Use fresh celery to season the ham base.
Many people are learning to stretch their dollars by using leftovers to make another meal. One way to do this is to keep your ham bone and use it to make a ham base from scratch. Making and seasoning your own ham base instead of buying a pre-seasoned powder ham base will save your money if you plan your meals accordingly or make and freeze the seasoned ham base. Ham bases are used to create a stock or base for soups, rice, vegetables and sauces which can be poured on ham.
Instructions
1. Place a ham bone or two ham hocks in a pot and cover the meat completely with water. This will create a ham base. Add beans or vegetables to the ham base to make soups and other sauces.
2. Dice one small onion, two carrots and two celery stalks. Toss them into the pot with the ham and water.
3. Add 2 tbsp. minced garlic, one bay leaf and 2 tbsp. black pepper to the ham base. Avoid adding salt as the salt coming from the ham bones is sufficient.
4. Boil the seasoned ham base for about a half hour or until the meat falls off of the bone and the vegetables are soft.
5. Remove the ham and bone from the pot. Put a strainer over top of another pot and pour the seasoned ham base into the strainer to remove the vegetables. In the pot will be a plain seasoned ham base.
Tags: seasoned base, with water
