Recipes

[Patriot3]

Does anyone have a recipe for Bean Soup?  My Mom made the best.  I know she started w/ham hocks and put rivels in it, but beyond that I don't know.  It was rather thick, not watery.  Of course, she had no recipe.  Sure wish I would have watched her make it and what she put in it.  She's gone now..........

[Group 5 minus 1]

Do you mean split pea or bean soup?

[Zhills]

I googled it and found one at Genius Kitchen. 

We Southereners didn't put rivels in bean soup.  I had to google them.  Her recipe calls for canned beans and we always soaked and cooked dried beans for soup.

I am assuming you mean Northern Bean soup.

[Harpa]

No genuine recipe...but from what I remember, my DM used dried great Northerns and soaked them overnight; ham hocks like you said - threw all that into the pot, covered with water.

Cut up carrots, celery & onions and then a jar of her homemade canned tomatoes.

Always sherry in bean soup and bay leaves. (I don't recall sherry in anything else she made - or bay leaves!)

Just throw it all together and simmer, simmer, simmer!

I also don't recall any pasta. The beans help to thicken the soup.

[deepwaterdotter]

1 pound dried navy beans

1 smoked ham hock

1 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 bay leaves

Bring beans, ham hock, bay leaves, 1 1/2 tsp salt, and 1 gallon of cold water to a boil in a large pot.  Reduce heat and simmer until beans are soft.

Lightly-brown onion, carrot, and celery in butter until soft.  Add garlic and saute for a few seconds.  Store in small bowl for later.

Remove bay leaves and ham hock.  Lightly smash about half of the beans in pot with potato masher until creamy and slightly thickened.  Remove and chop meat from hock.  Add ham and sauteed vegetables to beans and simmer about 1/2 hour until thickened.

[RedTop]

Regardless of the dried bean used, you need a long simmering process to break down the starch in the bean to have thick soup.   An old bean will not break down, no matter how long it is simmered.   

My family loves dried beans, cooked with bacon or ham, but we don’t don’t like vegetables cooked with them.  

[Carmie]

I make bean soup a lot.  It’s easy

fill soup kettle with ham hocks, chopped onions, celery and some carrots, salt pepper and any other spice that you like. Add dried beans, any kind if you are using them...no need to soak, but do rinse and check through them looking for small stones.

Simmer for a few hours until the beans are soft.. remove the meat from the bones and add the meat back to the broth.

You can add potatoes or pasta or if you like them..cut potatoes into small spoon sized pieces and add to broth.  The soup is done when the potatoes/pasta is  soft.

if you are using canned beans instead of dried, cook the ham hocks and veggies first.  Simmer a few hours...remove meat from the bones and add back to the broth with rinsed canned beans and potatoes/pasta.

Sometimes, I add pieces of cooked sausage or canned tomatoes to the broth.

The natural starch in the beans will thicken the soup, but you can smash some of the beans to get it to thicken faster.

Bean soup always tastes better the next day, so make enough to have leftovers.

I make the soup differently every time..depending on my mood or items I have on hand.

[OKPrincess]

My recipe very simple and made in pressure cooker.

1 pkg 15-beans, washed and soaked at least 2 hrs

chopped onions

salt and pepper

ham (we buy Kentucky spiral ham and put 1/3 in soup)

pressure cook about 40 min

i also fix large Lima’s this way too.

[Zhills]

I've never added vegetables to bean soup.  Just beans, ham hock and water and cook for hours or do in the pressure cooker.  We would also "soup" some of the beans to help thicken it.

Serve with fresh onion and cornbread.

[stevieb]

My mother makes exceptional white bean soup and lima bean soup, using nothing more than the beans (dried and soaked) hamhocks, a bit of carrot, seasonings and water... No garlic, no onions, lots of pepper... Along with other factors, she varies the water and ingredients to make a thicker or more thin soup...