Uncle Bill's Green Split Pea With Hambone Soup

Total Time: 4 hrs Preparation Time: 1 hr Cook Time: 3 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 12
• 8 cups water
• 1 large ham bone
• 2 cups dried split green peas
• 2 large carrots, peeled and diced small
• 2 medium onions, chopped small
• 2 large celery ribs, include leaves, chop small
• 1 large bay leaf
• 2 beef bouillon cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
• 1 pinch dried thyme

Recipe

• 1 rinse peas well in cold water and add to a large cooking pot.
• 2 measure 8 cups of water and add to cooking pot.
• 3 bring to boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 1 hour.
• 4 return to stove and bring back to boil.
• 5 add ham bone, carrots, onions, celery, bay leaf, beef bouillon, salt, peppercorns and dried thyme.
• 6 reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.
• 7 remove ham bone and cut off any remaining ham, cut into bite size pieces and return to soup.
• 8 discard ham bone.
• 9 if there are big pieces of ham in the soup, remove, cut into bite size pieces and return to soup.
• 10 remove bay leaf and discard.
• 11 adjust seasonings to taste.
• 12 if you desire a smooth soup, then puree' in batches in a food processor or blender.
• 13 or eat the soup without puree'ing.
• 14 if soup is too thick, add more water to your desired consistency.
• 15 beef broth or chicken broth may be added, just reduce the water by the amounts used.
• 16 smoked ham hocks are excellent to use instead of a ham bone.
• 17 if there is not enough ham on the ham bone, then add additional ham of your choice.
• 18 you may also use about 1/4 teaspoon of liquid hickory smoke, to get a smokey flavor.
• 19 you may also use whole peas, but it will take a bit longer to cook these peas so that they are tender.