Dem Bones
Sucking the marrow out of life
Thoreau was right about bone marrow’s primal nature: it can feel like eating life’s very essence. (There’s a reason Anthony Bourdain famously dubbed the stuff “God’s butter.”) Anthropologists believe that some two million years ago, before our ape-like ancestors developed hunting skills, they fashioned crude tools from rocks and cracked open the bones of scavenged animal carcasses to feast on their highly caloric contents. Recent interest in whole-animal eating—offal, charcuterie, and the like—means that marrow is showing up on restaurant menus in increasingly inventive forms.
At Victory 44, chef/owner Erick Harcey removes the marrow from the bone, fills the tube with beef tartare, and then reincorporates the meat Jell-O in three ways: seared; smoked, folded with butter, and shaved; and turned into an aioli-like “marrow-naise.”
Victory 44, 2203 44th Ave. N., Mpls., 612-588-2228, victory-44.com
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Funny to see this-- I am making a bone-marrow custard for dessert this weekend! And I thought I was being original...
I do love what V44 is doing with meats. Same goes for their partnership with Rustica!