27. 牛筒骨 (niú tǒng gǔ)
I was thinking about this and the fact that, although very popular, it only ever appears in restaurants; almost never home cooked, never available in the stores. And I was wondering why when the ‘don’t be an idiot; you know why’ light came on.
牛筒骨 (niú tǒng gǔ) literally means ‘beef tube bone’. It is, of course, marrow bone. And the locals love it – as do I. What we are talking is roast bone marrow. And the reason it’s restaurant only, is that so few people have ovens. Almost no one. I do, but for a long time I was unable to source the bones. Seemed they were all reserved for the restaurant trade.
My favourite mini-chain 哈尔滨架子王 (hā ěr bīn jiǎo zi wáng) - Harbin Jiaozi King restaurants serve up steaming plates of marrow and dispense plastic gloves for the handling of bones. They do mean jiaozi (dumplings), too.
Recently, I have been able to acquire the bones online (750 grams / $3.59 USD). The essential parsley is more expensive at $3.77 for a mere 250 grams!
