Bean N Bacon Soup

Bean & Bacon Soup

Basically I am learning to make this particular soup by trial and error. The last time I made it I wasn't sure of what I was doing and it didn't come out to bad, however, it seemed to not taste quite like moms either. So today I am trying again for the second time to see if I can master this yummy soup that I used to eat as a child.

These particular beans are high in protein and good for anyone who eats them. So yesterday evening around midnight I put one package of Navy beans in cold water in a bowl and covered the bowl and left them sitting on the counter to soak over night. Well today Nikolaj and I went out to do some things. I had to have multiple x rays of my back and hips to hopefully give the doctors some ideas of what is causing the issues I'm currently having that is becoming a real problem for me.

Then after that we took a nice walk around Qaqortoq and ended up visiting our friends Torben and Hanne. They are such nice people and I have enjoyed becoming friends with them. We had dinner with them as well. Turns out they wanted me to teach their daughter Helenne how to make a sweet and sour stir fry like the one I made one night on their boat when we went sailing together. I will have to write the recipe about this dish as well and how I came about creating such a concoction.

So we were there till late in the evening and came home to find those beans still in water soaking on the counter. Of course the first thing that occurs to me is that I can't just leave them sitting in water a second night or stick them in the fridge over night either. I'm not sure what would happen if I did that after such a long soaking. Initially they are only supposed to soak 8 (eight) hours. After that I'm not sure if that would be a bad thing or not. They seemed to be fine considering they had been soaking a good 12 (twelve) hours instead. They didn't sour or anything like that so I'm thankful for that.

Now here is what I did to start making the soup.

I used a large stock pot and started out with diced ham pieces, diced onions, I sauteed them in a tiny bit of butter due to the fact that there was no fat in either item placed in the pot for precooking. In a small skillet I cooked ¼ pound of bacon till it was crispy and set that aside. Once the onion and ham were cooked, I poured 9 cups of water into the pot. I added four cubes of chicken base into the water and brought everything to a boil. Once the water was boiling I chopped up the crispy bacon into small pieces and added that to the water as well. Next came the beans I had soaked over night and most of the day. Once the water came to a boil again, I turned the heat down to a low setting, covered the pot and let it cook on a low boil for over three hours. Yes, that is what I wrote, three hours. The reason for this is because I cannot buy a slow cooker here in this country so the stove top is where even things that would be perfect for the slow cooker is cooked. After three hours of cooking the water had thickened to a nice rich, semi thick soup sauce with the beans and things in it. Turns out that the soup is very tasty but it seemed just a “tiny” bit salty but not overly salty. I will have to figure out how to get it less like that.