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Post by droppedstitch on Apr 12, 2020 9:54:46 GMT -5
Seeing it’s Easter and all, any advice for a cooking a spiral ham? I searched the topic and didn’t seeing anything... I have made many a ham in a regular oven using the America’s test kitchen method, so I will probably try to modify that. (Soak ham in hot tap water for 90 minutes, cook in oven bag a 250 until internal temp is 100, glaze, and cook 10 minutes at 350).
The real reason I’m posting: Pea soup! My sister purchased three spiral hams just so I could make this soup. This is basically Bon Appetit’s split pea soup. The leeks and fresh thyme really make it, in my opinion. I made a double batch last time, and attempted half in the thermowell 20 minutes gas+2 hours. The peas were still pretty hard, so I finished it on the stove top. Still delicious, and I know to add more heat for next time!
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 medium leeks, white and pale-green parts only, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 4 garlic cloves, chopped Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 Yukon Gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into small pieces 1 cup chopped leftover ham (or more) 1 ham bone 6 sprigs thyme 2 bay leaves 2 cups green split peas Red pepper flakes to taste 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce Sour cream and croutons (for serving; optional)
RECIPE PREPARATION
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, leeks, celery, and garlic; season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, 10–12 minutes. Add potatoes and ham. Cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are just softened, 8–10 minutes. Add ham bone, thyme sprigs, bay leaves, and split peas and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until peas are very soft and falling apart, 1½–2 hours.
Remove ham bone (along with any meat that is still attached), thyme sprigs, and bay leaves from soup. Add Worcestershire sauce; season with salt and pepper.
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Post by mach12 on Apr 12, 2020 15:23:39 GMT -5
Wow, that really looks good! Now I wish I hadn't used the leftover ham last week that I had in the freezer, though the 7 bean soup was sure a hit. I made a really big batch in the well and cooked it all day and then split it and a loaf of fresh no-knead sourdough bread three ways and gave some to our daughter and her husband, who live on one side of us, and some to our granddaughter and her family who live on the other side of us.
We're all carefully following the stay home - stay safe thing our state has in place, except for our daughter and her husband so they got theirs in a towel wrapped jar in a basket delivered to the front porch. Or daughter is a grocery store employee (Safeway) and her husband manages a pet supply store (Petco) which are both essential businesses so we're doing social distancing with them. Our granddaughter has a photography business and brought home all of her gear from the studio since you hear of break-ins and looting from time to time. She decided to go through her old photo shoots and put together packages from shots they didn't use in the packages, and offered them at special prices and those have been wildly popular, so she has been able to keep paying her employees. We figured the least we could do is help out with some meals so they could keep doing what they're doing. I sure never thought our BZ, Pepper, would be doing anything like that when we installed her!
I just texted our daughter and she says they have plenty of frozen hams so cut & pasted the pea soup recipe into a file and am going to make a batch this week. Handy for us to have a grocery store worker in the family and handy for her knowing they'll be getting some pea soup. Thanks for posting this!
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Post by vaporvac on Apr 12, 2020 16:38:10 GMT -5
I agree. This looks fantastic! I just had some this week, but mine was in a can from Aldi's. Delicious, but nowhere near this one. Was this from the "old" Bon Appetit or the recent reincarnation?
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Post by droppedstitch on Apr 12, 2020 22:21:10 GMT -5
I agree. This looks fantastic! I just had some this week, but mine was in a can from Aldi's. Delicious, but nowhere near this one. Was this from the "old" Bon Appetit or the recent reincarnation? Good question. I’m guessing new. The webpage for the recipe says it’s from December 2013.
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Post by droppedstitch on Apr 13, 2020 8:46:26 GMT -5
Wow, that really looks good! Now I wish I hadn't used the leftover ham last week that I had in the freezer, though the 7 bean soup was sure a hit. I made a really big batch in the well and cooked it all day and then split it and a loaf of fresh no-knead sourdough bread three ways and gave some to our daughter and her husband, who live on one side of us, and some to our granddaughter and her family who live on the other side of us. We're all carefully following the stay home - stay safe thing our state has in place, except for our daughter and her husband so they got theirs in a towel wrapped jar in a basket delivered to the front porch. Or daughter is a grocery store employee (Safeway) and her husband manages a pet supply store (Petco) which are both essential businesses so we're doing social distancing with them. Our granddaughter has a photography business and brought home all of her gear from the studio since you hear of break-ins and looting from time to time. She decided to go through her old photo shoots and put together packages from shots they didn't use in the packages, and offered them at special prices and those have been wildly popular, so she has been able to keep paying her employees. We figured the least we could do is help out with some meals so they could keep doing what they're doing. I sure never thought our BZ, Pepper, would be doing anything like that when we installed her! I just texted our daughter and she says they have plenty of frozen hams so cut & pasted the pea soup recipe into a file and am going to make a batch this week. Handy for us to have a grocery store worker in the family and handy for her knowing they'll be getting some pea soup. Thanks for posting this! My pleasure! My sister and her husband have four very small children. While not too picky, all of the kids devour the ham. So the hams definitely have double benefit between that and the soup. Sharing good food really feels beneficial right now, something still we all need and comforting.
