The right way to Use a Leftover Ham Bone in Soups, Stews, and Extra

Subsequent time you serve a rustic or metropolis ham for a vacation meal or occasion, ensure that to save lots of the bone. This humble ingredient is the key to the incomparable depth and richness of numerous broths and soups. And, when you’re not making a ham on your feast, you should buy a ham bone on the grocery retailer. Nevertheless you purchase it, right here’s how you can get probably the most out of a ham bone in the course of the vacation season and past. 

The right way to use a ham bone

In the event you can’t choose off each final scrap of meat from a leftover ham bone, don’t fear: These morsels of meat will present wealthy taste and a luscious fatty texture to dishes like garlicky inexperienced beans and white bean and ham stew. Listed below are two scrumptious methods to make use of a ham bone. 

Make broth, inventory, or braised greens

Aaron Bickham, director of culinary and govt chef of The Bartolotta Eating places in Milwaukee, loves utilizing ham bones to make wealthy, flavorful shares. “The inventory is ideal for cooking greens similar to Swiss chard, escarole, turnip greens, and extra. It provides a beautiful smoky taste that you just wouldn’t get from a rooster or veal inventory.”

Patrick Munster, govt chef at Don’s Prime inside Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, additionally likes to pair ham broth with greens. 

“At dwelling, I really like utilizing ham bones to make a hearty braised greens and peas dish — my model of Hoppin’ John for New Yr’s Day,” he says. “I begin by simmering the broth with the ham bones, then add a mix of mustard and collard greens, cooking them down with black-eyed peas. It’s one in every of my particular traditions that symbolizes good luck and prosperity for the brand new yr.”

To make ham broth or inventory, submerge the bone in water and simmer together with aromatics like onions, carrots, celery, peppercorns, and herbs. (Right here’s a step-by-step recipe.)

Add to soup

You should utilize ham broth as the bottom of a soup, or add a ham bone to your already simmering soup to impart its taste. 

“I grew up with my mom making ham and bean soup, and to today, it at all times jogs my memory of these chilly St. Louis winters as a child,” Munster says.

“My mother begins by scraping the ham off the bone after which makes use of the bone and mirepoix to make a broth,” he says. “After letting it simmer for some time, she tastes it to verify it’s flavorful sufficient earlier than eradicating the bone. Subsequent, she provides the cannellini beans and lets the soup simmer till it’s thickened to perfection. When it’s prepared, she serves the soup topped with freshly shaved Parmesan — the perfect.”

A salty, meaty ham bone additionally offers an ideal complement to earthy beans or peas, particularly in a break up pea soup. If there may be nonetheless meat left on the ham bone after it cooks in a soup or broth, you’ll be able to tear it off and use it as a garnish. (Simply notice that it’ll possible be a bit powerful after such a protracted cooking time.) 

What when you don’t have a ham bone? 

You should buy a ham bone from many grocery shops and butchers. Regardless of the title, a ham bone is usually bought as two or extra bones, together with cartilage and ligaments. Ham bones sometimes weigh a number of kilos and can nonetheless have some meat hooked up; they may even be bought smoked or unsmoked. 

In the event you can’t discover a ham bone within the meat part or butcher case of your grocery retailer, simply ask; they often are bought frozen. “Ham bones are quite common down South and will be discovered virtually all over the place,” Bickham says. “A house prepare dinner in the remainder of the nation could have to go to a butcher or an [international] market to search out the best lower.” 

If shopping for a ham bone (slightly than utilizing one you will have leftover), ensure that to prepare dinner it earlier than having fun with any of that salty, fatty meat. 

The right way to substitute for a ham bone

In the event you don’t have a leftover ham bone and you’ll’t discover one in your grocery retailer, you’ll be able to substitute it with a ham hock in most recipes. Whereas a ham bone typically comes from the leg of the pig, a ham hock comes from the ankle. Much like ham bones, ham hocks are bought smoked in addition to unsmoked and embody powerful, fatty bits of meat that add porky taste to soups and broths.

Remember that ham hocks typically have a stronger, extra pronounced fatty taste; and that smoked ham hocks even have a smokier taste.