Bone marrow and beef broth

Ingredients

1 marrow bone

2 pounds beef

1 onion

2 carrots

1 leek

1/2 celery root

parsley for garnish

1 carrot, cut into chunks

1 cup green beans, cut into chunks

Two factors encouraged me to have another go at making broth this week: officially, it might be spring, but at night, it still gets very chilly. Plus, I finally read "Nourishing traditions" and while I am still half-heartedly experimenting with fermenting my own vegetables (so far I have produced two batches of inedible and possibly poisonous cucumbers... glad they didn't explode in their jars!), I can proudly say that at least I know how to make a good broth.

In winter, for us this is a staple food eaten often as an appetizer before something more substantial, and having read about all of broth's surprising health benefits (it sounds like a superfood!), I am certainly going to prepare this also in summer. To make it more suitable as a spring or summer dish, after straining the broth, I blanched some carrots and green beans in it and added some of the meat, trimmed and cut into small pieces.

The preparation of the broth is pretty straightforward, basically following the same method as in my pho bo recipe.I don't roast my bones (just the onion in the pot), and gradually add in the meat and vegetables, simmering the broth for about 3-4 hours.

However, in our broth ritual, the best part is kept for last - the bone marrow. Lately, bone marrow is making something of a come back as a delicacy, besides its health benefit (consumed in reasonable quantities, of course), it truly is mouthwateringly delicious in texture and taste. We usually spread it on a slice of bread like butter and very lightly salt it. My grandmother used to make the most amazing bone marrow dumplings, and the next time we have broth (hopefully before next winter), I'll share the recipe.

PS: For my vegetarian readers - for a really cool idea how to make excellent vegetable stock from scraps, lock at Green Thyme's blog here. 

Life is good!