Great Northern Bean Soup

What a great thing to have simmering on the stove all day when it's cold outside!

Ham hocks

Great Northern Beans, 2lb. dry beans

3/4 lb. carrots

One large onion

1 cut chopped celery

Pepper

Chicken bouillon or salt

I thought I'd already typed this recipe in, so I didn't take pictures right from the start. But it's been so simple, really. This is an all day recipe. You can't rush dried beans. I started this at 10:30AM.

I found my biggest pot, maybe 8 quarts. I emptied a 2lb. bag of great northern beans into the pot and looked through to make sure there weren't any stones and I removed the odd looking beans. Anything that looks like it wasn't a good bean to start with. 

I bought two packages of smoked ham hocks and tossed them in there. There were five smallish ones. Large ones, you'll need less; small ones, more...  I poured in water to fill the pot. 

Put the pot on to simmer. I put a lid on at a slant, with just a sliver of open pot. It keeps it from boiling over. The only thing I added to the beans, ham hocks and water was a good sprinkling of pepper. Nothing more.  As time goes on, and water evaporates, add water to keep the pot full. Stir the pot every once in a while. I check it about once an hour. 

It's about 4:30 now. The beans are tender, the broth tastes deliciously of ham. I will pull the ham hocks out now, strip off the meat and return the meat to the pot. Fatty skin and bones hit the trash can. After skimming off the obvious fat on the broth, I will add fresh veggies; celery, onions, carrots. A hint I garnered from a dear friend, if you like the flavor of Campbell's bean soup, add a good squirt (1/4 cup?) of ketchup to the nearly done soup. It adds that pinkish color and a sweetness. I really don't care so much for that. I thought I'd throw it out there for anyone that might be interested. I'll be back a little later with some pictures. 

Boy, the house smells good! 

Simmer ham hocks and beans in water all day.

Remove ham hocks from broth.

After removing ham hocks, add celery,

Carrots,

And onions. Allow to simmer further for another hour or so until everything is tender. After removing meat from ham hocks, add that back in, as well.

Before serving adjust salt and pepper. I add pepper, but for salt, I prefer to add bouillon instead of salt.

Serve with hot bread or cornbread. Yum! Delicious cold weather meal!