"Felice" > wrote in message
...
> The leftovers from Senior Daughter's house included the remnants of a
> pre-Christmas ham that included slices for several meals and what may be
> the biggest hambone in the history of hamdom.
>
> I couldn't possible consume that much [boring] pea or lentil soup, which
> is what I would do with a more modest bone. Red beans and rice seems the
> likely result, but I'm open to other suggestions for a really zingy dish.
>
> Meanwhile, does anyone else like a ham sandwich with mayonnaise and
> well-drained sweet pickle relish? I thought not.
>
> Felice
>
Take the ham bone and whatever is attached to it that you're not going to
eat and make ham stock. I usually lightly brown the ham remnants along with
a whole onion for a half hour or so at 325F or so. Then plop ham and onion
in a saucepan, add water and simmer for 3-6 hours. Unlike fowl, ham and beef
bones can be simmered quite a long time to extract all the flavor. Then
strain, defat with a separator funnel, and reduce the stock to the point
where it's slightly salty, and rich in flavor. Freeze it for future use,
which includes sauce for the next ham, flavor enhancer for a ham soup and
escalloped potatoes with ham and anything else. It freezes a long time
without degradation of flavor. It really adds a lot to the next ham you
roast.

Kent