I was wondering about cooking meats without removing bones. Does the added flavor that everyone raves about come from marrow? Is the flavor bonus more from keeping the cut whole? Are the areas closest to the bone the only that benefit? Or is this one of those cooking rules that isn’t completely correct?

You hear it all the time. Grill that steak with the bone in. Buy a bone-in roast. Chefs and cookbook authors alike all say it, claiming that the bones will add flavor to your meat. I was skeptical (as I often am), so a few years ago I ran a series of tests to determine whether there was anything to the flavor claims, as well as whether or not there might be other non-flavor-related advantages to cooking with bone-in meat. We’ll get to the results in a moment, but first, let’s talk about what bones are made of and where that potential flavor may be coming from.

I was wondering about cooking meats without removing bones. Does the added flavor that everyone raves about come from marrow? Is the flavor bonus more from keeping the cut whole? Are the areas closest to the bone the only that benefit? Or is this one of those cooking rules that isn’t completely correct?

You hear it all the time. Grill that steak with the bone in. Buy a bone-in roast. Chefs and cookbook authors alike all say it, claiming that the bones will add flavor to your meat. I was skeptical (as I often am), so a few years ago I ran a series of tests to determine whether there was anything to the flavor claims, as well as whether or not there might be other non-flavor-related advantages to cooking with bone-in meat. We’ll get to the results in a moment, but first, let’s talk about what bones are made of and where that potential flavor may be coming from.