Pea Soup

Pea soup is a staple in our house. My sister likes it so much she told me I wasn't allowed to make it at anyone else's house because she'd miss it. So I brought over the bone from the ham because pea soup is one of the only ways I know how to use a ham bone (even though I've never actually had a ham bone, I just know they are supposed to be in pea soup).

I've made pea soup enough times that it's on my list of 10 things I can make consistently well. But Fannie Farmer's recipe is quite different from the one I usually make, which I don't think is from a recipe, it's just a bunch of stuff that seems to go well in pea soup.

Here is Fannie's take on this classic.
You will need:
4 c. water
1 c. dried split peas
1 ham bone
1 chopped onion
salt and pepper


Optional add-ins: celery, parsley, thyme or rosemary, bay leaf

I usually make mine with carrots, celery, and potatoes. But this time, I wanted to use the Fannie Farmer recipe instead of my own, so I only used carrots, because that's what my mom had.

For herbs, I usually use rosemary, because I love the flavor it adds. But my mom didn't have any fresh rosemary, so I used thyme this time.

Fannie says to heat the water to a boil, add the peas, then remove from heat and sit for an hour. That's how I make beans when I need a quick soak, but peas usually take a fraction of the time that beans do, so I've never done this. But this time, I did as Fannie said.

My mom didn't want me cooking hot food for hours in the house, so I used a crock pot from this point on. When the soak was done, I turned on the crock pot and added the remaining ingredients.

Fannie says that once the peas are soft, remove ham bone, rub through a sieve or mash with blending fork, dilute with milk, and season with salt and pepper.

I found this soup way too thin. I usually use 2 c. peas, which I should have done here. It was really...soupy. I know, it's soup. But I like it so thick you could almost eat it with a fork. But the flavor here was good. However, I have my own non-recipe pea soup down to a T, and I like it much better, so I think I'll stick with that one, the tried-and-true recipe I've been making for years.

Overall, I'd say this is a 3 out of 5.