What it is
The classic ham-bone-and-great-northern-bean soup, thickened with mashed potato.
1 lb dried great northern beans · 1 meaty ham bone or 2 smoked ham hocks · 3 medium onions, chopped · 3 garlic cloves, minced · 3 celery ribs, chopped · ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley · 1 cup mashed potatoes or ⅓ cup instant potato flakes · salt and pepper to taste · parsley or chives to garnish.
Quick-soak the beans (boil 2 minutes, off the heat 1 hour), drain and rinse. Simmer with the ham and 3 qts water, covered, 2 hours, skimming as needed. Add the vegetables, parsley, potato, salt and pepper; simmer 1 hour longer. Pull the meat off the bones, dice, return to the kettle and heat through. Yield: 8–10 servings (2½ quarts).
Notes
Filed to Printed\ on the folder test — printed, no handwriting, published source, named byline.
Her headnote is the reason the clipping was kept, and it is practical rather than sentimental: "Freeze the bone from a holiday ham until you're ready to make soup." That is a household habit being passed on, not a recipe note.
The mashed potato as thickener is the authentic detail — it is what the Senate restaurant's own version uses — and it is the first thing dropped from careless retellings.
Note for the box's own record: stefanies-cabbage-rolls, a handwritten card in Cards\, also calls
for ham hocks. Somebody in this kitchen cooked with them regularly.
Not transcribed verbatim in full, per the standing call on printed material.
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