THE HAM BONE:
Starting with a 10-12 pound Shank Ham* I began to practice Zen Carving to get at the bone.
*(A cut taken from the bottom half of the pig's leg. Contains less fat than butt ham, but is not as meaty and is harder to carve. )
Here's a step-by-step of what this neophytic Zen ham-deboner did:
1. Placed the shank ham broad base down on the carving board.
2. Cut a vertical line from the narrow top of the ham, through the meat to the broad base. Using a sharp blade, it was easy to cut right to the bone.
3. Peeled, with fingers and Zen knife, the fat from between the layers of meat and set them aside for later packing and freezer storage. This fat was easy to separate from the meat.
4. Trimmed the meat along the bone with downward blade strokes, until there was approximately one-half inch or more of meat left on the bone.
5. Separated one-half a cup of meat trimmings for immediate immersion into the stock pot.
6. Held the remainder of the trimmings for later immersion into the simmered soup stock.
7. Placed the Shank Ham Bone into a two-gallon, stainless-steel copper-bottomed stock pot. Added the half-cup of trimmings (5, above).
THE SPLIT-PEAS: The package Recipe vs the Easy Eats method.
1. two, one-pound packages of green split peas; the package claimed there was NO Pre-Soaking time required. I believed them. Also, I'm lazy.
2. The package called for 6 to 8 cups of hot water for each pound of green split peas; I used 10 CUPS of Water PER POUND of green Split Peas.
3. The package suggested simmering with lid tilted back a bit for 20 - 30 minutes;
I brought the water to a boil, then covered the pot and simmered for two hours. This lengthy simmering made a great condensed soup base that safely stuck to all soup spoons.
Next ...
MORE INGREDIENTS: Wouldn't you know!
While the ham bone was simmering in the stock pot, I prepared these additional ingredients:
1. Sauted about 4 oz of chopped Portabello mushrooms in butter, salting lightly.
2. Chopped two onions; one large white onion and one large yellow onion.
3. Sauted one whole chopped white onion and one-half yellow onion along with
three diced cloves of garlic, and one large shallot, diced.
4. Salted and peppered onions and garlic lightly in the pan.
5. Held the one-half cup of raw onion, more if desired, for later immersion in the pot.
6. Brown sugar, about two tablespoons
7. Maple Syrup, about three tablespoons
8. The Coup de gras: Roasted Red Peppers, Onions, Garlic, Salt, Pepper, Shallot; about one-half to a full cup. (These ingredients formulate a basic food sweetener in my formulary; they are normally roasted bi-weekly and held for use in egg dishes, pasta and tomato dishes, fish tacos, home-made pizza, almost anything with red sauces.
Next ...
THE SIMMERING:
After the ham bone had simmered on LOW for at least three quarters of an hour, I removed the bone and loose chunks of meat and fat by repeated scooping with a slotted straining spoon.
At this point the form of the peas were still recognizable as tiny green lumps. Many recipes call to chill the soup and remove the fat that rises to the top on chilling. I was lazy: I allowed the soup to cool, then laid a paper towel on top of the soup to absorb any fats. It seemed to work.
An hour into the simmering, the sauted mushrooms and onions were stirred into the stock pot. Brown sugar and maple syrup were added at this point, followed by salt and pepper to taste.
Approximately an hour and a half into the simmering, the held-over raw onion and roasted red peppers were added to the pot. Held-over ham trimmings, plus some more for the glutton in me, were added also.
The soup should be stirred periodically throughout the soup making. This is a great time to taste. Care should be taken with the heat; make sure it does not burn peas, etc, on the bottom of the pot. The LOW setting on my old electric stove is a bit hot so I dial a bit under the LOW mark.
The soup was presented for dinner along with buttered, boiled potatoes and ham with jezabel sauce (keep tuned to this blog for the old family Jezabel Recipe).
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