On a cold rainy day, this bean soup recipe is just *wonderful*.

1 large hamhock (or 2 small ones)
1 cup white navy beans, dry
1 cup pinto beans, dry
1 cup red kidney beans, dry
some rosemary
1 onion
4 large garlic cloves or 6 small ones
1 bay leaf
8-10 peppercorns
2-3 T oil

Dice the onions and separate the garlic cloves. Heat oil in a pan,
then press the garlic cloves into the hot oil. (Don't fully heat
the oil because it takes a bit of time to press all the garlic,
and if the oil is smoking hot to start the first garlic to go in
will overcook.) Add the onion and stir, let saute for a minute or
so. Separate the hamhock into sections (it usually comes mostly
sliced and can be pulled apart) and put them in the pan, making
sure the meatiest side is down and contacting the pan. Brown the
hamhock with the garlic and onions for a bit and then add water to
cover. Add peppercorns and a bay leaf. Simmer for 1-2 hours. If 
you taste it at this point it will seem inedibly garlicky, do not
worry.

In separate pans heat the beans to boiling in water, then shut
off heat and let soak for an hour. Drain and change the water,
then simmer with some rosemary. After an hour, shut off the
pinto beans (they cook faster). After another hour, drain all
the beans and put into a crock pot. Add the hamhock mixture,
and add water until the crock pot is as full as it can be.
(Those crock pots do boil over and then they have to be
scrubbed. The tinyisland crock pot can't be filled higher than
3/4" from the top.) Cook several hours on LO.

After soup has cooked several hours in the crock pot, let it cool
a bit and then remove all the skin & bones from the hamhock
sections. Cut the meat into little pieces and mix in well.
Remove the bay leaf.

The crock pot makes the beans velvety soft but not disintegrated.
The slow cooking tames the raw garlicky taste and leaves an
incredible flavor.

I like to serve this soup with cornbread.