The Soup Topic (2013–)

[Katie Meadow]

A question for all of you ham hock users. For several years I have been using smoked ham shanks instead of hocks. They are meatier and have just as much flavor, as far as I can tell. They are a bit less fatty, maybe. I use them to make a ham stock and then strain off the fat, or at least most of it. I simmer my beans in the stock and then it's optional to add back the ham just before serving, after I've cut it off the bones and trimmed off the gristle. My husband likes to add back in the ham, but I like my beans without it, with just the flavor from being cooked in the stock. 

 

Typically shanks are sold sawed in three partial cuts, and that includes cutting through the bone. I do rinse the shanks briefly before cooking in running cold water, but I don't soak them or do a second rinse, and I find the end product broth not  overly salty. Does anyone else prefer shanks over hocks? 

[heidih]

Due to the significant incidence of high blood pressure in our African American community and the issue of sodium intake, our markets all started carrying smoked turkey necks and wings which have become the smoked meat of choice for collards and similar dishes. Pretty good sub

[kayb]

I don't see shanks available much, separate from the ham. The Benton's hocks I ordered had a fair amount of the shank portion, enough to be very meaty. When I've used a ham bone with shank meat still attached, I see little if any difference in taste to the hocks.

 

I've taken to making ham stock whenever I cook a ham, just like I make chicken stock when I cook a chicken. I'll reduce and freeze it in pint containers, and generally add the meat to one or two of them and leave a couple without, so I have a choice of which to use.

[blue_dolphin]

I've never seen smoked shanks in the grocery store.  Even smoked hocks aren't all that common and the ones that turn up are bony little things.  The hocks I order from Broadbent's are very meaty, like baby hams. 

[CatIsHungry]

I don’t see shanks very often, but to me they’re interchangeable with hocks - meatier, of course and that’s always a good thing to me - and the ham bone broth! oh my ‘lanta! 😋— always good for New Year’s black eyed peas 😁 and various soups and bean dishes .. sometimes I will add it to a 50/50 chicken broth /ham bone broth split pea soup (okay maybe it sounds odd but it’s really good) ... 

[Katie Meadow]

I too have combined ham broth with chicken broth, although mostly when I don't have enough of either for cooking beans. Keeping pints of ham broth in the freezer is a lifesaver. I use it for simmering long-cooked string beans, along with a little wine and tomato, and for finishing sauteed greens. My latest use for a pint of ham broth is for a recipe from Smitten Kitchen called Melting Potatoes. Thick slices of potato get roasted and then finished for a final 15 minutes with broth. When using ham broth I often toss in some roasted green chiles and some fresh chopped tomatoes. Yukon Golds work really well for this dish; it is now my favorite way to eat potatoes. The leftovers make a great breakfast--or a great breakfast side.

[CatIsHungry]

@Katie Meadow I have seen her recipe for melting potatoes but haven’t made them, yet - I make fondant potatoes, though - I have some vague memory(?) they are a sort of shortcut version ??? (Sounds like it from your description)  ... 

 

One of my best friends made me (ha!) boil some baby golds in ham or chicken stock or beef stock (whatever) ‘til just soft - remove from stock - put in baking pan - mash them down - drizzle with butter / garlic / olive oil - sprinkle some pepper -  bake at 350 til crispy and brown - oy vey! Mr Cat and Cat Son loves those, too! (obviously, we are not watching our carbs 😂) ... add bacon 😁 ... 

Edited November 16, 2019 by CatIsHungry
Typo (log)

[chromedome]

8 hours ago, CatIsHungry said:

Me Cat and Cat Son loves those, too! (obviously, we are not watching our carbs 😂) ... add bacon 😁 ... 

 

I watch my carbs closely, lest they fall from my fork and fail to reach my mouth.

[kayb]

3 hours ago, chromedome said:

 

I watch my carbs closely, lest they fall from my fork and fail to reach my mouth.

 

Agreed. Can't be having runaway carbs.

 

Being that I used my last frozen carton of chicken stock this past week, I guess it's time to roast a chicken this weekend. Stand by for some variety of chicken soup.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Just one more note about mixing ham and chicken broths, and then I won't have a thing to add. Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc has a recipe for a bean and escarole soup. After sweating the vegetables he adds 8 cups of chicken broth and a ham hock, and continues to cook it for an hour. Then he cuts off the ham from the bone and tosses the meat back into the soup. Escarole and pre-cooked beans get added at the end. I have never made this soup, but I question whether the meat of the hock would be sufficiently cooked after only an hour. But an hour would be plenty to create a chicken/smoky ham flavor.

 

My reservations about cooking a hock in the soup is the same as it is for a dish like red beans and rice. Maybe it is just me, but that can add a lot of grease to a bowl of soup or beans. So that's the main reason I make ham stock, so it is easy to skim off as much fat as desired. Actually a smoked ham shank produces a very modest amount of fat.

[blue_dolphin]

9 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Just one more note about mixing ham and chicken broths, and then I won't have a thing to add. Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc has a recipe for a bean and escarole soup. After sweating the vegetables he adds 8 cups of chicken broth and a ham hock, and continues to cook it for an hour. Then he cuts off the ham from the bone and tosses the meat back into the soup. Escarole and pre-cooked beans get added at the end. I have never made this soup, but I question whether the meat of the hock would be sufficiently cooked after only an hour. But an hour would be plenty to create a chicken/smoky ham flavor.

 

My reservations about cooking a hock in the soup is the same as it is for a dish like red beans and rice. Maybe it is just me, but that can add a lot of grease to a bowl of soup or beans. So that's the main reason I make ham stock, so it is easy to skim off as much fat as desired. Actually a smoked ham shank produces a very modest amount of fat.

