Good morning all!

It’s that time again. Sunday Gravy pushes on.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been seeing quite a few ham-centric menus and we are here today to write the final hammy chapter of this Extr-HAM-aganza!

Goddamn. Sorry about that. Fucking dipshit.

We started this party 3 weeks ago with the traditional Easter Dinner.

Then last week we addressed the big ass slab of leftover ham by giving you multiple ideas on ways to use up that ham, including this fucking beauty.

“Well just what the fuck is left to address since you used up all of the goddamn ham last week asshole?” you may be vulgarly thinking to yourself.

I’m glad you asked but you didn’t have to be so aggressive about it.

THIS!

Mother. Fucking. HAM BONE!

I really, truly hope you good folks out there are not trashing this big ol’ hunk of meaty, gelatinous gorgeousness. Between the leftover meat still on the damn bone and the gelatin that can be extracted by slow simmering this damn thing might be my favorite part of the whole ham experience.

Don’t throw away your ham bone people. Remember we are here to utilize all parts and to reuse and repurpose until everything has been used. I won’t get into the amount of food waste that this fucked up country of ours produces since most of you know already but I’m going to do my part and hopefully I can inspire a few of you good people to do the same.

This is also another post where I fuck around with some homemade bread or bread-like substance. Cornbread today.

If some of you folks are starting to get flashbacks, you either A: took as much acid as I did in the 80’s or B: remembered something very similar from 4 years ago.

The answer is most likely a combination of A and B.

I did indeed make this meal back in the primordial days of DFO with a couple of minor variations. The first being for the old post I used ham hocks and today I’m using a ham bone. Also for the first post I only briefly mentioned them fried taters. DJ Taj actually fried up them taters last time but today I will give you a step-by-step recipe for the aforementioned taters.

Oh for fucks sake! Work with me here!

I could have made navy bean soup, Great Northern Bean soup or any type of bean soup but goddammit I love me some lima beans and ham. Read that older post to get the reasons.

I won’t get into the Southern food origins since I’ve waxed poetic on that topic many previous times.

That tag up there that says this shit actually pumps through my veins isn’t too far off if we’re talking metaphorically.

A couple of weeks back I mentioned that I don’t feel that I’m allowed to call anything “Soul Food” being a white guy and all but while I was eating this meal I reflected on that and you know what? This motherfucker is soul food. I actually makes me feel things. I get distant and recent memories both visually and olfactoricily. It actually makes me feel my family, my upbringing. This shit touches my fucking soul. It is such an ingrained part of my life since I’ve been eating it as long as I can remember.

So you’re getting lima beans and ham and you will LIKE IT!

Let’s get fucking busy.

We’ll start here.

Today we are going to make twice fried potatoes to serve alongside our beans and the proper way to get started is by peeling and soaking them taters. They should soak for 2-3 hours which is why I’m giving the recipe for them first.

Twice Fried Potatoes.

1 potato per person, peeled and cut into strips. You know, French fry like.

Enough water to cover

Bunch of cooking oil – shit like almost a quart

Salt and/or seasoning of choice to taste.

Peel the potatoes and put them in a bowl with enough water to fully cover. We don’t want them to discolor while they soak.

Let these sit in the water for at least 2 hours, preferably 3 or just soak them overnight.

After soaking, drain the potatoes and most importantly get them fully dry by patting down with some paper towels.

You know why we did this already right? The whole “Throwing water into boiling oil” type thing?

Yep.

Heat up the oil in your frying vessel of choice to a medium heat, about 250-300 degree. We don’t want to do a hard fry on the first fry, we’ll do that on the final fry.

Grab just a handful of the potatoes and get them in the oil.

Cook each batch for 5 minutes. The goal here is to cook the potatoes to a soft texture. Remove the potatoes onto a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Repeat until you’ve fried all of the potatoes.

These can sit for awhile. We need them to be completely cooled before we give them the 2nd and final fry. Obviously it’s probably a good damn idea to turn the heat off of your frying vessel for now.

After the taters have fully cooled, heat that oil back up. We’re going a little hotter this time. Maybe 350 to 400 degrees for the oil. Working in small batches give these fuckers a good second fry.

