Pea and Ham Soup

The story

Pea and ham soup is an everyday Irish winter soup built from two things a farm kitchen could store: dried peas and cured pork. Peas, broad beans and lentils were grown and dried in Ireland from early medieval times and became more common after the Normans arrived. Pork was probably the most common meat, and bacon and ham were cured so they would keep through the winter. Most farms, even very small ones, kept a few pigs for the family, usually killing two a year, around April and October; the split sides were rubbed with salt, trampled, and hung, sometimes in the chimney to smoke. Limerick ham, first made in a half-cured state that proved popular, dates from around 1880. In the soup, the hock does the work. The travel and food site Galavante simmers ham hocks until tender, softens leeks, carrots and celery in butter, adds the peas with the ham broth, purees the pot and serves it with bread and butter. A meaty bone left from a boiled or baked ham does the same job. Serve it with brown soda bread, and freeze extra portions for a quick supper later in the winter.