Beef Bone Marrow Soup (BULALO)

This is one of my Papa's fave dish.  You know he only eat beef, native chicken, and fishes with scales.  He never like pig's meat now.  Well, it is because he was a MI (Myocardial Infarction) victim and he underwent angioplasty.  Many of you who's reading this will be in a big surprise because you think BULALO is full of cholesterol.  Well, it is, but the good one.  Two years ago we were introduced to Dr. Navarro, a consultant of cellular and biochemical medicine.  He specialized in rejuvinating the cells of the body of his patients.

If you want to know more about the wonder of natural healing of Dr. Robin Navarro just visit this link:   http://www.doc-rbnavarro.net

Bone Marrow contains so many nutrients that are fabulously fantastic for our health such that, it should also be listed as a functional food or medicinal food (any healthy or fictional food claimed to have a health-promoting or disease-preventing property beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients). It is more so, because most of its nutrients are able to exert a therapeutic effect. These are as follows:

·       1.  Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) play big roles in the formation of brain and retinal tissue. Huge concentrations of DHA can be found in fetal brain and neural development, especially during the last trimester. Babies, especially those yet to be born, can really benefit from DHA/EPA might also be a boon to the elderly; as we age, cognitive and visual health becomes more important than ever, and low DHA/EPA levels may contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, other dementias, and vision problems. Also, there has been some research suggesting DHA/EPA has some beneficial effect on the risk of various cancers, including prostate, breast, and colorectal. Suicidal depression and schizophrenia, too, may be linked with low levels of essential fatty acids like EPA and DHA.

·         2. Hormones: Testosterone, Estrogen, Progesterone, Human Growth Hormone

·         3. Vitamin A, D, E and K

·         4. EPO (erythropoitin) Beneficial to patients with renal failure.  (Sandler, O.E.: Some experimental studies on the erythropoietic effects of yellow bone marrow extracts and batyl alcohol. Acta Med Scand, suppl 225:133. 1949; Holab, B.J., Philbrick, D.J., Parbtani, A., Clark, W.F.: Dietary lipid modification of renal disorders and ether phospholipid metabolism. Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph. Ont, Canada. Biochem Cell BioI (Canada), 69 (7) p. 185-9; Jul 1991)

·         5. Minerals: Magnesium, Calcium, Zinc, etc

·         6. Saturated Fats

·        7. Proteins: L-Arginine (which lowers BP in pre-eclampsic women), Glutamate, Aspartic acid, Lysine, Hydroxylysine and Histidine.


How to cook BULALO (my family way)?

You'll need these:

•     1 kg beef bone marrow, have your butcher chop it into small pieces
•     1/2 kg boneless beef shank or stewing beef
•     1 garlic, peeled and crushed
•     1 onion, peeled and sliced into 4.
•     1 liter of water
•     3 medium taro, peeled and quartered (thickens the soup)
•     2 saba (plantain) bananas, each cut into two pieces
•     1 corn, sliced into 4
•     leaves of chinese white cabbage (pechay).
•     1/2 tbsp. fish sauce (patis)
•     4 red/green chili pepper (sili haba)
•     Salt and pepper to taste

* you can add more water if you want more soup.

Here's how to do it:

   1.   Blanch bone marrow and boneless beef shank or stewing beef in hot boiling water for a while    and rinse in cold running tap water to remove scum and blood.

    2.  Place bone marrow, beef shank or stewing beef, garlic and onion in a stockpot. Pour the 1 liter of water and let it boil..

    3.  Lower heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes.

    4.  Add the sliced taros.. 

    5.  When it boils again, lower heat and simmer until beef is tender.

    6.  Add the bananas, red/green chili peppers (sili haba) and corn.

    7.  Let it simmer about 10 to 15 minutes.

    8.  Add the chinese white cabbage (pechay) leaves.  Then add salt and pepper to taste

    9.  Cook until about 2 minutes.

    10.Serve with rice and enjoy the soup dish. ;)

Add fish sauce (patis), calamansi juice extract and red hot chili pepper or Bird's eye chili (sili labuyo) for sauce (sawsawan).