My mum cooked this allllll the time. But to this date, I have never actually found an exact name or recipe for it. We call it B͜͡a͜͡c͜͡o͜͡n͜͡ B͜͡o͜͡n͜͡e͜͡ S͜͡o͜͡u͜͡p͜͡. No, it’s not Pea and Ham soup, because that doesn’t have pumpkin. It’s not Pumpkin Soup, because that doesn’t have bacon bones. So I think this is just another case of my mum putting everything she had left into a pot and cooking it up.

RECIPE

  • 1kg Bacon bones (or hocks, I prefer the bones)
  • 1 cup of split peas, soaked overnight
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 1/4 Jap Pumpkin
  • 2 Bay Leaves
  • 10 cups of water

PROCESS

  • Fill up the belly of 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐫 with bacon bones, split peas, 10 cups of water, chopped onion and cracked pepper. If you like a saltier taste, add some salt as well.
  • Let Salvador bubble away until all the bacon fell off the bones (about 6 hours).
  • While doing this, peel and chop the pumpkin, then cooked until soft. Put aside.
  • Once the bacon is falling off the bones, remove the bones out and pull all excess meat off. Put aside.
  • Scoop out about 4 cups of the stock and put aside (yes ‘aside’ is getting very full right now. haha). Pull out the bay leaves- they should be floating on the top.
  • Very carefully pour the contents of Salvador’s belly into a strainer, so you are left with no liquid and a lumpy mess of bacon, onion and split peas. Add the excess bacon you have pulled off the bones and pumpkins, so you have an even lumpier mess.
  • But never fear, Konraad the Kenwood is here. Konraad the Wise can blend all the solid ingredients into a much more appealing consistency.
  • Final step is to tip the smoothed out mixture from the Blender, into the Slow Cooker and stir in the 4 cups of strained stock. Keep stirring until combined. I let it keep bubbling for another hour in Salvador’s belly until I gave into the delicious scent wafting in from the kitchen.

I will forever be thankful that my mother taught me how to turn a ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴅᴏʟʟᴀʀ ɴᴏᴛᴇ into 3 night of dinners for my whole family. And my husband certainly loves that I know how to make bacon ‘liquid’ for him.