Ham Cabbage and Potato Soup

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xray

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Mar 11, 2015
4,747
3,268
Northeast PA
Ham Cabbage and Potato soup, is probably one of my favorite soups to make. So delicious and only requires a few ingredients. Ham hocks are really what flavor this soup, no need for over the top spices and seasonings.

I made a pot to eat for dinners during the week. With Thanksgiving coming up and a busy work weekend for me, I just didn't want to put too much effort into making dinners.

Ham Cabbage and Potato Soup

2 Smoked ham hocks
2qts. Chicken Stock
8c. Water
1 medium head of cabbage
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
5 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4c. of peeled and cubed potatoes
2 small onions (about 2 cups)
1tsp. Salt
1tsp. Black pepper
1/2tsp. dried thyme
2 bay leaves

Start by placing the ham hocks in a large soup pot and add chicken stock and enough water to cover the meat by about 2". I used 8 cups of water. I get these from a local butcher, they're very meaty and dirt cheap. I paid $4 for 5 of these guys. The rest got vacuumed sealed.
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Bring ham hocks to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Simmer ham hocks for 2 hours until tender. After meat is tender, remove hocks from soup pot. Remove and clean meat and set aside.

Next add your chopped potatoes, onion, carrots, celery and bay leaves to the pot. Season with 1t salt, 1t pepper and 1/2t thyme. I like to roughly chop my veggies into irregular and different sizes because i believe it adds a down-home cooked element to the dish.
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Simmer vegetables over medium-low heat covered until fork tender. About 45 minutes.
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After vegetables have simmered for a bit. Add a medium head of cabbage that has been cored and chopped and cover soup pot.
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After cabbage has cooked for 30 minutes. Add the meat from the ham hock. The two hocks that I used gave me 3 cups of meat. If you don't have meaty hocks, you could add cubed and diced leftover ham at this point. My local grocery has ham hocks as well but they're basically bone and fat. If I were to use those, I always ended up adding extra ham. I usually buy ham steak and dice it up.
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Once the ham has heated through, the soup is basically done. At this point, I always taste for extra salt. I didn't need any additional because the stock and hocks add plenty. But I do like to add freshly cracked black pepper at the table.

Sampling for salt
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Dinner
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This is a winter staple for me. I like to eat it with some fresh buttered bread. Cheap and feeds us well for a few days. Thanks for looking.

Joe
 
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Well Joe, you hit another one out of the park!! We both love and eat a bunch of soups around here. I typically make large batches and put the rest of it into plastic tubs for Tracy's lunches after we finish dinner. I have not looked for the hocks around here but they must be available somewhere. This one has been printed and is on the counter, where it will stay until it gets made. I have about 10 minutes worth of work to do tomorrow and will most likely go on a quest to find the ham hocks. Worst case, i have about 15# of smoked ham in the freezer so regardless, this is gonna get made ASAP. I think the weather may be starting to cool down again tomorrow so this may very well get made then. I love the concept: simple, basic, good ingredients, and an extraordinary looking soup. Big LIKE my friend!!

Mmmm, mmmm, good!!
Robert
 
I made some ham and bean soup the other day because it has been years since I had it. But this, I haven't had since I was a kid. I actually had forgotten about it. You nailed it Joe. And I'll be making this soon.
 
Well Joe, you hit another one out of the park!! We both love and eat a bunch of soups around here. I typically make large batches and put the rest of it into plastic tubs for Tracy's lunches after we finish dinner. I have not looked for the hocks around here but they must be available somewhere. This one has been printed and is on the counter, where it will stay until it gets made. I have about 10 minutes worth of work to do tomorrow and will most likely go on a quest to find the ham hocks. Worst case, i have about 15# of smoked ham in the freezer so regardless, this is gonna get made ASAP. I think the weather may be starting to cool down again tomorrow so this may very well get made then. I love the concept: simple, basic, good ingredients, and an extraordinary looking soup. Big LIKE my friend!!

Mmmm, mmmm, good!!
Robert

Thanks Robert! This is a simple and basic soup. I know it's nothing really special, but it really is a filling and satisfying soup. It checks all my boxes.

You should be able to find ham hocks at your local grocer. I've even bought them at Walmart. The ones at wally world are a lot smaller, So I use about 4 of them to make the broth, discard and add chopped up ham. There usually isn't much meat worth picking off those ones. I use them for the flavor from the bone and fat..... But these ones here contain a lot of meat.

I also stocked up on hocks since I bought these, so I don't need to worry about them for awhile.

Joe that sounds great to me I love soup. Big Likes
Richie

Thanks for the big like Richie! I'm sure your hocks would be good in here. I plan on using some of the other ones for collard greens.
 
