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Soup Beans and Cornbread with Ham Hocks
 Moderated by: Vargr, shadowcat-x, boojum
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 Posted: Sat Oct 25th, 2014 12:07 am
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Vargr
Vargr


Joined: Tue Jun 7th, 2005
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado USA
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Soup Beans & Corn Bread with Ham Hocks

When Author's dad remarried, mom introduced us all to Southern Cooking from her roots deep in the back hills of Tennessee. Dishes like "Greens" (turnips and others), biscuits and gravy, "Red Eye" gravy, and others were a far cry from our family's previous Appalachian, PA Dutch, and Germanic dishes.

A frequent meal was "Soup Beans and Cornbread". Economics had a lot to do with that (5 kids!). But the flavor and the hearty, filling nature of this makes it one of wuff's fav comfort foods even to this day!

Mom's version was a bit simpler: The ham hock went in for the flavor, not so much for the meat. And spices were normally just salt, pepper, garlic and onion. Of course, over the years, this wuff had to "play" with that basic version and make it his own.

This Southern staple gets kicked up several notches from its humble origins with the additions of “special cut” ham shanks, loaded with meat and flavor, and the addition of several herbs and spices to build the flavors. The cornbread likewise gets “gussied up” some with sour cream, bacon, and an extra egg.

It still remains a “Southern” cornbread though; baked in a screaming hot cast iron skillet slicked up with bacon grease, and only a bit of white flour and a dash of sugar.

Wuffy likes his beans with extra juice, so he can put a sliced and buttered wedge of cornbread beneath them, and pile the beans on top so the juices sink deep into the corn bread. If you like you beans thicker, you'll need to cut back on the water a bit.

A Pressure Cooker changes this recipe from an all-day simmer to a about 90 minutes work. It also ensures wuff's beans are nice and tender, here at the high altitudes of Colorado.

NOTE: Ajwain seeds (or pods) are a tiny, slightly bitter and very pungent spice, with a flavor similar to Anise and Oregano. Common in Pakistani dishes, they add a nice complexity, but use them judiciously because they do have powerful flavors. They are also an anti-flatulant, which is definitely a plus in this dish!

Ingredients:
(For the Beans)
1.5 lbs dried pinto beans
6-8 Cups water + 2 Tbs “Better than Bullion” chicken base
2 big meaty smoked ham shanks (about 3-4 lbs), butcher cut into 4 “hocks”
1 large yellow Onion, diced
2 Tbs minced Garlic
1 Tbs Tomato Paste
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp Chili powder (or Ancho chile powder)
2 tsp Ajwain Seeds
2 tsp Celery Seeds
2 tsp ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Peri Peri powder (optional)
2 Thai red (Hot) peppers (optional)

(For the Cornbread)
1.5 Cups yellow Corn Meal
3 Tbs all purpose Flour
~1.5 Cups Buttermilk
½ C Sour Cream
2 Eggs
3 Strips thick-cut Applewood Smoked Bacon
2 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt

(For the Garnish)
½ sweet onion, minced

Directions:
(Prep and Soak the beans)
Most “modern” beans come very well cleaned from the seller, but sometimes a little stone or something still works itself into the bag. You can crack a tooth biting on one of those! Make sure you pick over your beans for anything that shouldn't be there, and separate out any “questionable” beans while you're at it.

Discussion: Pinto beans are a type that benefits from a soak before cooking. There are two methods of soaking beans: Quick/Hot and Cold/Long. The Quick method only needs an hour, but you DO lose a little of the beans' flavors. Compare the water for the long and the quick method: The Long method will be cloudy with dissolved starch and other stuff, but still mostly clear with no bean taste or aroma. The Quick method will be brown, and smell and taste slightly of beans. You're pouring off a bit of the flavor when you toss out that soaking water. But you DO need to toss out the first soak in both cases! Beans are dirty! Flush that first soak and rinse again, briefly, with fresh water!

Hot/Quick Method: Put the a pot with 8-10 cups of water. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat, cover, and allow to soak for 1 hour. Dump off first soak, and rinse beans again with fresh water.

Cold/Long Method: Put beans in a pot with 8-10 cups cold water. Cover. Allow to sit 8 hours or overnight. Dump off first soak, and rinse beans again with fresh water.

(Cook the Beans)
Place the four “ham hocks” (sliced ham shanks) into the pressure cooker. Add the soaked beans and diced onion.

Mix the 2 Tbs of Chicken Base in a cup of hot water and stir until dissolved. Add to pressure cooker, along with the remaining cups of water and all the remaining spices. If using, add the Peri Peri and hot peppers.

Let the cooker come to a boil over high heat, watching to be sure beans don't scorch (stir if necessary). When boiling well, cover, and let come to pressure.

Cook at full pressure until beans are tender and pork is falling off hocks. For wuff, roomie wanted “extra tender” beans, so wuff cooked these at full pressure for 1 hour. For normal beans with a little “tooth”, 30-40 minutes should be enough.

Allow pressure to reduce naturally, and remove lid.

While beans are cooking or pressure reducing, bake the Cornbread.

(Bake the Cornbread)
Fry the bacon in a 10 – 12” well-seasoned cast iron skillet until crispy. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Reserve the bacon fat! Chop up the crispy bacon into little bits.

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: Corn meal, flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

In a large measuring cup or small bowl, whisk the two eggs into the 1.5C of buttermilk.

Make a small well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Add the sour cream, and begin pouring in the egg/milk mixture, stirring to combine. You may not need all the mixture. You want a relatively “loose” mixture that pours easily. Don't over-stir; stop when it just comes together.

Add the chopped bacon crumbles. Mix in.

Add the reserved bacon fat back to the skillet. Heat until almost smoking. Swirl the fat around to coat the interior of the skillet and then pour the fat into the cornbread mixture. Whisk it into the mix, and then pour the mix back into the hot skillet. It should sizzle nicely!

Put the skillet into the oven. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.

(Plate and Serve)
Vargr loves his cornbread split and resting below the beans to soak up that wonderful juice! Split a wedge of cornbread in half horizontally, and butter the interior. Place in big soup bowl. Add a meaty ham hock on the side of the bread. Fill bowl with beans and juice. Sprinkle minced sweet onions over the top.

DEVOUR!

Attachment: Soup Beans & Corn Bread w_Ham Hocks.png (Downloaded 5 times)



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