Creamy Great Northern Beans, smoky salty chunks of ham, sweet and spicy corn bread and you’ve got a winning comfort food combination.
Disclaimer: This photo was taken the day after when I reheated this dish as leftovers. Overnight the beans had soaked up a lot of the broth. I realized this while taking the photo. I added more water, reheated for a soupier meal and was too lazy hungry to retake photos. Long story short, ham and beans should be soupier than this.
First Stephanie over at Plain Chicken made it, then Larry over at Big Dude’s made it…I knew it would be on our table within days. This is definitely a meal that my mom served a lot when I was growing up. It wasn’t something that just appeared after Christmas to use up that holiday ham bone. She made it often, made it year round, and used ham hocks or chopped ham. It wasn’t always accompanied with corn bread, but as with every single meal she served, you can rest assured there was bread on the table. “Eat your bread, you have to support the Wheat Farmers,” she’d order.
When Larry featured his ham and beans, I found it interesting that he put the corn bread directly in the bowl and poured the beans over it. Everyone knows you’re suppose to teeter the bread on the rim of the bowl like Stephanie did. But that darn Larry is so reliable, I had to give it a try. I must say, with your soup spoon filled with a chunk of that sweet bread and a scoop of beans, it’s a wonderful flavor combination. Much better than eating them separately. My ham and beans and my corn bread will never suffer alone again.
Do you bathe or teeter your corn bread?
Here’s how I make my Ham and Beans:
- 1 pound dried Great Northern White Beans, sorted for misfits and rinsed
- In a sauce pan on the stove, cover beans with water and bring to a rolling boil
- Pour into crock pot, add one meaty ham hock and 2 T. of my soup seasoning mix (which is just a blend of herbs)
- Let cook on low all day, checking to see if more water is needed
- Remove ham hock and when it’s cool enough to handle, shred meat and return it to the crock of beans
- Season with salt
For the corn bread:
- Take one box of Jiffy Corn Bread Muffin Mix (No surprise here, I’m not a baker)
- Add 2 finely chopped, seeded and deveined Jalapenos
- 1/4 C. shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 C. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- Bake according to package directions.
To serve, place one corn muffin in soup bowl, pour ham and beans over the muffin, sprinkle with some finely chopped raw onions and enjoy.
Ham and Beans…It’s what’s for Dinner.
Larry says
January 28, 2012 at 5:06 pmYou must like yours a lot drier than me, was my first thought when I saw your pic. You don’t have to be a baker to make cornbread from scratch as it’s nearly as simple as the mix. Thanks for the kind words.
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:57 amWell, I was just snapping away when I noticed how dry they were. Trust me, they were “souped up”. As far as “scratch” goes, Larry you have to remember, I’m the one that ruined the Rhoades frozen rolls at Thanksgiving. :/
pam says
January 28, 2012 at 7:08 pmham and beans is a huge favorite of mine!
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:55 amI don’t know why I don’t make it more often.
Karen Harris says
January 28, 2012 at 9:00 pmOh you are a cook after my own heart. This is definitely food for the soul. Personally, I prefer my beans the next day after cooking. This looks just perfect to me. By the way, love that spoon.
So glad you enjoyed The Help. You made me want to go and watch it again.
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:55 amI’ve got several mismatched pieces of silver. When I saw Toni using them, I said to myself…”why aren’t you using them?” 🙂 Karen, I’m going to watch it again this morning before it gets sent back to Netflix. Just a fabulous movie, and there better be some academy awards given out for that one.
Cooking with Michele says
January 28, 2012 at 9:45 pmI’ve got a ham hock in the freezer – definitely making this when I’m back from my trip!
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:53 amThat ham hock definitely wants to be made into this when you get back from your trip! 🙂 Have a great time Michele.
Kirsten@My German Kitchen...in the Rockies says
January 28, 2012 at 10:46 pmOh, that is a dish for my husband’s taste buds! I wish the beans would agree with me a little better. I really like them.
Okay, next get together will be at my house and we will be baking corn bread from scratch, agreed? 🙂
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:51 amYou’ve got a deal! Too funny. I knew you’d cringe! 🙂
Sam @ My Carolina Kitchen says
January 29, 2012 at 4:29 amA fine southern dinner served at homes around the south when I was growing up. So glad you didn’t put a lot of sugar in the cornbread.
Sam
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:50 amI’m surprised that I didn’t put sugar in that cornbread. 🙂 I’ve tried putting honey in it before and I just wasn’t impressed. I think I was trying to recreate Marie Calendars version.
Vickie says
January 29, 2012 at 5:45 amMMM ham and beans take me back to childhood, too. Love that your mother was an advocate for the wheat farmers! I eat my cornbread separately, but will try some in the beans if you say it’s better that way. Dana sure thinks so. Also going to add jalapenos to my cornbread next time – that sounds right up my alley. And I, too, love that spoon. I collect mismatched silver and like the way it photographs.
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 7:49 amWell, I really liked the corn bread covered in those beans. You should try it. I ate mine so fast that the corn bread never got soggy. 🙂 i have several mis-matched pieces of silver. There’s only one fork server that I take the time to polish. I always look for them in antique stores.
Susan says
January 29, 2012 at 9:10 amI guess I’m really a separatist! I’ve never made ham and beans together nor bathed corn bread in either but this sounds so good I’d love to try.
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 4:02 pmLike I said, my corn bread will never teeter again. 🙂
Barbara | Creative Culinary says
January 29, 2012 at 10:19 amThis comment is meant purely to make you feel better. You think me a baker right? I wish I could attach a photo with this comment. A photo of the Jiffy Corn Bread in my pantry. Boxes of it. So they’ve combined the dry ingredients for us; I have no problem with that convenience! I will make my own cornbread from scratch for Thanksgiving but for a quick meal…well I just spilled the beans didn’t I? Which is somehow very appropriate for this post! By the way…I use Bisquick too. 🙂
My big, huge, amazing find just recently was discovering that Honey Baked Hams sells ham bones. I love using the bone for soups more than I love having a whole ham so this really was huge. Karen recently made White Beans with Ham that I coveted, wished HBH sold bones with meat on them, decided to give them a call…and was delighted to discover they do. So that makes three of us on this bent…and a happy one it was. You make me want to do it again. Like today!
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 4:01 pmBarb, I recently just found out about HBH also. I was going to mention it in the post and forgot. Yes, great news. And so glad to hear you’ve got that stash of Jiffy. Every time I’m in your pantry, it’s to fetch Abby a treat. Not paying much attention to hidden secrets! 🙂
Chris says
January 29, 2012 at 2:08 pmBwahahaha. Guess who has a pack of pork neck bones in his fridge for smoking tomorrow? Guess what he’s going to do with them. You got it!
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 3:58 pmGuess who wishes you were their next door neighbor! 🙂
Stephanie@PlainChicken.com says
January 29, 2012 at 4:08 pmLooks so good! I am going to have to make this again soon.
Lea Ann says
January 29, 2012 at 4:20 pmSuch good news about Honey Baked Ham and those bones. I’ll be making it soon again also. Wish my photo would have been as good as yours.
Rhonda says
February 2, 2012 at 12:45 amCan’t go wrong with ham and beans! I sometimes take my photos the next day (better light) and find that it doesn’t always look quite as good as it did the night before, oh well. It’s all about the food and not the photos!