Here's your recipe from the Ball Blue (Yellow) Book 2 cups dried navy beans (about 1 pound) 1 ham hock or 1/4 lb. salt pork 1/2 cup onion 1/2 hot red pepper, finely chopped salt to taste Put beans in a large saucepot; add water to cover by 2 inches. Bring beans to a boil, boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let beans soak 1 hour. Drain. Cover beans with water by 2 inches. Add meat, onion and pepper; bring to a boil in large stock pot. Cover and simmer 2 hours or until beans are tender. Remove ham hock. Cut meat from bone then dice into small pieces. Press remaining ingredients through a seive or food mill. Return meat to soup. Ladle hot soup into hot jars, leaving 1 inch head space. Adjust two-piece caps. Process pints 1 hour and 15 minutes, quarts 1 hour, 30 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a steam pressure canner. Makes 5 pints or 2 quarts I usually double or triple this recipe. I skip the food mill step and add equal parts onion and carrots but don't exceed the total amount. So if I double the recipe I add 1/2 cup onion and 1/2 cup diced carrots. Another way is to just add the carrots/celery when you open the jar. That's one way to "extend" a quart jar.

I love mine too, I have the 18 quart and the 6 quart, and I do everything in mine that I do in the oven, even Boston Brown Bread and I've baked brownies in mine when my oven was on the fritz. I roast the bones and vegetables for stock right in the roaster and then add the water and seasonings and let it go, everything done in one pot. I've posted pictures of roast chicken on WFD and the skin was as brown and crispy as I get in the oven. And mine has vents, but you can close them. However, as cynic mentioned, it may be more efficient to do the browning on the stovetop. Not necessary, but perhaps quicker. And, as cynic has suggested before, the small ones make great crockpots, my 6 quart even has a temperature setting for "slow cooking". I use the big one several times per year and I'll roast the prime rib in it tomorrow. The small one gets used at least a couple of times a week, and Elery liked it so much he bought one for his house. Far more efficient than turning on the oven for roasting one small chicken for myself, or baking a small amount of beans all day. I also do huge batches of apple butter and tomato sauce in mine for canning, just leave the lid ajar so that it cooks down, and because they heat up the sides too, you don't have the scorching issue or the spattering that I have on top of the stove. Enjoy it, Alexa, I love mine. Annie

Thank you for all the advice. I was shocked not to have too much smell from the roaster. I set it in the garage, door partly open, oiled pan inside and turned it on. I ran it at about 350 for a couple of hours and then turned it all the way up for about half an hour. I didn't smell anything when I turned it off so hopefully all the nasties are gone and I'm ready for my turkey bones.

Thanks flwrs! And Cj - Knowing you both had success with using the roaster is reassuring. I use a brown sugar and bourbon glaze and I don�t think anyone will notice the ham isn�t very brown. My biggest worry is that the ham is only 8 pounds and might get too dry. I promise to use my electronic thermometer. Fori, I don�t think I could talk my DH into grilling. Our current forecast is: "Snow beginning around midnight tonight and ending around noon (CST) Friday with 2-4" in most places. Isolated higher amounts are possible near the 5-6" range." He might grill for us if we only get 2 more inches � more than that and you could probably hear him laugh all the way to your house. Beuhl, I am intrigued by the thought of using the slow cooker. I have an older one that has a metal container that sits on a griddle style base. I know the ham would fit nicely in there. I wonder if the glaze would do better in the roaster or the slow cooker. The instruction booklet has been missing for years. As I remember it was only 3 or 4 thin pages with very little real info. Cindy, may I have your apricot, mustard and honey glaze recipe. I promise to wrap that ham in foil before baking. It sounds delicious! I think my brown sugar and bourbon would stick tight to the foil and everyone would be tearing off bits of foil so they could lick the glaze off. I see you are due for a high of 52 degrees tomorrow. I do miss South Carolina winters!! Here in my part of Iowa we are promised a high of 20 tomorrow, which really isn�t too bad. (My southern bones can�t believe I�m saying that.) Northcarolina, I use my roaster to cook 15 to 18 pounds of pork (I also use boston butt) for BBQ all the time. The next time I�m making a smaller amount I will try the slow cooker. Hmmm � New Year�s BBQ. I think I will try your sage and sugar combination with my spices. I have been wanting something with sage lately. I love the aroma of sage cooking. Jakabedy, I like cooking a big turkey in the roaster because it does seem cook up more moist than in the oven. But my old Panasonic convection microwave cooked a very moist turkey in half the time. Thank you all for taking time to reassure me. May all your holiday meals be wonderful!