Memere's Pea Soup

6-8 ham hocks, or 1 ham end, or one Daisy ham,
or 1 Kahn's "Little Ham", or a big ham bone with meat
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 lb. whole yellow peas (NOT green, NOT split!)
(Oh, all right, knowing how hard-to-find whole yellow peas are, use splits if you must.)
1 carrot, finely grated
fresh minced parsley, to taste
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. water

Boil whichever incarnation of ham you've chosen to use for 3 hours on low heat. Remove meat and save. If you've used fatty ham, refrigerate broth overnight so fat will congeal, and thus be easier to skim off. (Kahn's ham is virtually fat free, and its broth may be used immediately.) Measure out 2-1/2 quarts of broth and heat to boiling. Stir in peas, onions, celery, carrot, parsley, and a pinch of pepper. Cook 3 hours on low heat.

Chop reserved ham, taking care to remove all fat, and add to soup after the three hour boil, and allow it to heat through. Remove from heat. Make a paste of the flour and water. Add a little hot soup to the paste and mix well, then add to soup slowly, stirring as you do so, to avoid having slimy, unappetizing clumps of flour floating amongst your peas like dread, uncharted islands.

Makes lots! Serve hot, and, if you feel ambitious, with Johnnycakes. Warning: "Pea Soup and Johnnycake make the Frenchman's belly ache." (Of course, this is because the meal was, as often as not, consumed in quanitity after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, and everyone would go to bed with full stomachs.)