Gary wrote:
> > - 16oz bag of dry navy beans, soaked overnight
> > then drained and rinsed.
> > - added 8 cups water
> > - one smoked ham hock (approx. 8oz weight)
> > - one large carrot chopped
> > - one large onion chopped
> > - little bit of S&P
> > - 2 bay leaves
> >I mentioned that I'd use an 8-quart pot. That was overkill
> >so I switched to a 5-quart pot. Pretty full with a good
> >2 inches left - perfect size.
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U.S. Janet wrote:
> >> Since you are working with a ham hock you may need to beef up
> >> the flavor with a little chicken concentrate(bullion)
> In my experience, ham hock doesn't have the oomph that ham bone does.
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Ok, the soup turned out delicious but I had to make a few
changes.
Ham hock: One ham hock was plenty of ham flavor but it was
a bit odd ham flavor. Hard to describe other than it wasn't
as tasty as using a ham bone with some meat.
For this reason, I used your suggestion and added one tall
teaspoon of powdered chicken bullion. That was a good idea.
Now it has a flavor of pork and chicken which is a
good combination of flavors. I can taste both equally.
Anyway, by time the beans had turned soft, the ham hock had
completely fallen apart. I fished out skin with fat and very
little meat and also about 12 small bones. I added back in
what meat there was along with a little fat. Very little to
add back in.
Not only that, when eating the first bowl, I found 3 very tiny
bone fragments still. The rest of this will no doubt still be
full of bone bits. Chew carefully, Gary.
Finally, near end of cooking, I added in the chicken bullion,
and a handfull of spiral egg noodles (just for the hell of
it but turned out to be a good thing) and 2 more cups of water.
I still have another ham hock in the freezer. I'll use it
but I won't ever buy them again. Also - for the other ham
hock, I might wrap it in a single layer of cheesecloth or
maybe even cut up a mesh onion bag to contain it.
Before I freeze this batch, I'll cut and microwave a few
more carrots to add in. They are good and I only used one
for this batch. Several more might be a good thing.
That's all. Cook and learn. :)