 

Scroll back up to this post where I describe making that soup.  I think it's what got us on the hock topic.  In my hands, one hour was not sufficient.  I strained the broth so as not to obliterate the vegetables and put the hock and broth in the Instant Pot for another hour.

Next time, I will follow your suggestion of making ham broth (I'll do it in the Instant Pot) that I can de-fat so I can use it and the meat separately or together. 

[Katie Meadow]

6 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

6 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

 

Scroll back up to this post where I describe making that soup.  I think it's what got us on the hock topic.  In my hands, one hour was not sufficient.  I strained the broth so as not to obliterate the vegetables and put the hock and broth in the Instant Pot for another hour.

Next time, I will follow your suggestion of making ham broth (I'll do it in the Instant Pot) that I can de-fat so I can use it and the meat separately or together. 

 

Either I forgot that I read your post about that soup or I missed it altogether. Most likely I forgot and assumed that soup was my idea! This memory thing is a barrel of laughs, at least so far. I can see how adding a couple of cups of ham stock to the chicken stock would make for a tasty broth, and then the meat from the hock or shank could be added shortly before serving. Needless to say I have seen the recipe for this soup but never made it. I always think Keller's recipes sound great, but they are also usually labor intensive and I'm getting lazier as time goes by. 

[liuzhou]

Many, if not most chicken stocks in Chinese cuisine include ham or pork in some form. I often use Jinhua ham in stocks.

[liamsaunt]

Here is a soup I made on Friday night.  I used leftover mashed potatoes and leftover celery root-potato puree from dinners earlier in the week.  one onion sautéed in butter then combined with the leftovers and some chicken stock in a slow cooker for a few hours, stick blended and then topped with bacon and scallions.  I was going to add cheese too but the soup was rich enough without it.  

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Fennel bouillabaisse inspired by Jose Andres' Vegetables Unleased (p86).  For once the stars aligned with the dregs of my refrigerator.*  I say "inspired by" because Andres' recipe is vegetarian and I had a fish.  Peel the potatoes and tomatoes?  Phooey.  And I used fish broth in place of water.

 

And while we're at it, who keeps Pernod on hand for cooking?  Really?  I threw in a few star anise and danced around the bowl with the green fairy.

 

 

*and that leek amazon sent me by mistake.

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

And while we're at it, who keeps Pernod on hand for cooking?  Really?  I threw in a few star anise and danced around the bowl with the green fairy.

 

😂

[chromedome]

2 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

And while we're at it, who keeps Pernod on hand for cooking?  Really?  I threw in a few star anise and danced around the bowl with the green fairy.

 

 

Funny you should say that. I used to keep Pernod around for cooking at one point in my life, but now a local distillery's absinthe is available at my nearest liquor store in airline-sized bottles. I keep one of those up in my cupboard for when the impulse strikes.

[heidih]

3 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

And while we're at it, who keeps Pernod on hand for cooking?  Really?  I threw in a few star anise and danced around the bowl with the green fairy.

 

 

 I used to keep it (and campari) when we lived in a hot part of town (Pasadena) . Refeshing drinks after work. Good call on the star anise - different but along the same flavor lines. Did you enjoy the dish?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

 

And while we're at it, who keeps Pernod on hand for cooking?  Really? 

 

Here.   Well, er, not on hand for cooking exactly...

Else, I'd just toss in more fennel seeds.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, heidih said:

 

 I used to keep it (and campari) when we lived in a hot part of town (Pasadena) . Refeshing drinks after work. Good call on the star anise - different but along the same flavor lines. Did you enjoy the dish?

 

I thought the bouillabaisse was quite good.  Not difficult to make.  I'd been wanting to make bouillabaisse for some while but none of the recipes I'd looked at seemed quite right; either for the ingredients or for the amount of work.  Even without the fish I think I'd like the recipe.

 

[Owtahear]

I made a Butternut Squash soup.   I forgot to photo it but people seemed to like it.

 

Roasted the squash in the oven.   Granny Smith Apple.   Shallots.  One Garlic clove.   Sweated it all together in butter.    

 

Nutmeg, Allspice, brown sugar, sage.

 

Chicken Stock (home made)

 

Small amount of heavy cream to help blend.....and puree'd the heck out of it.

 

It was really good and it may make my Thanksgiving Dinner as a starter soup.

 

[heidih]

3 hours ago, Owtahear said:

Roasted the squash in the oven.   Granny Smith Apple.   Shallots.  One Garlic clove.   Sweated it all together in butter.    

 

 

A nun at the local retreat center did  similar but much more simple  (no spices) soup when we were assembling backpacks for distressed women. I think the apple and its type are the key. I do not usually enjoy smooth soups but this was good. 

[suzilightning]

about an hour or so in to slowly carmelized onions and garlic.   the last of this season's thyme and tarragon with some flat leaf parsley stems and bay leaf to go in with a mix of beef and chicken stock ……..

[heidih]

I have not had the cheapo ramen in forever (20 years!). Not sure what possessed me but I got a 25cent packet of shrimp flavor. Added a slew of roasted mushrooms and a glug of Hui Fong chili garlic. Quite satsfying. Los Angeles is a home base of both Maruchan and Hui Fong. 

 

https://www.huyfong.com/

https://www.maruchan.com/about/

Edited November 21, 2019 by heidih (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Lunch soup ready now.    Learned from a French hostess: 3 veg soup.    Take any three veg, up to but no more than 5, simmer in water or broth until nashably" tender.    Use stick blemder to puree, adding a knob of butter.     Delightfully intriguing flavors, all different.    Often toss in a spoon of curry powder, and usually top with a spoon of creme fraiche, sour cream or fresh goat cheese.   

 

Today's combo = cauliflower, zucchini, new onion, half a potato ->