Every year I receive a beloved hand-me-down from my parents: the bone from their holiday ham.
What’s so special about an eviscerated hog bone? It’s like the world’s greatest bouillon cube: a couple of hours in simmering water, with absolutely no other ingredients, creates an incredible stock. And that stock is the base for split pea soup, which we’ve been eating for dinner the last two days and still have plenty left for snacks.
Each time I make the ham stock, I’m amazed that the stock ends up just smoky, salty, and hammy enough. It doesn’t matter if I put in a little more or less water. It’s magic. (To be specific, however, the bone from one ham half is good for three to four quarts of stock.)
I wonder what else I could do with ham stock other than split pea or bean soup. Any ideas?
Well instead of bean soup, what about using it as the liquid for baked beans? Or use it to replace part of the milk in pancakes or popovers?
Some/all of the liquid for carnitas.
Liquid in recipes that typically call for smoked ingredients: chipotle, smoked paprika, etc.
Poaching liquid for … uh, well. For something, anyway. Chicken and turkey leap to mind.
…. how’s that for a minute and a half of brainstorm?
This post does not contain the phrase “ham holder,” so I do not approve.
Mmm. Risotto? Just for fun, a risotto based on ham broth, a tablespoon of high-quality (tube) tomato paste, and chunks of pineapple.
Ooh, a Hawaiian Pizza Risotto.
Or maybe a ham broth soup, reduced, with shredded pork, blanched apple chunks, and dashes of hot sauce, cinnamon and clove?
Completely unrelated to ham stock: I’m watching a documentary, “The Cheese Nun,” that I suspect folks around here might like. A Connecticut nun travelling through France to study cheese. Cool.
A Connecticut nun in King Fromage’s court.
Thanks for the great ideas, folks. I may need to find another ham bone before next year.
Sorbet.
Oh, and that (and this) wasn’t MOM(Judy) – it was (is) Neil.
Isn’t there some song with “ham bone ham bone” as a chorus?
After “Top Chef” contestants made not one, but two bacon-flavored ice creams a couple of weeks ago, ham broth sorbet doesn’t sound as nutty as maybe it should.