Meat Cutting Week 6: The benefits of being a butcher

I got a book for Christmas last year called "My Last Supper". It profiles what 50 of the most famous chefs in the world would have for their last meal. The chefs also list who will cook the meal, who will accompany them and what music they will be playing, among other notes.

I have been a fan of Anthony Bourdain since I read "Kitchen Confidential". He actually wrote the forward to this book, and has been talking about this concept in his books and on his television show, No Reservations, for years. His last meal caught my eye, as did many of the meals in the book. He chose a dish that is served at St. John in London. It is a restaurant owned by Fergus Henderson, another chef featured in the book.

The dish is Roast bone marrow with parsely salad. Bourdain recently highlighted this dish on his Holiday episode of No Reservations. I got inspired the next day at work when I realized that all of our marrow bones go into the rendering barrell (waste). I asked Jeff, my boss, if I could take a few of them home for cooking and he gladly cut me a few and vacuum packed them for me! The recipe and pics of my version of Bourdain's last supper are below:

Roast bone marrow with parsely salad:

What you need:

2.5" beef marrow bones (I roasted 3 and it was a great portion for me)

1/2 shallot finely chopped

small amount of rough-chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon olive oil

pinch of sea salt

french bread cut into 3 smaller pieces for thin toast

**the original recipe calls for capers and fresh squeezed lemon, but I ommitted them to get the full flavor of the marrow

How to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Place marrow bones in oven dish or baking sheet, etc.

3. Bake marrow bones for about 17 minutes.

4. While bones are roasting, mix the parsley, shallot, sea salt and olive oil in a small bowl and mix with fingers until all is coated with oil.

5. With about 7 minutes left on the roasting, place the slices of bread in the oven to toast.

6. Remove bones and toast after 17 minutes is up. ***(Keep an eye on the bones to make sure the marrow is not liquifying and turning into oil on the pan. This may take some experimentation with time and heat. The marrow should be custardy and soft, but not liquid)

7. Let bones sit for a couple of minutes to finish cooking.

8. Use a small utensil to remove the brown/red/gray marrow from the bones and spread onto bread.

9. Salt the marrow lightly on the bread, and top with parsley salad

10. Enjoy!

****Marrow has officially jumped oysters to join my top 2 flavors of all time. I still think, pound-for-pound, bacon is the best flavor out there.