Soup serves as a twist to every meal . This was considered as already a complete meal before but now, this comes in different variations depending on eating habits or trends and influences. Chilled soups is now an addition to the classical preparation ever since soup was introduced in our meals. One way of cooking soups now is by the use of crock pot. There are several of them that can be cooked this way. Ham bone in soup is one of them.
Ham bone can be a portion of the butt or the shank. It can also be the whole or half of the leg that includes the hip, thigh and shank bones that remain as part of the ham. The bone-in hams can either be smoked or unsmoked but all the same ham bones are very flavorful especially for soups as this requires long hours of boiling. Since soup is served as the first course in a dinner, it should be an appetizer and should contain nutritive values. The purpose therefore of soup is to awaken the appetite and to provide essential food nutrients needed by the body. The following is one crock pot soup recipe using ham bones.
Ingredients:
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 pound ham bones
2 cloves garlic
1 large onions, chopped
2 medium size carrots, diced
¼ cup tomato paste
1 rib celery, diced
1 bay leaf
3 black peppercorns
5 cups beef broth
½ cup red wine
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Place the vegetable oil in a pan and the bones to brown for about 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Put the garlic and let it brown while occasionally stirring. Add the tomato paste, stir for even distribution fo r 15 minutes. Stir in the red wine. Continue stirring until the red wine evaporated.
Place in a crock pot together with the remaining ingredients, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, black peppercorns and beef broth and cook over a low heat for 6 to 8 hours. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 4 servings
This is just a simple crock pot recipe that is budget- friendly yet healthy. There are still lots of soup recipes that can be cooked using crock pot. Following some cooking tips when using crock pot can yield a delicious and properly cooked food. We can use cheaper cut of meats as this cook well in slow cooker because it contains less fat not to mention the money we can save. It is advisable to trim excess fats in meats where there are more fats as this will cook quickly. Fats melt with prolong cooking hours and this cause unpleasant texture to the food. Time requirement for meat in slow cooking is usually 8 hours. Crock pot should only be ½ or ? full to cook the food properly. Food and liquid level shouldn't be less as this will also cook very quickly. Follow this general tips and you'll find yourself enjoying crock pot cooking in many dishes that you wish to prepare.
Marichu Coning, Content Creator @ Your Smart Kitchen, On line location for quality cookware, kitchenware, bakeware and cutlery specializing in Fissler, Swiss Diamond ,Claybakers, Le Equip, Paderno and other quality brands at reasonable prices with customer satisfaction guaranteed. 
