unless they are rank use them quickly as possible...........we've learned to put them in the oven to get nice and brown..this is a great start to a homemade beef broth and wonderful soups as a result......we got this tip of browning the bones first by Discuss Cooking.......my husband won't use any other method now,,,,,,,,so we roast the beef bones until a nice dark brown and then place them in water with onions, garlic, laurel leaves or bay leave, peppercorns, fresh parsly.............get a nice broth going........you may have to skim the yech off the top........no mistaking yech.........cook it down for about an hour and then you're ready to add a wonderful tasting broth as a base for any soup..........is it a lot of work......yep..........is it worth it........depends on you........we love homemade soups so ya it worth it....our soups last us a week so yes, it's worth have a great broth...now if I could just install a real brick oven in my apt. to make some wonderful Uzbekhstan bread...........