For hundreds of thousands of years, we burned bones in the fire and then broke them open to slather our food (and faces and bodies) in the butter-fine marrow. Scooped from roasted veal bones and spread on a wedge of crusty bread, marrow is so rich and flavorful that it threatens to overwhelm. And that’s where the salt comes in. The strident mineral tones of a coarse sel gris penetrate through the fatty richness, letting fly its myriad dimensions—like cutting a ruby from a hunk of Burmese rock. If marrow hadn’t been created by nature, it would have been necessary to invent it just to have a food that strikes so squarely at the core of the eating experience. If it weren’t for sel gris, nature’s felicity would all be for naught.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Step 2
Put the marrowbones with the cut marrow sides up in an ovenproof baking dish or skillet just big enough to hold them. Roast until the marrow retracts and sinks slightly in the center, 20 to 30 minutes. There will be a thin film of melted marrow on the bottom of the pan. Do not roast them too long, lest the marrow melt away. With that said, marrowbones of different sizes roast at radically different rates, so keep an eye on the roasting and remove the marrowbones from the pan as they are done, placing them on a large plate and covering them with aluminum foil to keep them warm.
Step 3
When all the marrowbones are roasted and arranged on the plate, scatter the parsley over the plate. Serve with the toast and a small ramekin of sel gris.
Step 4
To eat, dig pats of the marrow from the bone, spread on the toast, and sprinkle with the salt.
