Reviewed: Jan. 12, 2011

I made ham and bean soup tonight and followed this recipe using it as a base. I made the following changes mostly based off others suggestions and the soup was wonderful. I omitted the celery, I halved the recipe so I used 2 cans of beans as well as their juice, 2/3 lb bacon fried drained and crumbled, 1 can of chicken broth only two cups of water and 2 chicken Bouillan cubes. I do most of my cooking by taste and so I continued adding fresh ground pepper until satisfied which was alot. I will save this recipe and my notes and make this again, thanks for the starting point.

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Reviewer:

VictoriaSe49896

Cooking Level: Expert

Living In: Westminster, Maryland, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 6, 2011

This is a very good, basic recipe. As written, I am rating it 4 stars as I found the result to be very bland. The next time I made it, I used a 20 oz. bag of 15 bean soup mix beans, chicken broth instead of water, and the meaty leftover ham bone from a spiral sliced Holiday Ham along with a chunk of pork jowl bacon. Still found the result to be bland until I decided to add the Cajun seasoning packet that comes in the 15 bean mix and simmer longer. That did the trick - not too spicey at all, rather just enough "something extra" to give the soup a lot more flavor. We all loved it and agreed that it should get 5 stars made this way. Still, this is a great basic ham and bean soup recipe that you can adjust to suit your own taste. Oh, and I tried the reviewer suggestion of bringing the dried beans to a boil with a tablespoon of baking soda 3 separate times (and rinsing) to "de-gas" the beans. I had such high hopes for this; but, alas, it did not work at all - for any of us :(

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Reviewer:

MEMPHISBELLE

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Alligator, Mississippi, USA

Living In: Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 5, 2011

This turned out wonderful. I soaked the beans overnight and i used a couple cans of chicken broth. Loved it.

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

babalonian

Reviewed: Jan. 2, 2011

Good simple reicpe that gets better with age(the next day or two). Work with what you have and use this recipe as a guideline and you will be happy every time.

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7 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Mad Butcher

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Damascus, Maryland, USA

Reviewed: Jan. 1, 2011

This is good! I used turkey broth that I had made up instead of the 4 cups chicken broth.... It turned out marvelous! defiantly a keeper in my book!

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Reviewer:

Rachel

Reviewed: Jan. 1, 2011

it was a basic pretty good bean soup recipe, i followed the recipe exactly... My husband and i agreed it needed more broth and more ham.

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Reviewer:

morgan

Reviewed: Dec. 31, 2010

This recipe is perfect, just used a ham bone for flavor because I had one from our Christmas ham, was wonderful an deserves 5 stars for taste and simplicity. Just remember you need plenty of salt, beans tend to soak up everything you put in there.

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Reviewer:

Cathy

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Yakima, Washington, USA

Living In: Fremont, California, USA

Reviewed: Dec. 29, 2010

This turned out really good, however I did make some changes. I soaked the beans for about 7 hours, then put everything in the crockpot on high. I did not have a ham hock, so added 1 c extra ham. I used 4 c chicken broth & 4 c water, added extra garlic & also did not have any celery. After about 3 hours on high the beans were still crunchy & the soup was very bland. So I added some spices, garlic powder, seasoned salt, paprika & red pepper and put it in the fridge overnight. Then put on low the next day for 6-7 hours.

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Reviewer:

Housie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Dallas, Georgia, USA

Reviewed: Dec. 29, 2010

I made this recipe exactly as written and it was a bit salty. I usually love salt but next time I won't add salt. Otherwise, the soup had great flavor!

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Reviewer:

Windy

Cooking Level: Beginning

Reviewed: Dec. 27, 2010

I thought this was very good, used half low-sodium chicken stock and pureed half the soup before adding the ham to make it really creamy and delicious.

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4 users found this review helpful