Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks

We take marrow bones, rub them down with the flat edge of a sliced clove of garlic or a shallot bulb (infusing the natural oils into the marrow) then placing a sprig of fresh herbs and a little salt on the bones before slow roasting them on the grill. Then we spread that cowboy butter over some well seared New York strip steaks to make Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks. 

Is bone marrow expensive to eat?

I was introduced to roasted bone marrow a few years ago at a local French restaurant and have been enamored with it ever since. The only problem I have with bone marrow is that it is incredibly hard to find, and when I do find it, it’s ain’t cheap. Even when I roast it myself, it’s pretty spendy. These bones were $3.50 per bone. For me, it takes 3 or 4 of these to get my fill. Now imagine there are 4 or 6 or 8 people eating these. 

The title of this dish could simply be Roasted Bone Marrow. The strip steaks are just one of many great applications for this amazing wonder also known as meat butter or cowboy butter. If you are looking for a tutorial on how to cook steaks, this post is not the one for you, but don’t fret. I have plenty of steak recipes. Now let’s roast some bone marrow (and top some grilled steak with said marrow)

Back to the recipe.

Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks Ingredients:

• 6-12 bone marrow bones
• salt
• Pepper
• 4 Fresh garlic cloves (optional)
• 2 shallots (optional)
• Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
• Steaks
• 1 soft sided baguette
• olive oil

As you can see from the above ingredients, all I really need for roasted bone marrow is the bones, salt and pepper, and a vehicle to get it to my mouth (steak or toasted bread). Heck, this stuff is so good, the pepper could be optional too. The rest of this is not necessary but does take it to another level:

Let’s start off with those bones. If you can’t find them at your local grocer, go talk to your butcher. We actually went to a BBQ joint here in St. Louis which is also a butcher to get ours, but they have since closed.

Luckily, I’ve been able to find some in a local grocery store every once in a while. 

All I can say is, call a local butcher and ask for these ahead of time.

Let’s get a closer look at those bones:

Bone marrow bones are leg bones from the cow. These were about 5-6 inches long which is a good amount for a taste for one person.

Not a serving. Just a taste.

I need 3-4 for a serving. 

How to prepare bone marrow for roasting

Hit the marrow with the salt and pepper and then slice the cloves and shallots in half:

We’re not dicing or mincing the garlic and shallots, just slicing in half and then rubbing the exposed fresh garlic and shallot over the bone marrow:

One could rub the garlic, the shallot or both over each bone. I believe we did garlic or shallot on each, but not both.

Do what you like. Indeed, there are no wrong answers here.

Once the oils from the garlic and shallot have been imparted onto the marrow, top with a sprig of thyme:

Now some people drizzle olive oil over the top. I don’t find this necessary.

That marrow is full of delicious fat and before long there will be plenty of oil on top (and on fire – more on that later).

What is the best way to cook roasted bone marrow?

The best way to do it is on a grill to get some of that wonderful smoke flavor infused into the marrow. Get the internal temp of the grill to medium high (400F-450F) and place the marrow bones in the grill for about 15-25 minutes (depending on the size of the bones) until the marrow browns a little on top. Since the marrow has a lot of fat/oil in it that will leak out as it cooks, I recommend placing them in a cast iron pan and set that pan on the grill to collect that fat and thus avoid flare ups. They can also be cooked similarly in the oven, but the smoke flavor won’t be there. 

Let’s get back to the recipe and the step by step process.

I set my gas grill to medium high heat (400F-450F) then simply placed the marrow canoes over the heat:

This being the first time I roasted bone marrow, I learned that it is better to place them in a cast iron pan like so:

Why? Well, this is why:

Since the bones are not perfectly symmetrical, they tend to lean to one side or the other and that glorious fat oozes into the fire and boom, marrow canoes become giant match sticks:

They still came out great, but I spent a little too much time blowing out fires and repositioning bones so the grease didn’t drip into hot spots in the grill.

How do you know bone marrow is cooked?

I cooked the bones at about 400 degrees at the grill grate until they looked like this.

This will take about 15 minutes depending on the heat of the grill and the size of the bones:

Once the marrow bubbles for a few minutes, they are done.

It’s not hard, I promise. 

Now that the roasted bone marrow is done, there are a couple options here,

1. Take them off the grill and let them cool as the bones stay hot for quite a while
2. Put them off to the side with no heat to keep them warm

Be prepared to use gloves for option 2.

I learned this lesson the hard way during my first attempt at these.

How to grill a mean steak

Now is the time to either throw some steaks on, or toast up some bread, or both:

Wait, bread?

Take a soft sided baguette and slice into inch thick slices and brush each side with vegetable oil and then toast on the grill:

But seriously, all roasted bone marrow needs is some salt and a means to get to ones mouth.

Toasted bread is perfect for this. The crunch of the toast counters the goopiness of the marrow.

The steaks simply got a seared, rotated, seared, flipped, seared, rotated, seared and then done:

How do you eat roasted bone marrow?

Marrow is great on toasted bread (crostini) and makes an amazing steak topper. It’s essentially a topping like a compound butter. Spread it on top of toast points or a steak. The other option is to add it to dishes like soup, chili, stew, or even meat loaf. 

So now just spread the cowboy butter over the toasted bread for an amazing appetizer:

Spreading roasted bone marrow onto toasted bread is a better pairing than peanut butter and jelly. Better than Abbot and Costello. Better than Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood… Wait. Maybe not that last one. Too soon?

Or spread some bone marrow over the top of a steak and slice it for a meal:

Here’s a bonus shot:

If you’ve read this far and are wondering about that knife, it is a KRVR and the prettiest one in my collection.

What the guy does with the handles is on a Rembrandt level. And he can do just about anything for you. I dare you to challenge him.

Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks Summary

So what is it like? Well, the consistency of bone marrow is a bit off putting. If you can handle raw oysters, roasted marrow is no problem. If raw oysters are too runny for you, then this will be the same. Spreading marrow on just about anything mitigates the issue. The toasted bread particularly because it gives it a nice crunch. It is so rich and delicious that it adds an amazing flavor to anything it touches. Drop some in soup. Put a bunch in a meat loaf. Top a burger with a dollop of marrow. 

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

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Recipe Card:

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Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks

Roasted Bone Marrow Strip Steaks - Marrow bones, seasoned and roasted over open fire and spread over perfectly cooked steaks or toasted bread or crostini

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Finger Food, Steak

Cuisine: American, American Fare, Barbecue, BBQ, Bone Marrow, Steak

Keyword: Bone Marrow, Cowboy Butter, Gas Grill, Marrow, Meat Butter, New York Strip, New York Strip Steak, New York Strip Steaks, NY Strip Steak, NY Strip Steaks, Roasted Bone Marrow, Roasted Marrow

Servings: 8 People

Equipment

• 1 cast iron pan Or oven safe pan

Ingredients

• 6-12 bone marrow bone
• salt
• pepper
• 4 clove garlic optional
• 2 shallot optional
• fresh thyme optional
• steaks
• 1 soft sided baguette
• olive oil

Instructions

• Salt and pepper the bone marrow
• Then slice the shallots and garlic cloves in half and rub the shallot and garlic over the bone marrow
• Add a sprig of thyme and place in a cast iron pan and on a 400 degree grill
• Roast for 10-15 minutes until the marrow browns all the way around on the edges
• Remove from the heat and let cool
• Slice the bread and coat each side with vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper the steaks
• Toast the bread and grill the steaks
• Spread the marrow over the toasted bread and serve as an appetizer or spread over the steaks and slice for a meal

Scott Thomas

Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.

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BBQ Grilling

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This article was initially published on: January 16, 2020