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Boiled Marrow-bones

A historical recipe from The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861).

A historical recipe

The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861). Project Gutenberg eBook #10136.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Source and licence

From The Book of Household Management, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) (1861). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #10136 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10136). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

Read the original Public domain in the USA

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. 635.
  2. INGREDIENTS.--Bones, a small piece of common paste, a floured cloth.
  3. Mode.--Have the bones neatly sawed into convenient sizes, and cover the ends with a small piece of common crust, made with flour and water.
  4. Over this tie a floured cloth, and place them upright in a saucepan of boiling water, taking care there is sufficient to cover the bones.
  5. Boil them for 2 hours, remove the cloth and paste, and serve them upright on a napkin with dry toast.
  6. Many persons clear the marrow from the bones after they are cooked, spread it over a slice of toast and add a seasoning of pepper;
  7. when served in this manner, it must be very expeditiously sent to table, as it so soon gets cold.
  8. Time.--2 hours.
  9. Note.--Marrow-bones may be baked after preparing them as in the preceding recipe;
  10. they should be laid in a deep dish, and baked for 2 hours.
  11. MARROW-BONES.--Bones are formed of a dense cellular tissue of membranous matter, made stiff and rigid by insoluble earthy salts;
  12. of which, phosphate of lime is the most abundant.
  13. In a large bone, the insoluble matter is generally deposited in such a manner as to leave a cavity, into which a fatty substance, distinguished by the name of marrow, is thrown.
  14. Hollow cylindrical bones possess the qualities of strength and lightness in a remarkable degree.
  15. If bones were entirely solid, they would be unnecessarily heavy;
  16. and if their materials were brought into smaller compass, they would be weaker, because the strength of a bone is in proportion to the distance at which its fibres are from the centre.
  17. Some animals, it must, however, be observed, have no cavities in the centre of their bones;
  18. such as the whale tribe, skate, and turtles.