Yay, split pea soup. I had bought a bag of dried split peas & some ham hocks – the weather has been turning colder & thought that this would be a nice hot soup to curl up with on a chilly nite.

Ham hocks remind me of growing up – mom or dad used them every once in a while in different kinds of stews & soups. My grandpa was a butcher, so we only had the best pork knuckle – if there is such a thing. I can take just about anything (I’ll gut a kangaroo as needed), but cutting thru all that fat/bone stuff is difficult. Hungry?

Ingredients:

• 16oz dried green split peas, rinsed
• 2 medium carrots, peeled & cut
• 2 medium celery stalks, diced
• 64 oz chicken broth (or veggie broth)
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced (thin as possible)
• 2 md garlic cloves, minced
• 2 bay leaves (remove before serving)
• 2 ham hocks
• 64oz low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tblsp ground black pepper

Cook it:

• Put ham hocks in crock
• Add all other ingredients
• Cook on LOW for 8hrs (ham hocks should fall apart when done)

Wow, this one smelled fantastic & somewhat let me down. As mentioned before, you win some & you lose some –  will still post the losers (the difference between me & Alton Brown). If we were in communist Russian during Stalin’s reign, this would have been a god send, but my refined palette wants more. (After reflection – I did come to conclusion – I didn’t add a bunch of salt. Most canned beans are packed in some juice & a bunch of salt. When you cook with dried beans – keep in mind there is no sodium added.)

Upside – had a nice consistency & the hocks provided a bit of salt/fat. Sadly, as mentioned, needed tons of salt – if you are on a low sodium or whatnot diet, this would be great.

There you go – did kinda like the soup, but was expecting a lot more from the smell.

Done & done.