What can I make with a ham bone?

I keep scrolling past this question, and all the while my brain is screaming "SPLIT PEA SOUP!" Although I use a ham bone to flavor many varieties of beans and greens, my all-time favorite is Split Pea Soup. My mom made an exemplary one, and mine just has more "stuff" in it.

Porky's Peas!

http://www.food52.com/recipes/7158_porkys_peas/2

I have frozen leftover ham successfully. I freeze it in ziplocs in servings large enough for one meal.

Use dried beans. (It's not hard--just soak them overnight if you have time. If not, the dish is meant to cook all day.) You want the beans to absorb all the flavor of the ham bone an aromatics, and canned beans won't do that. And you can shred some of your ham in there, too. So good! And really easy!

White beans and ham! (And yes, use dried!)

Yum, these all sound like great ideas!























@drbabs, I've never used dried beans before, are canned okay? Or would you recommend the dried? Does it affect the taste much?

Ditto ellenl -- split pea soup a la Keller rocks!

Thomas Keller's split pea soup from Ad Hoc at Home. You can google the recipe. It is just wonderful. Steve Dunn at Oui, Chef has an adaptation where he omits some steps he feels are unnecessary. Great--highly recommend.

I just happened to make a hot and sour cabbage soup with my ham bone, it was yummy. Make the broth with bone onion celery etc... simmer for a few hours, refridgerate overnight. Remove fat that solidified on top. Shread cabbage, slice onions, mince mixed hot peppers, slice musdrooms. Bring broth to simmer add ingrediants along with white vinegar to taste. Simmer til tender adjust heat with cyanne pepper or sour with more vinegar.

I make a yellow split pea soup with stock & meat from the ham bone - the way my grandmother used to make it. I use Julia Child's recipe as a guideline.
Any bean recipe seems to benefit from a ham bone. If you can get your hands on some of Rancho Gordo's Yellow Eyed Beans, you'll be in heaven!

I make this with a ham bone when I have one:
http://www.food52.com/recipes/2383_cajun_red_beans_and_rice_au_vin