Ham and Bean Soup

Fidel

Many thanks to Ron (RRP) for his pointers yesterday.[p]I started with two ham bones from thanksgiving that I had left a good amount of meat on. I boiled them last night for about 5 hours to make a good ham stock. I pulled and shredded all the loose meat, set it aside, and let the stock cool in the fridge overnight. Today I took the solid fat off. The rest of the liquid was put in a 7qt dutch oven at 375 in the large egg. What you see is plate setter, legs up, with a medium grid on it for a spacer, then the DO on the medium grid.[p][p]
I added the bones back to the stock and brought it to a slow simmer[p][p]
I added 3 pounds of pinto beans. The beans had been rinsed and soaked in cold water for about 7 hours.[p][p]
I pulled the ham bones and stripped any remaining meat to the meat I had pulled from them last night. I would guess almost 2 pounds of loose ham meat.[p][p]
I made a mirapoix by cooking 2 cups of onion with 1 cup celery and 1 cup carrots, all minced, in 1/2 stick of butter and 2 tbsp olive oil.[p][p]
After the beans had been simmering about 3 hours, I added the ham meat and mirapoix and continued to simmer for another 90 minutes. I also seasoned with a healthy dose of fresh black pepper, 1.5 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp kosher salt, 2 tsp chili powder.[p][p]
I finally pulled it when the cornbread was done. Total cook time was 4.5 hours after the ham stock had been made. [p][p]
This was really good. Meaty, smoky, and very filling. I will definitely do this one again.[p][p][p]

Jeffersonian

Fidel,[p]Looks great, Fidel. Does the Egg give you a much different flavor over a cooktop?

Car Wash Mike

Fidel,
Looks good. One thing I miss about Twiggy, she cooked up a great pot of beans. I food savered my bone from the ham and froze. So many leftovers. Have to make hash this weekend.
Was the ham smoked to begin with? The hock I got wasn't.
Mike

Fidel

Jeffersonian,[p]In my opinion it did. The smoked hams added a big dimension, but I also kept throwing some hickory chips in the fire to get some smoke into the soup as well.[p]But I'm an addict - I think everything is better off the egg. I can tell you that I could identify egged vs. cooktop ham and beans in a blind taste test.

Fidel

Car Wash Mike,[p]The hams were indeed egged about 5 weeks ago for a work luncheon.[p]These were the culprits that left their bones in my freezer since mid-November:[p]

BENTE

Fidel,
man that looks good i will have to try soon[p][p]
happy eggin
tb

Fidel

BENTE,[p]I have 2 gallons. You are an hour away from me.[p]Come get ya some!

BENTE

Fidel,
don't tempt me!!!!
i had domino's tonight (man i think i'm gonna be sick)LOL[p]happy eggin
tb

Fidel

<p />BENTE,[p]You know, the BGE can be used to cook pizza....[p]

DynaGreaseball

Fidel,[p]Are you sure that's legal?

RRP

Fidel,
Looks delicious! Thanks for the compliment, but that's obviously your creation!

Beanie-Bean

Fidel,[p]Thanks for sharing--very informative post. Question: Did you cook the ham on the BGE? Or did you buy it cooked already?[p]-Mike[p]

BENTE

Fidel,
i think i remember reading that somewhere!![p][p]
[p]happy eggin
tb

Grandpas Grub

Rod,

You just can't beat a cook like that. I love a ham bone/bean cook.

I have always done navy bean or baby lima bean or split pea. But adding the Cumin and Chili sounds like a real nice switch.

I would think that stock was to die for.

Merry Cristmas,

Kent