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the bones cool until they are comfortable to handle.
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Decrease the oven temperature to 325°F/163 °C and grease six 4-ounce or four 6-ounce ramekins with a bit of butter.
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Extract the marrow from the bones with a spoon and drop it into a bowl, discarding the bones. Whisk the eggs and cream into the marrow, then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl to remove any coagulated bits of marrow or lumps of egg. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and parsley.
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Pour the mixture into the buttered ramekins and place the ramekins in a large baking dish. Fill the dish with enough hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the sides of the custards are set but the centers remain a touch wobbly. Serve bone marrow custard warm.
Love This Recipe?
Want more bone marrow? Try this recipe for bone marrow omelette with sheep’s milk cheese and tarragon.
Love custard? Try this recipe for egg custard too!
I have read that bone marrow is a magnet for heavy metals. Which leaves me with a sense of caution regarding this. Grass fed would be cleaner, but even in those animals, if the water source is fluoridated, it would be bringing heavy metals to the body as well– though the animals should be more able to resist the onslaught, with the detoxifying aspect of the grasses.
I scoop out the marrow with a spoon, add lemon and salt and give it to my children. Not so sure about the custard tho.
Perfect. My daughter goes through phases where she likes egg yolk, then doesn’t. I have been meaning to make her a pâté or custard or something that she can enjoy on a daily basis because the egg yolk is very important. She is 9 months old, teething, walking and talking. She eats her liver. Sometimes she likes FCLO, sometimes she doesn’t, same goes for her shrimp. And the fortified formula sometimes doesn’t work with her stomach. We eat fermentables, but I think we may need a trusted brand of probiotic…
I just had roasted bone marrow last week I love it straight on zucchini slice. I cannot imagine toning it down with anything.
Sounds yummy, except for the part about “discarding the bones” Should read “set aside bones for your next batch of stock.”
I had no idea this was possible. *homermoment*
I live near you and would like to know who your local butcher is… I looked on some of the recommended websites like eatwild.com and I am having a hard time finding economically priced pastured pork and chicken also. Marrow bones sound like they will fit my budget.
Scrum diddlyumptious! Have some bones in freezer and family recently started full gaps diet so great recipe for that 🙂
Carly McPherson lol. Should I try this recipe?
Kassie Ehler have you ever tried this?