Soup Thread

**badwhale** · 12-11-2013, 11:37 PM

I am apparently picking up the soup torch from wifey's dad. I have a few in my arsenal already, such as chicken / turkey soup, & vegetable soup. Today, I am attempting the bean soup her dad makes.

Had a call in this morning to get the ingredient list, and instructions.

I'll take some pictures along the way, maybe. I'll post up the whole list of ingredients if it comes out ok. For now, I boiled down a leftover ham with bone in that we smoked for last week's Christmas dinner. That in itself made the house smell good. I also have the beans soaking for use tomorrow. The ham broth is outside now to cool off, and I'm supposed to scrape the excess fat off the top. I removed the bones, and chopped the meat and put it back in the broth.

There are other complications to this recipe such as browned flour for a thickening agent. Making that could be a separate thread, but lucky for me when her dad showed me how it's done, I got a pint container of it to take home.

**badwhale** · 12-11-2013, 11:38 PM

Some pics:

**badwhale** · 12-11-2013, 11:39 PM

I might be violating some sort of cooking protocol here, but since nobody's here:

Russ's Bean Soup ~ Cumbola, PA

1 Batch / 4 quarts +/-

Ingredients:
1 bag of great northern beans (1#/2 cups)
1 tbsp. ham base
2 large potatoes ~ peel / cube
2 ribs of celery ~ cubed
1 large onion ~ chopped
2 carrots ~ cubed
2 quarts of water (this includes whatever you get from the ham broth by way of boiling a ham hock, or a leftover piece of ham)
1-2 ham hocks / bone
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 clove of garlic
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)
1 can of diced tomatoes (preferably "petite diced" they apparently break down better)
browned flour

Directions:
Soak beans overnight, enough water to cover entire time
Boil ham, cool and skim fat (meat should fall off bone, break apart easily)
Chop ham, veggies and combine with water in pot
Simmer until beans / veggies are soft (couple hours on low with lid on)
add extra ham base to taste at end
add browned flour at end to thicken as necessary