Ham Bones, Beef Bones for Soup

Given the weather, it is a great time for a pot of soup! Can anyone suggest a good source to buy a nice ham bone so we can make a pot of split pea soup without working our way through half a ham?

We are in the "Golden Zone" for food shoppers -- Niles, Morton Grove, etc.-- but even stores that slice ham to order do not seem to sell just the ham bone. Is this search a waste of time?

Also, do you have a favorite place for beef soup bones? Admittedly, beef bones are easier to find than ham bones, but I have yet to find a source that has them reliably whenever we want them. We have used beef shanks and oxtails for really beefy soups but sometimes just want some bones to add a base of flavor without wrestling with the gristle and meat off of those two cuts. And oxtails and beef shanks can be surprisingly pricey for a down-scale cut of meat. Sometimes I just want to perk up an inexpensive bag of beans or lentils without throwing $6 worth of meat into the pot. Bones would be the answer.

Your help is appreciated!

--Joy, on a soup kick

Joy, for beef bones for soups, head over to H Mart in Niles.

I don't think I have ever looked for a ham bone, I just use the one from the ham, but you could also sub some fresh or smoked pork hocks to give a great flavor for pea, lentil or bean soups.

And "Better than Boullion" brand makes a ham stock base that is not too bad in a pinch.

I thought Honeybaked Ham locations used to sell their ham bones, but can't find info on their website about it.

Might be worth a call to a local location to ask though.

Joseph's has some of the largest, meatiest smoked ham bones I've ever seen. They've become my defacto standard for any type of bean soup. I can't say enough good things about them.

Joseph's Finest Meats
7101 W Addison St
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 736-3766

I made some great split pea soup with a beautiful ham hock from C&D family farms-- you have get them at the farmers' markets, but they are so worth it!

Jen

Pie-love wrote:I made some great split pea soup with a beautiful ham hock from C&D family farms-- you have get them at the farmers' markets, but they are so worth it!

Jen

They come into the city throughout the winter (not just for the farmer's markets ). Just check the schedule on their website. I happen to know that they're in Lincoln Square by the El stop right now...

You can always get ham bones here. I don't know about beef.

Mr Allison's Restaurant‎
1711 East Central Road
Arlington Hts, IL 60005
(847) 228-5870
mrallisonsrestaurant.com‎

lunanoir wrote:I thought Honeybaked Ham locations used to sell their ham bones, but can't find info on their website about it.

Might be worth a call to a local location to ask though.

Ham bones are sold at MOST stores. Thy are from the hams that they use for sandwiches. They are generally $5/ bone and have at least 1-1.5# of ham. They are a pretty good deal.

HOWEVER, a better alternative, IMO is to use smoked neck bones which are generally cheaper. First, there is quite a lot of meat on the neck bones. Second, there is a lot more bone surface so that you get more flavor from the bones.

Thanks very much everybody for some good ideas!

lunanoir, you are right: The Honey Baked Ham store in Morton Grove does sell ham bones. A quick call there reveals that the price of $3.29 per pound and weight range from 3.5 lbs to 6 lbs means a total price of $11.50 - $19.75 per bone! Yikes. The man did say there was significant meat on the bones. I guess I was looking for a place that would otherwise just toss the bones out and would be happy to get rid of them for a few dollars. I just don't realize what things cost anymore!

PKramer, thanks for the tip about H-Mart for beef bones. And I do use "Better Than Boullion" chicken or beef flavors in a pinch. I will have to look for the ham flavor.

jlawrence01 wrote:Ham bones are sold at MOST stores.

You know, that well may be true. I just may have had a bad run when phoning around to Smeisser's, Jerry's, Produce World and Fresh Farms on Touhy, all places on my regular run that I knew had actual live working butchers in white jackets on the premises. No luck with any of them. And the "normal" supermarkets of Jewel, Dominick's, Meijer, WalMart and Aldi sure do not carry ham bones.

Edited to reflect that the second cup of coffee has finally kicked in: Jlawrence now I realize you were saying that the bones are sold at most Honey Baked Ham stores, not just "most stores". oops

Now Stevez's idea of Joseph's Finest Meats is a winner. I called there and they do have nice ham "shank" bones. The man on the phone says that they "look like lamb shanks". So they are not the same bone that is left when slices are removed from the kind of nice big ham that we all picture in our Norman Rockwell imaginations. The ham shank bones are $2.39 a pound and are about one and a quarter pounds in weight. This seems affordable. Except for one thing. Could anyone in their right mind or wallet get in and out of Joseph's and only buy a ham bone? ha ha ha

Joy wrote:Now Stevez's idea of Joseph's Finest Meats is a winner. I called there and they do have nice ham "shank" bones. The man on the phone says that they "look like lamb shanks". So they are not the same bone that is left when slices are removed from the kind of nice big ham that we all picture in our Norman Rockwell imaginations. The ham shank bones are $2.39 a pound and are about one and a quarter pounds in weight. This seems affordable. Except for one thing. Could anyone in their right mind or wallet get in and out of Joseph's and only buy a ham bone? ha ha ha

One other thing. They are more than happy to cut the bones in half (or thirds) depending on your use.

In Montréal, any full-service Asian mkt—esp. Vietnamese—will have pre-sacked beef bones in the cooler. They're essential for use in phô. Last time I bought a bag it was c. 5lb for c. $6. They'll be cut into nice lengths, too.

(And now I'm thinking about phô, which, here in London, involves a l o o o n n g trip on the tube... sigh.)

Geo