Long leg bones from beef steers provide delicious, buttery marrow. Purchase them precut, or ask your butcher or rancher to cut them 1 to 4 inches thick to make scooping out the marrow a little more manageable. While you can remove the marrow from the center of a raw bone, roasting the bones significantly improves the flavor and makes it easier to remove, too. From

5 pounds beef marrow bones, cut about 1 inch thick
5 eggs
2 C. heavy cream
1 tsp. finely ground unrefined sea salt
1 tsp. finely ground black pepper
1 T. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Put the bones in a single layer in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the bones cool until they are comfortable to handle. Decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees and grease six 4-oz. or four 6-oz. ramekins with a bit of butter. Extract the marrow from the bones with a spoon and drop it into a bowl, discarding the bones. Whisk the eggs and cream into the marrow, then pass the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl to remove any coagulated bits of marrow or lumps of egg. Whisk in the salt, pepper, and parsley. Pour the mixture into the buttered ramekins and place the ramekins in a large baking dish. Fill the dish with enough hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the sides of the custards are set but the centers remain a touch wobbly. Serve warm.