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Post by droppedstitch on Apr 22, 2020 17:41:46 GMT -5
For fun, I made the cured ham recipe from the Idlehour. It was pretty good! The recipe calls for a quart (!!!) of grape juice, but I think just one would have sufficed. Surprisingly, the ham and grape flavors worked together. I don’t think I will use this recipe again, but it was silly fun! Also, the ham cooking method described in the cookbook made a very tender and juicy ham. It calls for 35-45 minutes at 500; then off for 4 plus hours. I used the smoker thermometer, so I knew mine was to temp after about 2 hours. And yes, I will be making pea soup tomorrow. Hoping the grape flavor doesn’t do anything weird with the soup...
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Post by Chuckie on Apr 22, 2020 20:01:30 GMT -5
For fun, I made the cured ham recipe from the Idlehour. It was pretty good! The recipe calls for a quart (!!!) of grape juice, but I think just one would have sufficed. Surprisingly, the ham and grape flavors worked together. I don’t think I will use this recipe again, but it was silly fun! Also, the ham cooking method described in the cookbook made a very tender and juicy ham. It calls for 35-45 minutes at 500; then off for 4 plus hours. I used the smoker thermometer, so I knew mine was to temp after about 2 hours. And yes, I will be making pea soup tomorrow. Hoping the grape flavor doesn’t do anything weird with the soup... Dear droppedstitch: One thing A LOT of us have figured out here, the "old" cookbooks--including the Idlehour--often times OVER cook things. That was due to the "era"-- NOT good refrigeration, and botulism from under-cooked HOME canned food that killed MANY peeps in the day. Better to err on the side of "caution"... It took me a coupla recipes out here from said book BEFORE I discovered that, and others have agreed. As an aside, following the Idlehour does N-O-T "ruin" the food, it just overcooks it ' some' IMHO.... CHEERS! Chuckie
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Post by nana on Apr 24, 2020 10:31:17 GMT -5
Another thing to think about besides the food safety aspect is those old cookbooks were dealing with the meat from naturally raised animals, not corn stuffed, feedlot prisoners. When an animal gets to walk around and move, the muscles get tougher and stronger, and require more cooking to tenderize them.
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Post by chipperhiker on Apr 25, 2020 0:19:30 GMT -5
Really good point, nana, about the feed lot meat of today vs. the naturally raised meat of yesteryear.
I actually made split pea soup a few days ago, too. Of course, I didn't have a nice recipe like droppedstich's -I just followed the recipe on the package of peas. Still, it was yummy. I didn't have any ham in the house, so I tossed in a few chopped up sliced of bacon, and that seemed just fine.
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Post by nana on Apr 25, 2020 7:46:49 GMT -5
Most recipes have a lot of wiggle room for substitutions like that. If that weren't true, then almost nothing I cook would ever turn out good! When I make something for the first time I try to stick to the recipe, but even then there's usually a few things I have to finagle a bit.
I like recipes like the pea soup one above that call for things like one medium onion, or two carrots, instead of amounts like 1/2 cup of chopped onion. Does anyone actually ever measure stuff like that?
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Post by droppedstitch on Apr 25, 2020 18:29:04 GMT -5
Most recipes have a lot of wiggle room for substitutions like that. If that weren't true, then almost nothing I cook would ever turn out good! When I make something for the first time I try to stick to the recipe, but even then there's usually a few things I have to finagle a bit. I like recipes like the pea soup one above that call for things like one medium onion, or two carrots, instead of amounts like 1/2 cup of chopped onion. Does anyone actually ever measure stuff like that? Not me!! I definitely err on the side of more onion too. 😄
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Post by vaporvac on Apr 25, 2020 21:17:42 GMT -5
Mom mom used to use a smoked turkey drum sometimes. It was so delicious.
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Post by nana on Apr 26, 2020 17:44:27 GMT -5
Smoked turkey, Mmmmmm...The butchershop and smokehouse I get most of my meat from sometimes does smoked whole chickens. Put one in the thermowell for an hour or two, just as is, no gas, and let it warm up. I have side dishes with it, but secretly, I would just sit and eat it right off the bone like a caveman if I was all alone in the house...
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Post by mach12 on Apr 26, 2020 19:01:15 GMT -5
When I was in the Navy I went through boat training in San Francisco and one of the other guys knew of a place whose specialty was smoked turkey legs. He offered to take us there and though it didn't sound particularly exciting I figured it would beat sitting around on base, so we jumped on the bus and headed downtown (literally headed for the hills). When they brought out our meal it was on a platter surrounded by everything you'd have in a Thanksgiving meal. The smoked turkey was melt-in-you mouth tender and delicious. I'd forgotten all about that and now I want some!
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Post by Chuckie on Apr 26, 2020 21:38:52 GMT -5
Smoked turkey, Mmmmmm...The butchershop and smokehouse I get most of my meat from sometimes does smoked whole chickens. Put one in the thermowell for an hour or two, just as is, no gas, and let it warm up. I have side dishes with it, but secretly, I would just sit and eat it right off the bone like a caveman if I was all alone in the house... ... QUIT IT Wilma!!! LOL CHEERS! Chuckie
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