Sonofabitch Stew

sonofabitch stew a cowboy dish of unusual character. It contained various ingredients from a newly killed fat calf: heart, liver, tongue, pieces of tenderloin, sweetbreads, brain, and ‘marrow gut’. This last item is explained by Adams (1952):

Marrow gut is not a gut at all, but a tube connecting the two stomachs of cud-chewing animals. It is good only when the calf is young and living upon milk, as it is then filled with a substance resembling marrow through which the partially digested milk passes. This is why only young calves were selected for a good stew. The marrow-like contents were left in, and they were what gave the stew such a delicious flavor.