Cooking segment and recipe: Ham Hocks and Beans (Patreon)

Ham Hocks n Beans

Ingredients:

-the remains of one spiral sliced ham, bones and all

-2lbs/0.9Kg dried pinto beans.

-2 white onions

-4-7+ cloves of garlic

-2Tbsp/30ml dried oregano

-pepper (note: I don't really measure pepper as much as follow the Isaac Toupes method of "just grind until your arms hurt")

-bay leaf (optional)

-water as needed

-Salt to taste, BUT ONLY AT THE END!!! DO NOT SALT BEFORE SERVING OR ELSE YOU RISK MAKING THE BEANS ALL TOUGH AND NASTY BEFORE COOKING!!!

Preparation:

-the day before cooking, thoroughly rinse beans in a colander and place in a medium-to-large sized pot. Cover with at least 4 inches of water above where the beans rest. Let the beans soak overnight

-The morning of serving, dice the onions and crush/press the cloves of garlic. You can do the Garlic however you like but I prefer the crush/press method for this recipe. add vegetables to the beans.

-take the remains of you ham and carve any large portions of meet that were missed by the spiral slicer off the bone. Take these chunks and dice them into small bits roughly the size of the beans.

-If necessary, transfer veggies in water to a larger stockpot to accommodate adding the meat and then add the meat scraps and bones to the pot. if there is not enough water to just cover everything, add more. If there is more about an inch of water above the beans, skim some off with a ladle. 

-add the oregano, pepper and optional bay leaf to the pot, stirring well so that everything is mixed.

-place the pot on the stove, cover, and set to medium low. let the beans cook for 4-6 hours. If a thicker soup is desired, partially uncover the pot lid after 3 and a half hours.

-when the soup is done cooking. use a set of heat-resistant tongs to grab the bones and then use a wooden spoon (or whatever you were stirring with) to gently scrape all the previously-unusable meat off the bones. When the bones are meatless, discard from the pot.

-ladle soup into bowls and then salt to taste. Serve with a hunk of bread or in a bread bowl if you're fancy.

(NOTE: this'll seem a little on the thin side at first but it thickens a lot as it cools down. by the next day you're gonna have a soup thick enough to keep you fed for quite some time)