What's your best ham & split pea soup recipe?

[CWS4322]

Am I the only one who adds a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme? I usually use the "juice" leftover from a bone-in ham, so I have glazed it with maple syrup, so my green split-pea soup is a tad sweet sometimes. Now, for yellow split-pea soup...

 

[GotGarlic]

Am I the only one who uses fish sauce and a minced chipotle pepper in adobe sauce? Tips from Alton Brown, although he uses miso instead of fish sauce. I never have that in the house, but I always have fish sauce.

I use his method of putting all the ingredients in the slow cooker and cooking it on high for 4-6 hours. I don't eat it, but DH and his dad love it, so that's good enough for me.

 

[larry_stewart]

Being vegetarian ( wife vegan) I obviously dont use a ham bone, but when making split pea soup Ill put a few drops of liquid smoke to give it that smokey kinda flavor.

Other than the split peas, the recipe usually depends on what I got laying around. Onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes .... Ill let it al slimmer til the peas are soft then blend it all up. Sometimes after blending Ill serve it with barley, or fried up onions . Pre - vegan days we used to dice up Jarlsburg Cheese and throw it in the bottom of the bowl when serving. One of those things I learned from my mother in law and didn't think it was a good idea until tried it, but in a bizarre way, it saccutally worked. Found myself fishing through the soup to find the cheese cubes. And my grandmother used to toss matzoh balls in her peas soup. Another strange addition that kinda worked.

 

[skilletlicker]

Being vegetarian ( wife vegan) I obviously dont use a ham bone, but when making split pea soup Ill put a few drops of liquid smoke to give it that smokey kinda flavor.

Other than the split peas, the recipe usually depends on what I got laying around. Onions, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes .... Ill let it al slimmer til the peas are soft then blend it all up. Sometimes after blending Ill serve it with barley, or fried up onions . Pre - vegan days we used to dice up Jarlsburg Cheese and throw it in the bottom of the bowl when serving. One of those things I learned from my mother in law and didn't think it was a good idea until tried it, but in a bizarre way, it saccutally worked. Found myself fishing through the soup to find the cheese cubes. And my grandmother used to toss matzoh balls in her peas soup. Another strange addition that kinda worked.

The way I cook pretty near everything.
Sometimes I like to throw one part barley to four parts peas right from the get go.

 

[Kevin86]

My mom just the other weekend said she really wanted to try making this. I’ll see what she did and pass some along

 

[Kevin86]

nope. I'm in the three day camp.

simmer the ham hock 3-4 hours, let it cool & refrigerate overnight.

then re-heat/re-simmer 2-3 hours before stripping the meat.

second day soak the peas
third day add the meat and cook the peas.

the cooling+reheating dissolves a lot more connective tissue. there's some "change" when it is heated-then-cooled that makes a difference.
also works with beef - double braise a chunk of top round - it comes apart like 15 hr bbq beef....

I've also found the supermarket ham hocks to be quite wimpy - I get mine from the local butcher. scale: those are 10" dinner plates....
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We get most of our stuff from butchering or the butcher. We even ask for meat left on soup bones etc.

The pig we butcher and split with family and no one else wants any bones except ribs etc. So instead of fussing with stripping a lot of big bones I just take them. Some are meaty some just have a bit and are for flavour. I’m using one today. Making pork and beans but nonetheless