Basic Ham and Bean Soup

SUBMITTED BY: J. A. McConville PHOTO BY: LDYLVBGR

"Hearty ham and bean soup. Easy to make and a great way to use a leftover ham bone. This soup also has lots of mixed vegetables."

PREP TIME	30 Min
COOK TIME	2 Hrs 30 Min
READY IN	3 Hrs

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 8 to 10 servings

USMETRIC

About scaling and conversions

INGREDIENTS

1 pound dry great Northern beans
8 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 ham hock
1 cup chopped carrots
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon mustard powder
2 bay leaves
2 cups chopped ham
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

READ REVIEWS (280)

DIRECTIONS

Rinse the beans, sorting out any broken or discolored ones. In a large pot over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add the salt and the beans and remove from heat. Let beans sit in the hot water for at least 60 minutes.
After the 60 minutes of soaking, return the pot to high heat and place the ham bone, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mustard and bay leaves in the pot. Stir well, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 60 more minutes.
Remove ham bone and discard. Stir in the chopped ham and simmer for 30 more minutes. Season with ground white pepper to taste.

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REVIEWS

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Reviewed on Jan. 7, 2004 by Evelyn in KC

Mmm ... good. My husband made this for dinner tonight, changing only the quantity of water. (He used less 'cause he doesn't like soupy beans.) Oh, and he didn't know we had ham, so he only used the ham hocks. Still, this was deee-lish. I actually had seconds, which I hardly ever do. Oh, and you have to cook them longer than 2 1/2 hours. Just test them every half hour or so after that, and throw the ham in when they're about done. BTW, if you cook dried beans to death and they are still gritty or mealy, it's because they're too old; even dried beans don't last forever. They have a moisture content that lessens with age. No recipe can make old beans taste good.

33 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 17, 2004 by IAMTRINA

Excellent, excellent soup! Use chicken broth (mostly), leave out the salt (my ham had enough), and cook in the crock pot (that's the easiest way, since the beans do have to cook a while). I soaked the beans overnight, then put EVERYTHING in the crock pot and cooked from 9 - 5 on HIGH. Puree about 4 cups of mixture in blender around half way through and put back into pot (makes it creamier). Add more broth/water if it's too thick. Take out bay leaves and bone at the end, and cool for a little while if you want (will be really hot if you don't). Husband and kids 8 and 11 loved it. 6 yr old...well, she's still picky.

28 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 12, 2004 by ROGAMIL

This soup turned out terrifically, but that's because I read all of the other reviews before making it, and attempted to fix the problems other people had noted: (1) to get tender beans, I soaked the dry beans overnight, discarded the water, and made the soup with fresh water, simmering for 2 hours--the beans were nice and tender; (2) to make the soup less watery, I used 6 1/2 cups water instead of 8--the soup turned out thick and hearty; (3) to avoid saltiness, I didn't add any salt, and used turkey ham instead of the traditional stuff, eliminating the ham hock as well (this may not have affected the saltiness, but it sure cut down on fat and calories). It's an easy recipe to experiment with--have fun and enjoy!

23 users found this review helpful

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