” This is my recipe and notes from several years ago for ham and beans. Have you ever tried it this way?”
My Ham and Bean Stoup, 1st Ever Attempt
Ingredients:
8 qt cast iron dutch oven w/ lid (12” diameter, 4” deep oven)
1 pound Great Northern beans
1/3 cup baking soda
1 large sweet onion chopped
The top 5 inches of a head of celery chopped (leafs and all)
½ bag of leftover relish tray baby carrots chopped to 3/8
1 ½ Tbs bacon grease
2 leftover ham bones w/ some meat on them
1 ham shank (2 to 3 smoked shanks might be enough without the leftover ham bones)
2 26oz cartons Swanson’s chicken broth (or your own home made is preferred)
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
Several good blots of Louisiana sauce
1 Tbs dried California sweet basil
1 Tbs dried French thyme
1 Tbs dried marjoram
1 Qt home canned tomatoes
Preparation:
Cover your beans, nothing else added, with cold water about 2 inches, and bring to a solid hard boil for about 10 minutes. Remove the pan DON’T DRAIN and SET THE PAN IN YOUR SINK. Throw in about 1/3 cup baking soda, and stir like crazy until the foam that will appear disappears, (don’t worry if the foam looks green). Drain in a colander and rinse very well in cold water to remove the entire soda flavor. Doing this, you won’t have to soak the beans overnight; it cuts your cooking time, and removes maybe not all, but most of the “gas”. More soda = less gas I’m told. The reason for setting the pan in the sink is that it will foam quite a bit and could go over the sides of your pan.
While rinsing beans, sauté onion, celery and carrots in bacon grease in the dutch oven till onion is translucent
Stir in all remaining ingredients into the dutch oven and add the hams
Return to boil and cover with the very tight dutch oven lid and low, slow simmer for about 1 ½ to 2 hours
Rotate ham once or so during this the time
When beans are tender
Remove the ham bones clean the meat and chunk into bite sized pieces, discard the bones
Keep heating and adjust thickness by adding corn starch dissolved in cold water first to your liking, then stir into the pot
Cover and let simmer for ½ hour or more, keep eye on the bottom and stir as the thickening will want to settle and try to lump or stick to the bottom
Serve with corn bread, try adding home blanched sweet corn into your mix before baking it
Notes to self:
I need to try adding a couple of bay leafs.
Really full pot!
A 14” oven would be better but oh well; I have 3 60 year old ovens and I’m not buying anymore
Make sure there is lots of ham meat
2 or 3 smoked shanks might be enough without the leftover ham bones
Using the soda trick seems to help, at least for me
Might try using 2 lbs beans and divide in ½ and mash second 1 lb from the colander for the thickening
