I was given this recipe by Terry King in, like, 1994 as we were coming down from the elevator sky lobby in the World Trade Center where we both worked. We got down to the street, she climbed on to the back of a Harley driven by this GAWJUS man who vroom vroomed me, and as they pulled away she screamed, DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE WEENIE ! and they disappeared in to the sunset on their way back to Brooklyn. I've been working it often and well since then, but it's only the spirit of that recipe that survives.
Reason is, it's an old Irish recipe of her mom which involves a ham bone her mom would beg from the butcher. Times were hard by them, she a single working mother of several kids, most of whom grew up to be police and fire captains, and she was a legal secretary downtown. There's no seasoning to it, it's just a Hambone, dried peas, carrots, onions, tinned potatoes, 6 cups of water, and you leave it to cook until the spoon stands up straight in the pot. Terry's mom would buy a foot long hot dog on her way home that night, cut it up in to pieces and stir that in so everyone would get a little meat for that meal. That part still kills me and I honor her with that every time I turn this recipe.
So, the problem with my version is, I grew with smoked ham that had a sweet glaze. Wuhl, everything was sweet by us, and our ham was no exception. You mix French's mustard with brown sugar and Autumn Spices and slather than on the skin, 350 for an hour and 300 for two hours done. There's also a version with pineapple for summer (with a side salad of iceburg lettuce topped with a pineapple slice and scoop of cottage cheese, you're welcome), and I know some low country common folk who use a can of CoCola too, but I always found that bunred quickly ...
So, anyway, when it came time for me to make this soup, I would use the hambone and skin and leftover bits, and there was always that yummy pumpkin-pie-ie kind of deep woodsy flavor to my soup. Fast forward to me getting married to a Yankee, and his people teaching me about a "Fresh Ham", a "pork shoulder," a "picnic ham" and my life changed dramatically. Boy are THOSE good and less sugar is always better so ... but ... the first time I made the pea soup I didn't know WHAT had gone wrong, it was like some Yankee-Bean-ass flavorless crap they feed you in prison (movies) or nursing homes.
So, I'm sorry there are no measurements to this, I'm just gonna give you what I got. I'm talking about a normal-sized oval crock pot, nothing fancy, and here we go. Kisses. p.s.: You need this recipe and I pray you enjoy it and that it brings you health. p.p.s. you can also make a ham, FREEZE the bone, and pull it out weeks later. LAST pee ess: you can also use hamhocks instead and take a ham steak and chop that up, that works ok. xoxo
- 1 Hambone
- Dried green split peas, one 16 ounce package
- Chopped onions
- Chopped carrots
- 1 or 2 cans of sliced potatoes
- 6 cups of chicken stock
- 1 or 2 frankfurters at the last
So ... one of the things I do is, the night before? I drain the sliced potatoes and rinse them off thoroughly, then I soak them in some water for about an hour? and then after I drain them again, I sprinkle the top with sodium-free chicken bouillon powder, cover that with water, and let that sit until morning. Can they be real potatoes? yes. I suggest little red potatoes with the skin still on them, please.
DO NOT USE BABY CARROTS. You can google how they MAKE baby carrots, it's so gross. You're gonna cut, like, half-inch-think slices of carrots? and you're going to want them to cover the bottom of the crock pot. Not too much more than that.
You're gonna cut up some onions. I prefer, always, sweet, Vidalia onions, and you want a nice rough cut, like, half-inch-think pieces? enough to cover the bottom of the crock pot. not too much more than that.
You're going to dump the potatoes on top of this and toss all those up together. One to two tins, or half-inch-thick slices of real potatoes.
If my husband weren't a Yankee, this is where I would sneak in a few hundred shakes of hot sauce.
Now ... you want to lay your bone(s) down. Also any skin left over, and any fatty chunks you've trimmed. These are all glorious goodness in the soup.
Now the beans. There are people who wash them? Sometimes I run some water over them? but I don't do anything dramatic because they STICK to everything so I'm a little lazy about that. Pour them in to the nooks and crannies around the bones in the crock pot, and try to make sure none of them are on the tippy top of anything, else they're going to get dried up and brown.
I'm now going to give directions with the oval of the crock pot, the long way, going north and south () and I'm going to call north to south "top to bottom."
Take some French's Golden Yellow Mustard and squirt a thin ribbon in the crock pot like a wave., top to bottom.
Take some handfuls of brown sugar and crumble them over the top of the crock pot, top to bottom.
Take a jar of allspice, then a jar of cinnamon and lightly shake them back and forth the length of the crock pot, top to bottom.
Take a jar of cloves and shake it back and forth HALF way down the crock pot, top to bottom.
Take a jar of nutmeg and shake it back and forth the OTHER half of the crock pot, top to bottom.
And we're done. Pour 6 cups of chicken broth in to the nooks and crannies. Everything just fits.
I put that on low and slow and go to work and come home to THEE most delicious smell ever. I'm sure it's done done after six hours, but I leave it for eight and up to 10.
Don't forget to push your weenies down in there at the last, and remember to say a prayer for all the mothers out there who make a banquet from nothing, who make things beautiful for their children, even when there are only pennies at the bottom of their purses. xoxo
Like most things, it's better the next day. It freezes beautifully, and when I reheat it, I pour some milk in to loosen it up, because it comes out thick as mud. You can use water, but I don't know why you would; use chicken stock if you have to.
