How do you eat raw bone marrow?

[edmon171]

This is next on my list to try. I always see those bone sections at the market. Is it soft enough to just spoon it out of the bone or is there some process I'm unaware of?

[goodsamaritan]

For beef, I always get fresh bones, never frozen.
I choose the front leg bones, they are usually more jelly like.
Saw off the bones in several sections.
If you don't have an electric saw, you need a big thick heavy axe like the butchers do.
Eat fresh is best.
I don't like it too much when it hardens.

If the quantity is too much to eat in one sitting, put the marrow in plastic sealed container and do not refrigerate, in a few hours, eat up.

[eveheart]

I can usually get the femur or humerus from beef. I have the butcher saw off the knuckles (ends) for my daughter's stock pot. Then, I have the butcher cut the shank lengthwise. When I get home, I use a table knife to scoop the marrow out of the bone and put it in a bowl.

Some places sell marrow bones already cut up the way GS suggested. Then I just poke the marrow out with my finger.

For lamb bones, I use my own hacksaw and something pokey like chopsticks to urge the marrow out.

[edmon171]

I don't have any professional butchering tools, I was just going to try some from the market before I ordered some. So, if I understand, they are soft and eatable when they are fresh, and then they dry out and become too hard? What is wrong with the frozen ones, do they become hard as well or just don't taste the same?

[eveheart]

Marrow that I get from the butcher can vary in texture from soft-creamy to hard-creamy. I often have to settle for frozen marrow bones. (Fat survives freezing better than muscle.) At room temperature, it's easy to get the marrow out of a cut bone. I have good knives and a regular hacksaw, but no other special tools. Butchers use a huge bandsaw and have workman's compensation for when they cut off a finger, so I let them do all the cutting. The basic idea is that once you have access to the marrow, scooping it out is easy, and some ways of cutting the bone (like lengthwise) makes getting at the marrow easier.

[TylerDurden]

There are 2 kinds of raw marrow, one is dry as sawdust and comes from the upper leg ,and the other is soft and creamy and comes from the lower leg and tastes wonderful.  I have always had to eat marrow that had previously been prefrozen and it was fine.

[Projectile Vomit]

In my experience, the texture of bone marrow depends more on its current temperature than anything else. If you want nice creamy marrow (which is incredibly yummy), soak the bone in warm water (~105 Fahrenheit) for a while and the marrow will return to its natural texture (creamy), which it has when the animal is alive. Most bone marrow will become hard and crumbly if kept cold, because it's largely fat and saturated animal fat just does that.

[edmon171]

I had the bone marrow, it was nice. I got a slice of shank with the meat still attached around it. The meat was a bit tough, but the marrow was soft and fatty. I think I was just worried it would be like the ones I get my dog at the pet store. They seem old and hard as a rock.