Winter is Here! Let’s Go Bone Luging!

I saw ‘bone luging’ on Tasting Table earlier this month, and thought it was so stupid, I didn’t bother to post. Think of the strange Google hits I’d get from people looking for such a thing! In retrospect, I probably should have covered the story, as Portland is taking credit for this new fad.

I will just quote from the article, which is regrettably called, “Bone Daddy“.  –

Brilliantly dubbed the “bone luge,” the process is simple and, in true 21st-century style, has a Twitter tag and a Tumblr. Take a roasted marrow bone that has been split lengthwise, consume the marrow, and use the emptied furrow to channel wine or spirits into the luger’s mouth. Odd? Most definitely. Delicious? Absolutely.

Folks, don’t try this at home – I’ve done it for you. I got a split bone from a restaurant friend, roasted it, ate the marrow, and a friend happily poured sherry down the ‘luge’ a little too fast, and it splashed into my face, went up my nose, and generally left me far less pretty than I normally am. Word to the wise – marrow-scented sherry up the nostrils is a bit like I’d expect snorting ajax powder to be.

I cleaned up, and we tried again, this time, he poured slowly.

First of all, it feels incredibly awkward. I’m holding this bone up to my lips, and my friend is pouring this viscous brown liquid down it into my mouth, and we are both laughing. It was more awkward than a shotgun hit with some guy in college – I swear, I was drunk… and it was the 70’s. Most of you kids probably don’t know what that means.

Maybe I don’t have the finely tuned taste buds equal to some in the food community, but it tasted like sherry to me; sherry with a little coat of grease on it. I guess I’m just not hip cool trendy hipster enough to appreciate it.

That is why I was glad to see an article in Foodie Underground called, “When Food Trends Go Wrong“.

For starters, the fourth Google option upon searching “bone luging” was a site called How Hipsters Date. I clicked hestitantly, slightly turning my head and squinting with both eyes the way you do when you’re watching a scary movie, in fear of what would pop up on the screen. You just never know.

Called “the new drinking fad food writers love to hate,” by Gothamist, bone luging combines the trend of bone marrow with the obsession of taking shots in ways reminiscent of college days. It’s simple: Eat the marrow out of a transected piece of bone, then use the empty bone to direct a shot into your mouth.

Cue disgusted shivering.

Tasting Table claims the trend hails from Portland – the little foodie bubble that I like to call home – and although I have never been to Metrovino which has bone luge on their menu, I can envision several local hot spots offering it sooner or later.

The above article has some good comments – the Bone Luge people seem awfully defensive. A quick aside, I really like the Foodie Underground series at ecosalon.com. I find author Anna Brones thoroughly entertaining. If you aren’t easily offended – you’ve read this far, so that isn’t likely – try “Foodie Underground: The 10 Types of Foodies (And What to Do With Them)“. We all know at least one of these types of people, or perhaps are one – or many.

Back on track, here is a detailed list of instructions from 1059-the brew.

Bone Luge How-To

Part 1: Order the bone marrow. Scrape it from the bone and eat it by spreading it on toasted bread. Or, if you’re die-hard, suck it right off the spoon.

Part 2: Pick a liquor or fortified wine to compliment the marrow.

Part 3: Grab your smart phone in preparation for the obligatory Bone Luge photo.

Part 4: Pick up the bone as a funnel, pouring the drink at the top and watch if flow down the hatch. (Don’t forget to snap the photo!)

Part 5: Share your work via social networking.

There is even a “bone luge” website with pictures of people doing this. They made me vaguely uncomfortable.

Couple of quick notes. Yes, I know there was a problem with the RSS feed. For some reason it got plugged up. Google went in with a plunger, and it flooded all of your readers/inboxes. I’ve subscribed to it myself, and hopefully will have a clue next time this happens. My apologies. Really, I was writing posts all of this time, and if I could, I would personally drop by and clean up the mess.

Second, a thanks to the good people over at 97.1FM “Charlie FM” for the nice mention last week. I didn’t hear it myself, but have received several emails. You now have an honorary button on my car radio, though to be honest, I’m rarely in the car long enough to move it off of OPB.

Third, I’ve gotten a few emails from people saying I’ve gotten too snarky lately, and am not  particularly funny. To them, I dedicate this post. For one short point in time, the tagline of this site was, “At some point I will offend every reader”.