black bean soup

This is an old basic black bean soup recipe. Changes in cooking style are apparent. No red chile powder, jalapenos, or sour cream grace this menu. It's an economic soup that probably runs a total cost to prepare of about $5.00 to feed the whole family for several days with the cost of a loaf of bread included.

  • 2 C uncooked black beans

  • 8 C water

  • package ham hocks

  • 1 clove garlic

  • 2 tsp parsley

  • 2 C chopped onion

  • 1/4 stick butter

  • 1/4 tsp salt

  • 1/8 tsp pepper

1. Sort the beans and remove any foreign bodies or bad beans. Rinse the beans.

2. Place the beans in a pot full of approximately 8 cups of cold water. Heat the water over medium-high heat to a rolling boil. Allow the beans to cook at a rolling boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the beans from the heat, cover, and allow to stand and soak for 1 hour.

3. Chop the onion and parsley. Mince the garlic.

4. Heat the 1/4 stick of butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, stirring regularly. Shortly before the onion is done, add the minced garlic. The minced garlic requires less cook time than chopped onion.

5. Drain the soak water from the beans. Add the onion and garlic, the salt and pepper, and the ham hock to the beans. Add 8 cups of cold water, or more or less as desired. Turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a rolling boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 3 hours.

6. One hour into the cook remove the ham hock from the soup and allow to cool. Chop the edible meat off of the ham hock. Return the ham hock and the bite size pieces of pork to the soup. Allow the stripped ham hock to simmer in the soup in order to add savor and nutrients.

7. At serving time remove and discard the ham hock. Serve the soup with chopped parsley as desired.

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black bean soup