There we go. These bastards are getting nice and golden now. The reason we are working in small batches here is twofold: first we don’t want to put too many potatoes in since it will lower the temperature of the oil; and second we don’t want the fries sticking to each other.

When the five minutes are up remove the fries to another plate that’s lined with fresh paper towels to drain. Trust me, now is NOT the time to reuse the old plate and paper towels. Season the fries well immediately after frying.

I used some salt and also sprinkled these with some “Emeril’s Essence” that I’ve mentioned about 47 goddamn times already.

The end result was a damn near perfect reproduction of a Five Guys Cajun fry. Ever had the Five Guys fries? They are softer than your average fast food fry, done intentionally, and the kick from the Cajun seasoning is fantastic. That is this right here only these are thicker and meatier. Motherfucker these were good. If possible save the oil for future use. Trust me, once you’ve made these you WILL make them again.

And since I’ve wasted a shitload of words on a side dish, let’s go ahead and get to the speed round.

Lima Beans and Ham!

(1) 1 pound bag of these

1 of these

Some of this

that’s 1 medium onion and about 4 garlic cloves minced.

3 cups of chicken stock

3 cups of water

1 teaspoon of thyme.

1/2 tablespoon of salt – plenty of salt still in that ham bone

1/2 tablespoon of black pepper

First thing is to sort and rinse them beans.

Even though these are a larger bean the occasional rock or unsavory bit can still sneak through the factory QC process.

I want to stop real quick at this point and say this recipe works for every type of bean imaginable, the only thing that will vary would be the liquid volume and the cooking time.

Get that bone in the pot as pictured above. Add in the chicken stock and the water then in go the beans, onion, garlic and the seasonings.

Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to very low, cover the pot with a lid that is slightly ajar, give the occasional stir – every 15 minutes or so – and let cook on low for at least 2 1/2 hours but no more than 3 hours or the beans will basically disintegrate.

When done they look a little something like this.

Good Lord a’mighty!

Serve with the potatoes and some cornbread.

.

..

…

Alright goddammit. I’m going to take a break from the bread thing for a couple of weeks. This was like 5 weeks in a row or some kinda shit where I made fresh bread.

But oh baby, this was a good damn batch of cornbread.

Fuck it, I’m cutting and pasting from that 4 year old post up there.

Corn Bread

1 cup of yellow corn meal

1 cup of AP flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of milk. Again, use whole milk if you can for texture.

1/4 cup of oil

1 large egg, slightly beaten.

Mix together the dry ingredients

and in a separate bowl mix together the wet ingredients.

the text for the cornbread recipe was a cut and paste job but the photos were from today’s meal prep

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and MIX UNTIL JUST MIXED. Do not over mix. This is crucial. If you over mix you end up with crumbs and that shit ain’t correct.

Cook in a greased baking dish in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Use a baking dish that is a little deep to give the corn bread a little height. You don’t want it too thin.

Holy shit this was a perfect batch of cornbread.

Compare the cornbread from the 4 year old post.

To today’s cornbread.

NawI’msayin?

I’m still fucking around with some of my food photography, that one right there was to highlight the cornbread and the potatoes. Here’s one more centered on the lima beans and ham.

Here’s a quick distance shot.

Then here’s the same shot a bit closer using the “food” setting on my camera.

It probably doesn’t come across how much I love this stuff does it?

Yeah it does.

I actually feel deeply sorry for anyone who hasn’t personally experienced this meal exactly as it is. In my opinion it is almost absolute perfection. I know a lot of good folks might not have had the same upbringing and food experiences growing up that I did but holy fucking shit people.

Try this.

Do us both a favor.

While this may have looked like a repeat recipe at first, I hope you noticed the differences. The first one being the ham bone. That fucker still had tons of meat on its ass. Ham hocks are great and I fucking love them but this bastard was ham filled glory.

I appreciate you people indulging me again. We will be stepping away from the ham now, more than likely until next season but you can’t tell me I haven’t given you some serious ham menu ideas. More than you ever bargained for I’m betting.

If you learned nothing else here today, I hope you learned not to throw away that goddamn ham bone.

Hope you all have a great rest of the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.

PEACE!