This method for Bean Soup includes using smoked meats to give it a bit of a Smokey BBQ flair. The smoke is really mild, but definitely present. The approach for this is a combo of Katie Hill’s bean stock for cassoulet and the US Senate’s Navy Bean Soup. To that I add hamhocks I smoked and some of my homemade bacon. This is a modification of the ham and bean soup recipe I posted on Hulagn1971 thread about easy bean soup recipe.
Mashed together my mom’s beans and hamhocks recipe (which she got from the US Senate Bean Soup recipe, she says) with the stock base recipe for cassoulet, the result is this soup.
1 pound dried white beans (or navy beans, pintos, whatever you have handy, but white beans are best)
I use Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanco’s so I don’t have to soak overnight
2 smoked hamhocks (this is about the beans, not the meat)
bouquet of bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, parsley, celery leaves tied in a cheese cloth
1 medium onion, peeled, whole
1 medium carrot, peeled, whole
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp black peppercorns
6 slices of bacon, whole (i used 8 oz of my maple-whiskey bacon)
3-4 whole garlic cloves
1 quart chicken stock
8 oz lager - any decent, non-bitter beer
soak beans based on instructions, if they are grocery store beans, overnight for sure.
Brown the bacon slices in the soup pot, deglaze with the lager
add the rest of the ingredients except chopped celery to soup pot
Add enough water so that hamhocks are just barely covered with liquid
bring to boil for 5 minutes
turn down to very low simmer for 90 minutes .... a very low simmer means just barely getting 1-2 bubbles at a time
remove all the ingredients from the bean soup except beans, stock, and peppercorns.
Salt/pepper the bean stock to taste, if needed
remove all meat from hamhocks, discard bone and rind (or save bone/rind for making cassoulet)
discard bouquet
Chop up ham, onion, bacon, carrot (will be mushy)
add everything back to the beans/stock
simmer for another 90 minutes or until beans are to your desired tenderness
Add celery about 15 minutes before the end. You want the celery to add some crunch and flavor, not get mushy
Serve with crusty bread, biscuits, or cornbread
Important note: Everything is approximate. I don’t actually measure precisely when I’m cooking beans. I throw stuff in the pot until it looks right.
Browning bacon in Dutch oven
Beans, garlic, onion
Beans at a hard boil
Everything covered just to top of the hamhocks
90 minutes in, pulled hamhocks, bacon, etc out of the pot, chopped it all up, added it back
Looking darn tasty
Stacy made some drop biscuits
Served, with biscuits, green salad, and a French red wine from the Rhône valley.
Mashed together my mom’s beans and hamhocks recipe (which she got from the US Senate Bean Soup recipe, she says) with the stock base recipe for cassoulet, the result is this soup.
1 pound dried white beans (or navy beans, pintos, whatever you have handy, but white beans are best)
I use Rancho Gordo Alubia Blanco’s so I don’t have to soak overnight
2 smoked hamhocks (this is about the beans, not the meat)
bouquet of bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, parsley, celery leaves tied in a cheese cloth
1 medium onion, peeled, whole
1 medium carrot, peeled, whole
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp black peppercorns
6 slices of bacon, whole (i used 8 oz of my maple-whiskey bacon)
3-4 whole garlic cloves
1 quart chicken stock
8 oz lager - any decent, non-bitter beer
soak beans based on instructions, if they are grocery store beans, overnight for sure.
Brown the bacon slices in the soup pot, deglaze with the lager
add the rest of the ingredients except chopped celery to soup pot
Add enough water so that hamhocks are just barely covered with liquid
bring to boil for 5 minutes
turn down to very low simmer for 90 minutes .... a very low simmer means just barely getting 1-2 bubbles at a time
remove all the ingredients from the bean soup except beans, stock, and peppercorns.
Salt/pepper the bean stock to taste, if needed
remove all meat from hamhocks, discard bone and rind (or save bone/rind for making cassoulet)
discard bouquet
Chop up ham, onion, bacon, carrot (will be mushy)
add everything back to the beans/stock
simmer for another 90 minutes or until beans are to your desired tenderness
Add celery about 15 minutes before the end. You want the celery to add some crunch and flavor, not get mushy
Serve with crusty bread, biscuits, or cornbread
Important note: Everything is approximate. I don’t actually measure precisely when I’m cooking beans. I throw stuff in the pot until it looks right.
Browning bacon in Dutch oven
Beans, garlic, onion
Beans at a hard boil
Everything covered just to top of the hamhocks
90 minutes in, pulled hamhocks, bacon, etc out of the pot, chopped it all up, added it back
Looking darn tasty
Stacy made some drop biscuits
Served, with biscuits, green salad, and a French red wine from the Rhône valley.
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