Bones and shells...

Here is the process I used in dealing with the ham bone I used in the jambalaya.  This same method will work for other dishes, but if you are making bean soup, you may just wish to cook the bone with the beans (just remove the bone at the end and add back the meat).

Whenever we have ham, I intentionally leave quite a bit of meat on the bone- not only is serving easier this way, but it leaves the bone meaty for other uses.  I simmered the bone covered all morning while I was busy with other things and just checked it every now and then, turning the bone around in the stock each time.  The water covered about 3/4 of the bone when I started and used no added seasonings, ham having plenty already.

I removed the bones and meat to a plate to cool...as you can see, the meat fell off in pieces.

Once it was cool enough to handle, I shredded up the meat, leaving it in fairly large pieces, and discarded the fat, bones, and silver skin.  I ended up with roughly 2 cups of meat.

I strained the broth into a large bowl- this removes any small bones, as well as pieces of fat that have broken off unto the stock.

A few hours in the fridge solidified the fat.  This I skimmed off to brown the ham for the jambalaya.  This fat can be reserved to cook with, just make sure to refrigerate it, or discarded.  The stock below is gelatinous, like loose jello, a good sign that it simmered a long time.  If not using the stock now, just ladle into freezer containers for later use, I find 2 cup portions to be most helpful.

I used 4 cups for the jambalaya and still had 2 cups leftover for the freezer.

I have been saving the shells from shrimp in the freezer with the intention of making stock.  After peeling the shrimp for the jambalaya I had the shells from 4 pounds of shrimp and decided to go ahead and make it.  I put the shells in a medium pan with about 5 cups of water, a teaspoon of salt, small handful of whole black peppercorns, and a Bay leaf.

 I left this to simmer while I made dinner (about and hour).  I turned off the heat and just left it until I was leaning up after dinner.

Strain the broth into a bowl, pressing on the shells with the back of a spoon to get out all of the liquid.  I tasted the stock, and with the addition of a bit more salt, would have been perfectly good to sip on its own.  I can't wait to see what idea hits me to use this wonderful stuff.

I ended up with 4 generous cups of stock to tuck away in the freezer.  This took practically no effort.  And to think, I could have just thrown the shells away, which is what I have done for years :-(