My parents swore by their crock pots (both literally and figuratively) all throughout my formative years. My dad was always making soup or chili or stuffed peppers in his. I mainly remember my mother making her "secret" chili (in which she used bloody mary mix) in hers, child of divorce that I am, but it was a kitchen fixture in both houses from about 1973 onward. I recently inherited my mother's avocado green Rival model (to match the rest of our then appliances). I must admit to never being much interested in slowing cooking. Slow food, yes, but the notion of throwing raw foods into a cooker, turning it on and leaving home for eight hours never much appealed me. I also saw much humor in the way the crock pot has made a comeback renamed "Slow Cooker", which is apt, since the new ones are trendy stainless steel and no longer actually have a pottery "crock" like mine. And, up until now, I was home all day to cook. So, enter the revolutionary 70s culinary tool, designed to make cooking easier in every American home (until the microwave was invented). I am also lucky enough to have the original recipe booklet with mine, which is where today's concoction comes from. I have never made split pea soup, but am sure that this is the recipe I ate while growing up. I also love some of the other recipes in the book like "Pork Chop Abracadabra" and "Hot Dog -Perfection" . If someone was so inclined, cooking from this recipe book could be a blog in and of itself - but don't get any ideas. Nevertheless, I must admit, it is a great use for that leftover Christmas ham bone, and couldn't have been easier to make.
So, now that our Way Back Machine has been set to 1973, let's revisit one of the best cartoons ever -
Peabody's Improbable History. Shown as a short during the Bullwinkle and Rocky Show, it featured Mr . Peabody (a genius glasses wearing, pipe smoking dog) and his nerdy sidekick Sherman (because every dog should have a boy). Mr. Peabody and Sherman used the Way Back Machine to travel through time, witnessing historic events and making sure they did not go awry, thus not disturbing the time-space continuum. Not being a huge fan of time travel in general, it is surprising that I loved this show so much. But the cheesy puns that ended every episode helped me over the hump. On any given week Sherman and Peabody came to the aid of such figures as Ponce De Leon, who foundered on his way seeking the fountain of youth in 1513. Or Paul Revere, whose famous ride almost wasn't had Mr. Peabody not suggested he ride a live horse instead of a statue of a horse. But perhaps the best is when they help General Custer at Little Big Horn and when Sherman questions the presence of a hot dog vendor, Mr. Peabody retorts "Come now Sherman, everyone's heard of Custard's last stand". All's well that ends well, especially when Sherman wails "Oh, Mr. Peabody."
The Recipe:
1 pound dry green split peas (soak them first, even if the package says you shouldn't. Trust me.)
2 quarts water
1 pound meaty ham bone
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
salt to taste
Throw it all in. Cover. Cook. On low for 10-12 hours, on high for 5-6 hours. Go to work. Have lunch. Workout. Pick-up the dry cleaning. Get the kids from school. Do homework. Enjoy the soup. Makes 2 1/2 quarts.
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