The "Country" ham hock isn't as innocent as its less salty cousin, the smoked ham hock.

First off, let me say, there are ham hocks and there are ham hocks, and knowing which is which is really important.

Normally I get my ham hocks from the Giant supermarket down the street, and they’re just smoked ham hocks. A bit salty, but nothing to knock you over. This week I picked them up at the Shoppers Food Warehouse I often get soup stuff from, and they wern’t just smoked…they were cured country style.

If you’ve ever had a Smithfield Ham you know what I”m talking about. These things are soaked in brine until no microbe could come within ten feet of them and live. As a result, they’ll keep through the long winters before refrigeration was available. If you tossed one into the ocean, it’s the briny deep that would get saltier.

So, how do you tell which you’ve got? Most of the hams you’ll find in supermarkets are actually cured, but the one’s you’ve got to look our for are cured “country” or “VA style.”

My grandfather used to buy a Smithfield ham every Christmas and relate tales of how he kept one in his locker at college (University of Vermont) and how he’d cut off a slice between classes. The student food program was evidently a lot leaner in those days. The first time you have the stuff, you’re inclined to think someone is playing a joke on you…but like prosciutto, thin slices of it can become addictive.

On the other hand, if you want to use it to make soup with, boil it in at least two quarts of water for an hour before adding it to the soup.

White Bean Soup with Ham Hock and Turnip Greens

• 4 15.5 oz cans of White (navy or northern beans)
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion
• 1 jalepeno
• 1 lb frozen turnip greens
• 12-16 oz ham hock (if country ham, boil in 2 qts water for an hour before using)
• 1 qt water

Mince the garlic and chop the onion, then saute them in the olive oil for about ten minutes, or until they’re getting soft and begining to be translucent. Remove the ribs (the white fleshy part) and seed from the jalepeno, dice it up and add it to the onions and garlic about halfway through the saute.

While the onion and its friends are sauteing, rinse the turnip greens in warm water until thwaed, then strain the water out them. Add them at the end of the onion’s saute and cook them for about three minutes as well.

Combine the sauted vegetables and the canned beans, including their liquor, with the quart of water and the ham hock (if it’s a “country” ham, be sure to boil it for an hour in a few quarts of water to leech some salt out).

Cover it up and let it simmer for an hour.

Remove the ham hock, strip the meat off it, chop it up and return it to the soup.

Use an immersion blender to partially blend the soup, or take off a quart of soup and blend it completey before returning it to the pot.

That’s all. This soup really doesn’t need much in the way of garnish, but a piece of cornbread on the side and a glass of sweet tea wouldn’t hurt it any either.

About the salt in the country style hock: If you google “how to get salt out of soup” you’ll find posts from others who have used a country style hock in their soup without realizing it…until too late. Food researchers tell us that the only thing you can do is add more of everything else, so the salt concentration goes down, and that the traditional practice of adding raw potoato slices to the soup doesn’t actually help.

Personally, I tried it anuyway, figuring that it can’t hurt. I sliced and added two medium-large golden potatoes and let them sit for two hours, after which they did get noticably salty, so that’s got to be good for something.

Despite being a bit over the top salt wise, this turned out to be a terrific soup, and using the canned beans made it quick and easy to make as well.

Links / Sources

Wikipedia Country Ham – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_ham