My LGS is a friendly and quite helpful bunch. Heck, they even put up with my cracker friends, Mannlicher included.

So, to show my appreciation of their tolerance and excellent service, I decided to make them a nice lunch the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I had some time off, so seemed like the right thing to do.

Found a nice Appleton's fully cooked smoked ham butt portion at Aldi's on sale for $.89/lb. 7.7 lbs, $6.82.. done.

Started out looking like this before it went in the smoker.



Smoked for 4.5 hours at about 210 in my Masterbuilt electric smoker using a glaze of brown sugar, honey, mango nectar, mustard, chili powder, tsp of allspice (caught this tip in a blurb on smokingmeatforum), and fresh ground black pepper over the top.

Ham came out looking like this. Did a tray of baked beans under the ham that received several ladles of the ham drippings.



Deboned and trimmed out.



Dropped the ham, baked beans, large container of homemade tater salad, rolls, glaze with the fat skimmed off, and apple pie off about 1:30 pm on Tuesday. Smiles all around. And yes, tater salad had bacon in it.

Deleted from inventory during trimming.
Had been saving for what, I don't know.



Made the split pea soup yesterday, starting with boiling the leftover bone while I watched the Dolphins put the smackdown on Kaepernick and company.

May be my best effort yet.

can almost taste it from here Greg. Wish I had a bowl full. Tell Kevin and his crew hello from me.

Will do, Sam.
Wish you were here to get some.

Probably drop off some soup there today, too. I doubled the batch, so I've got plenty.

Slobbering here !!

Can literally taste it.

Oh, & good job on looking after your LGS Guys !

I'm one of the few that like Linda Blair soup. That looks better than my chicken noodle from the bones.

Looks good....I love Split Pea soup....

Do you put potato's in your soup....I saw a recipe that called for potato's so I tried some in my last pot....didn't like it....

Yes Sir! I'm all in and right on the way to Sam's home!!

My ham goes on the smoker Thursday and once stripped SPS is definitely on the menu. BTW thank you Greg for not using one of those spiral sliced hams!!!

Included here will be shredded carrots, sweet white onions, minced celery, garlic and shallots. I also leave the split peas somewhat intact. AND perhaps a little dollop of sour cream or Crème fraîche.

Lots of crusty bread and of course WINE or a good stout beer!!!

Guessing Allen is in ham bone Heaven right about now!!!

Nice job Greg!!

Thanks, fellas.

FG, NO. No potatoes in my slit pea soup. Basically use Emeril Legasse's recipe, but I never (well, almost never) follow any recipe exactly. For example, Emeril calls for ham hocks. Can't buy any hocks with decent meat on them any more. So, if I were to consider using hocks (which I didn't), I can buy smoked shanks at the Spanish markets here, which are a far better deal. in this case, I found some packs of Hormel 21 smoked ham on sale 2x1 and chopped that up.

Quick recipe from memory (double batch):

2 3/4 lbs dried slit peas
1 large smoked ham bone (from shank portion)
2 lbs chopped smoked ham
2 lbs carrots chopped
2 medium sweet onions chopped
4 stalks celery chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 container Kirkland organic chicken stock (about 2 cups?)
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp garlic minced (I always use more)
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp cumin (I added this to recipe. Didn't add anything. Won't do again.)
salt & pepper to taste

Boiled the bone after covering with water and added peas + 2 more cups water later in the boil. Added remaining ingredients along the way and simmered all afternoon until done. After boiling the ham bone, there was about another 1/4 lb of meat I pulled off it and chopped up. It also went in the pot.

I like a hearty split pea soup that sticks to your ribs, and with a lot of carrots. So my recipe may be a little overkill for some.

You sure got that right! Man that looks good. I've got my ham bone boiled down to stock and in the freezer, I'm ready.

When we get my wife home from the hospital latter this week, the feast will be on.

Not overkill at all....I like lots of carrots in mine too...
Our little country market doesn't have much but they have smoked shanks which I like in beans...I prefer ham in SPS though...
Potato's were a bust....it was pretty much a big ol bowl of starch...
To say it was filling is a gross understatement...

Yeah, FG. Kinda figured something like that. I don't like potatoes in anything like soup that's going to simmer on the stovetop. You work around the potatoes time line making you a potato slave.

Without the potatoes, the soup is done when you say it's done. i.e: has it simmered down to your desirable consistency and taste.

It's good that you have a good source for smoked shanks. I gave up on hocks a few years ago.

Very nice gesture and it looks fantastic.

I just laid up a double batch of bean with bacon soup. I love cooking with good bacon from meat markets specializing in smoked meats. The bacon is usually thick cut, basically already cooked, doesn't render out much fat, and imparts a stout smokey flavor.

Forgot to say, I have added potato (not much) to pea soup. The way I do it, turns out just fine, since I take out the meat from the hocks or shanks, along with all the intact carrot I can fish out, then blend everything else until smooth, then add the goodies back in. I like the chunky, too, just don't make it any more.

Just outta curiosity, can the peas be substituted with navy beans? For some reason I am allergic to peas, but this sounds great and looks even better!

Don't see why it wouldn't work. I would probably skip the carrots and add bell pepper.

Seems a little random...

Nope. That's how I roll.