Dinner · 180 min · filipino

Marrow-Rich Bulalo

This is the kind of Filipino dinner you’ll make on repeat — beef shanks and water, 180 minutes, big payoff. Each serving lands at 450 calories with 38g of protein, so it eats like a much heavier meal. It scales cleanly if you are cooking for more than one.

✓ USDA-verified nutrition data

Ingredients

• 3 lb Beef shanks
• 12 cups Water
• 2 ears Corn
• 1/2 head Cabbage
• 1/2 bunch Long beans
• 1 Onion
• 1 tbsp Black peppercorns
• 1/4 cup Fish sauce

Steps

1. Cover the shanks with cold water, bring to a boil, and skim relentlessly for 10 minutes — a crystal broth is the whole point.
2. Add the onion and peppercorns; simmer at the barest bubble, 2.5 hours, until the marrow trembles and the meat threatens to fall.
3. Never let it boil hard — agitation clouds the broth and toughens the meat. Patience is the only technique here.
4. Add the corn wheels; simmer 15 minutes.
5. Season with fish sauce until the broth tastes deeply savory.
6. Add the beans and cabbage wedges for the final 8 minutes, so they stay bright.
7. Serve the shanks in deep bowls with the marrow bones front and center — scoop the marrow with a spoon, spread it on rice, and understand why people drive hours to Batangas for this.

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