Cabbage soup
Still on freezer cleaning and this time I was staring at smoked pig neck bones and ham hocks. Well this instantly got me thinking cabbage soup especially since I picked up some potatoes and cabbage at the farmer’s market.
I went to the extreme when doing this but I felt that I bought this crock pot and it gets next to no use except for transporting stuff to and from a party. So if you want to simplify it a little bit just simmer the hocks and bones in the water until the meat tears off (about 2 hours). Then strain and start right into it the rest of the soup.
For the broth you will need:
- 2 ham hocks
- 1 lb of smoked neck bones (not required but does add a great smokey flavor to the broth)
- 8 cups of water
Combine everything in your crock pot, turn on low, and let it go overnight. The next morning strain out the meat and bones and set aside. Cover and put everything in the fridge to relax during the day. When I got home I skimmed off the layer of fat off the top of the broth and started to work on the soup.
For the soup you will need:
- Pork broth
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 2 stalks of celery finely diced
- 2 carrots finely diced
- 4 cloves of garlic finely diced
- 1 small head of cabbage shredded
- 1 lb of potatoes cut into bite size pieces
- 2 bay leaves
- TB of fresh thyme leaves
- Shredded meat from the ham hocks and neck bones (discard the bones)
- Pinch of crushed red pepper
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Olive oil
In a large stockpot over medium add in a good glug of olive oil and the onions, celery, and carrots with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook till they are softened and then add in the garlic for a minute.
Add in the broth, cabbage, potatoes, pinch of crushed red pepper, thyme, and bay leaves. Bring this mixture to a simmer, cover, and let it simmer till the potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes).
Add in the shredded meat and cook till the meat is heated through (about 5 minutes). Taste the soup and adjust the flavors.
Serve and enjoy!
Oh my, that must be a very good one. Sometimes it’s worthed to go all the way to have flavor in a soup.
Now that’s a dinner for a cold winter’s night. I decided the other day to do some experimental “slow” cooking so I’ll add this to the list. It’s been a long time since I had ham hocks.
Being Polish, this is exactly my kind of soup…thank you!
Ham hock soup is the best! Good tip on the smoked neck bones - one more thing for me to harangue my butcher for
Your soup looks delicious - I love cabbage soup!
I can’t tell you how good this sounds! What a great idea to make the pork broth first!!!!
The pork seems like a great touch to give this soup some real punch and the soup looks delicious. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had cabbage outside of cole slaw–how have I neglected such common produce for so long?
[…] and since I didn’t have enough handy, I made a batch of smoked pork stock (inspired by a cabbage soup I’d seen a while back) a day ahead to top things off. I’d also considered making shrimp stock (simmer shrimp heads […]