Easter Postscript: What to Do With Ham Stock Cooks who tried our braise-roast technique on an Easter ham this year may now have quarts of tasty stock on hand. It freezes well until you figure out how best to use it. Depending on the ham's flavor, the stock may be well balanced and light, or very salty and/or smoky. A light but flavorful ham stock can be substituted for chicken stock in many recipes. Starchy soups and stews, especially with beans, will absorb the ham flavor along with the liquid. If your ham stock turned out very strong, use half ham and half chicken stock. And don't use ham stock in recipes in which the liquid needs to reduce, like a sauce: it will make the dish too salty. Also, ham stock is great in old-fashioned recipes that call for ham hocks or salt pork, not the easiest ingredients to find these days. Here are several recipes that will make good use of your ham stock. Click on the links below, and make these substitutions: In Maida Heatter's Cuban Black Beans and Rice, replace the ham hocks and water with 6 cups of ham stock. For Drunken Beans, adapted from Stephan Pyles's "The New Texas Cuisine," replace chicken stock with 4 cups of ham stock. To make Hoppin" John, a Southern recipe for black-eyed peas and rice, replace smoked hog jowl and 6 cups water with 6 cups ham stock.