Ham Hocks and History

My Grandmother loves ham hock soup. It takes her back to the service days, when her mother worked up "at the big house" and her father grew all of the vegetables to feed her family, the family in the big house, and the other families that lived and worked the farm. Days of blacking the stove and buying borax from the chemist (a thing that sadly but probably wisely has been banned)Where the milk was delivered from a horse and cart and you took a pitcher to the cart and the milkman would poor the required quantity from a churn. Can't you just see the bonnets and the geese following the girl with a bunch of wild flowers in her hand??
I digress. The biggest pot was put on the stove. Ham hocks, vegetables and water were added and it was left. Over the week it was not removed from the stove. It kept bubbling, and things kept being added to it, pulses, barley more vegetables.
The meat fell from the bone, eventually so you started the week eating vegetable soup laced with ham stock, by the end of the week you had ham hock meat and vegetables and whatever else you had thrown in in a stew-ish meal. Of course these were days when hygiene was a greeting to your nextdoor neighbour.
The recipe, cleaned up and made a little more time efficient is the one we use for our ham hock and butterbean soup.
Put in your biggest pan ham hock and onions roughly chopped. Cover with cold water add a few pepper corns and some chopped carrot and celery if you wish. Bring to the boil, and then simmer gently for a couple of hours. The meat will shrink from the bone when it's done. Let it cool in the pan and stock while you make the soup.
As usual, onions, carrots, leeks, celery, chopped up finely. They do have to fit on a spoon, so don't make them too big. Soak butter beans if necessary, or you could use canned. It doesn't have to be butterbeans. You can use barley, or other beans that will basically hold their shape.
Now, take the ham out of the liquor. KEEP THE LIQUOR! This is your stock, and everybody at some point watches it flow down the sink as they hold all the mushy vegetables in a sieve, useless. We will strain it later. Remove the meat from the bone and keep.
Butter or oil in a large pan. Throw in your nicely chopped veg, a sprinkle of pepper, and some garlic if you like. Sweat the veg off, that is no colour but let the onions go translucent. I like the vegetables still quite firm. If you like add a good sprinkle of dried herbs. If you are using barley throw that in now.
Strain the liquor, directly in to the pan if you wish. If it's really salty use half and top it up with water. Either way, the stock goes in, and the beans. Stir it all together and leave it. Bring it to the boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for about an hour if using dried beans, or half for canned. Stir every now and again. Taste it as you go, just don't eat the beans until they are cooked through. Press one against the side of the pan to check- if it crushes, then it's done. Add the reserved ham meat, cut into small pieces. Taste it. For more flavour leave it cooking for a bit longer- it will thicken slightly the more you cook it. Serve with warm crusty bread.
You can add tinned tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, cabbage, potatoes, sweede etc to ring the changes or use up odd bits you have left. It's a good soup to use up bits and keeps really well. It is better made the day before you need it. Don't worry if it sets over night. Ham hock will create it's own jelly, and the soup will set.
If you do not have time to do it all in one day, make the stock, and cool it. The soup can be made the following day.