That looks fantastic .
Fantastic looking soup! Bowl of that and some nice crusty bread, mmmm mmmm!!! LIKE!

Thanks guys! A nice warm bowl of soup and crusty bread in the winter puts me right out!

I made some ham and bean soup the other day because it has been years since I had it. But this, I haven't had since I was a kid. I actually had forgotten about it. You nailed it Joe. And I'll be making this soon.

This was a soup from my childhood too! We always ate it after a long day hunting...warmed us right up.

Ham and bean soup is another favorite of mine, I'll be making that soon. Don't forget to splash a tiny bit of that hot pepper vinegar in your bowl. I like to splash a bit of vinegar in mine at the dinner table.
 
great looking soup. never had it but it must be full of flavor

Thanks Jim! The ham hocks are really what makes the flavor, other than that it's simple seasonings of salt, pepper and thyme. It's a good cheap soup to make that goes a long ways.
 
Thanks guys! A nice warm bowl of soup and crusty bread in the winter puts me right out!



This was a soup from my childhood too! We always ate it after a long day hunting...warmed us right up.

Ham and bean soup is another favorite of mine, I'll be making that soon. Don't forget to splash a tiny bit of that hot pepper vinegar in your bowl. I like to splash a bit of vinegar in mine at the dinner table.
I used to use cider vinegar. But the spicy vinegar should liven things up a touch.
 
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Its that time of year where we just love soups. Yours is one fine looking soup that I know we would love. Cant go wrong with ham , cabbage and potatoes. Enjoyed reading the post too, nice pics and well documented.
 
This looks really great! Wife is putting all the things we dont already have on the grocery list as we speak. Looking forward to this soup! Now i just need to come up with a sammich to go along with it! lol!
 
Nice! I know EXACTLY how that tastes. We cut the same Veggies, well a little more, in large chunks. Then add 5 pounds Red Potatoes and a head of Cabbage in 1/6ths. The biggest difference we use a 4 Pound Boneless Ham. The veggies simmer and hour then the Ham goes in. About an hour later, we Strain out the veggies to a platter, and slice the Ham. We love this Boiled Supper.
The Broth get chilled and de-fatted. Next day or so, its reduced to concentrate the flavor and the Leftover Ham and Veg gets chopped and re-heated in the Broth for what is essentially your Soup! Now I have a taste for that Dinner and Soup...JJ
 
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Its that time of year where we just love soups. Yours is one fine looking soup that I know we would love. Cant go wrong with ham , cabbage and potatoes. Enjoyed reading the post too, nice pics and well documented.

Thanks jcam! We are the same this time of the year. A pot of soup will give us at least 4 nights worth of dinner. I grew up eating a lot of soups, so I don’t tire from eating them regularly.

Thanks again!

Nice! I know EXACTLY how that tastes. We cut the same Veggies, well a little more, in large chunks. Then add 5 pounds Red Potatoes and a head of Cabbage in 1/6ths. The biggest difference we use a 4 Pound Boneless Ham. The veggies simmer and hour then the Ham goes in. About an hour later, we Strain out the veggies to a platter, and slice the Ham. We love this Boiled Supper.
The Broth get chilled and de-fatted. Next day or so, its reduced to concentrate the flavor and the Leftover Ham and Veg gets chopped and re-heated in the Broth for what is essentially your Soup! Now I have a taste for that Dinner and Soup...JJ

Thanks JJ! It tastes of childhood and simpler times to me. It’s funny how certain foods invoke such strong memories and times of nostalgia.

The boiled supper sounds delicious and a good way to feed an army. I wonder if this could be adapted to an instapot? I believe I’m getting one for Christmas so this could be a quick weeknight supper for us.

Glad you posted this Joe. I haven't had this soup since I was a kid. It'll be on the menu real soon!!
Thanks
Gary

Thanks Gary, I make it a few times during the winter months. I ate it a lot as a kid too. It’s funny how many people commented on this being eaten during their younger days. Simplier times and easy to feed, I guess?

Hope you enjoy it if you make it.
 
I couldn't give you the cooking time, but with any moist heat cooking method, the Instant Pot shines. A Boiled Supper or your Cabbage Soup would do well in an IP. My Daughter gave me one last Christmas. We use it pretty frequently for any dish that does not need to be reduced to thicken or concentrate flavor. Yes you can take the lid off a simmer but then you lose the seedy cook advantage...JJ
 
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This looks really great! Wife is putting all the things we dont already have on the grocery list as we speak. Looking forward to this soup! Now i just need to come up with a sammich to go along with it! lol!

Thanks sowsage, ingredients won’t be too hard to find with this soup. Hope you like it.

A fresh loaf of Italian or French baked bread buttered with Kerrygold butter is my preferred side/sandwich with this soup.
 
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