Dean Torges
R.I.P. 11/4/2016
Here is a blackbean soup recipe of my own creation. It's something to do with leftover pulled pork, and will change your religion, or give you some if you ain't got it. I believe you can't make soup in small lots, so . . .
Sort and soak two pounds of black beans for 12 hrs.
Bring to boil and simmer a few smoked ham hocks in a covered pot of chicken broth overnight, while the beans soak. In the morning, skim fat, separate meat from bones and from skin and gristle. Set meat aside (if your ham hocks have any) and return bones to broth for the duration. (Skin-on hocks have very little meat. Skinned forelegs usually have a lot. Both have good flavor.) For broth, either use two cans of Swanson chicken broth (large ones), or cook up three/four pkgs of chicken backs in sufficient water. Skim off chicken fat.
A quick word about water. Beans don?t get soft in hard well water. Buy soft water, both for soaking and meat boiling if you don't wanna use commercial chicken broth. Also, pour off soaking water and discard, and for nutritional reasons, don?t employ the fast-bean-cook method (of boil and set aside covered) because beans don?t sprout and make max. protein available thataway.
In a lge. saucepan with some olive oil, saute coarsely sliced carrots, celery and leeks (or sub white cooking onions cut into eighths), as much as you want. Have some chopped parsley set aside, too, but don't put it on until the very end. I use about three or four of each, and sometimes lay low on the celery in favor of leeks and carrots. Two really, really lge. leeks work well, but I don?t think you can overdo them.
Drain soaked and swollen beans and rinse several times. Pitch soak water and put beans in broth, enough to cover by three or more inches. Add more canned chicken broth if you need to. Bring to boil and reduce to desired strength, then simmer, covered, until beans just start to soften up--about 45 minutes before they?re done. At this juncture, add saut?ed stuff and as much pulled pork as you like (mmmmm, meat) and cook until everything textures out to your satisfaction. Season with understanding that hocks are already salty, and store-bought broth is full of sodium.
Stir up and while very hot ladle what you won?t soon eat into clean Mason jars. Tighten down new flat lids with rings. Just wash the jars out good first, or swirl them with a little bleach and rinse well. No need to really "can" this brew. Turn jars upside down on counter for five minutes. Then upright. They will seal as they cool. Don't touch lids until jars have cooled off. Domed lids will suck down and soup will keep refrigerated for several months, no problemo. Must be refrigerated, though.
Canned Swanson?s broth is superior to the other major brand (I fergit its name) if you buy ready-made. In either event, it?s hard to get good chicken stock with skimpy backbones from young fryers (most of the package rends into fat), and the commercial canned version isn?t better or worse. (Salted heavily, I believe, so you'll know you're tasting something.) When we're lucky, we're boiling one of our own stewing hens (which is where you get real chicken flavor?from old chickens) or the bones off several large roasters. I also keep back the bones from chickens from my smoker, too (not the WSM, the big upright Freezer-converted-to-smoker smoker), for the smoked chicken flavor, but then I make a different soup.
My favorite tableside additions are squeezed fresh lemon over the top (with a sprinkle of parsley) and hot sauce of choice. This is a robust, hearty soup, a killer served with crusty hot buttermilk cornbread. Serve it at the right season, in November, or in early Spring when the weather briefly turns back toward winter, and it will immunize you to hard times, make you dare them to come near. Really, it's damned good any season you are hungry.
It's cold here again. Got the wood stove burning and I'm headed to the basement freezer for some home-smoked hocks.
Sort and soak two pounds of black beans for 12 hrs.
Bring to boil and simmer a few smoked ham hocks in a covered pot of chicken broth overnight, while the beans soak. In the morning, skim fat, separate meat from bones and from skin and gristle. Set meat aside (if your ham hocks have any) and return bones to broth for the duration. (Skin-on hocks have very little meat. Skinned forelegs usually have a lot. Both have good flavor.) For broth, either use two cans of Swanson chicken broth (large ones), or cook up three/four pkgs of chicken backs in sufficient water. Skim off chicken fat.
A quick word about water. Beans don?t get soft in hard well water. Buy soft water, both for soaking and meat boiling if you don't wanna use commercial chicken broth. Also, pour off soaking water and discard, and for nutritional reasons, don?t employ the fast-bean-cook method (of boil and set aside covered) because beans don?t sprout and make max. protein available thataway.
In a lge. saucepan with some olive oil, saute coarsely sliced carrots, celery and leeks (or sub white cooking onions cut into eighths), as much as you want. Have some chopped parsley set aside, too, but don't put it on until the very end. I use about three or four of each, and sometimes lay low on the celery in favor of leeks and carrots. Two really, really lge. leeks work well, but I don?t think you can overdo them.
Drain soaked and swollen beans and rinse several times. Pitch soak water and put beans in broth, enough to cover by three or more inches. Add more canned chicken broth if you need to. Bring to boil and reduce to desired strength, then simmer, covered, until beans just start to soften up--about 45 minutes before they?re done. At this juncture, add saut?ed stuff and as much pulled pork as you like (mmmmm, meat) and cook until everything textures out to your satisfaction. Season with understanding that hocks are already salty, and store-bought broth is full of sodium.
Stir up and while very hot ladle what you won?t soon eat into clean Mason jars. Tighten down new flat lids with rings. Just wash the jars out good first, or swirl them with a little bleach and rinse well. No need to really "can" this brew. Turn jars upside down on counter for five minutes. Then upright. They will seal as they cool. Don't touch lids until jars have cooled off. Domed lids will suck down and soup will keep refrigerated for several months, no problemo. Must be refrigerated, though.
Canned Swanson?s broth is superior to the other major brand (I fergit its name) if you buy ready-made. In either event, it?s hard to get good chicken stock with skimpy backbones from young fryers (most of the package rends into fat), and the commercial canned version isn?t better or worse. (Salted heavily, I believe, so you'll know you're tasting something.) When we're lucky, we're boiling one of our own stewing hens (which is where you get real chicken flavor?from old chickens) or the bones off several large roasters. I also keep back the bones from chickens from my smoker, too (not the WSM, the big upright Freezer-converted-to-smoker smoker), for the smoked chicken flavor, but then I make a different soup.
My favorite tableside additions are squeezed fresh lemon over the top (with a sprinkle of parsley) and hot sauce of choice. This is a robust, hearty soup, a killer served with crusty hot buttermilk cornbread. Serve it at the right season, in November, or in early Spring when the weather briefly turns back toward winter, and it will immunize you to hard times, make you dare them to come near. Really, it's damned good any season you are hungry.
It's cold here again. Got the wood stove burning and I'm headed to the basement freezer for some home-smoked hocks.