# Two soups I love: "Bean" and "Tomato Cabbage"



## cookwewill (Aug 5, 2021)

I've been cooking quite a lot of soups lately from some reason. One thing is that I really love them... it's my favorite breakfast food of choice, honestly  

Nothing compares to a bowl of super hot chicken soup with fine noodles on a lazy morning, especially during the weekend when the beers were plentiful, the evening before 

And I also needed some "soup" content for my blog, so I chose two that I totally love.

First one is a Tomato Cabbage Soup, following the favorite recipe of my Grandma. I once told her how much I loved that soup and from that time on, she cooked it for us every time we came for a visit 








*List Of Ingredients:*

1 medium sized head of cabbage
750g (1.5 pounds) pork shoulder
500g (1 pound) potatoes
1000g (2 pounds) tomato puree
1 large onion
vegetable oil
salt & pepper to taste
2-3 litres (8-12 cups) water or stock
1 bouillon cube (if using water)
3-4 tsp sugar
3-4 tsp red paprika
1 tsp crushed caraway
½ tsp ground cinnamon
3-4 bay leaves
flat leaf parsley for garnish

Instructions: 

1. Finely chop a large yellow onion, then sautee on vegetable oil until translucent.
2. Cut the pork shoulder into bite size chunks. Season with sald and black pepper and stir fry on the onion base for about 20-25 minutes.
3. Add 3-4 tsp of sugar, 3 tsp of red paprika and 1 tsp of crushed caraway seeds. Sautee for 5 more minutes.
4. In with the cabbage that you sliced into fine strips.
5. Pour in the water or stock and add tomato puree. When using plain water, drop in a bouillon cube too. Add 3-4 bay leaves and simmer on low heat for 30-45 minutes.
6. Give the soup a taste and add salt, pepper or sugar if needed. To make the soup fragrant, add 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon.
7. Now is the time to add the diced potatoes too. I've used about 500g (1 pound).
8. Once the potatoes are fully cooked, the soup is done and ready to serve.
9. Serve the tomato cabbage soup in a soup bowl, garnished with flat leaf parsley and a few slices of bread on the side.

The second one is a more common soup know all around the world. It's a thick bean soup with vegetables and some meaty bits. People usually use some kind of ham, but I go for smoked pork ribs that I cook first in order to make a simple stock thats smoky in flavor.






List of Ingredients:

500g (1lb) dry beans (soaked overnight)
0.7-1kg (1.5-2lbs) smoked ribs or similar
1 kohlrabi
3-4 carrots
2 parsley (parsnip) roots
some stalk celery or celeriac
handful of flat leaf parsley
4 bay leaves
500g (1lb) potatoes
water as needed
oil
2-3 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp flour
salt & pepper to taste
flat noodles or similar pasta
4-5 cloves garlic (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut the ribs into smaller pieces and cook for 1-1.5 hours.
2. Wash and peel the vegetables, then cut into small pieces.
3. Once the ribs are tender, strain them and use the simple "stock" you just made as the base for the soup.
4. Strain the soaked beans and add them to the stock. Add vegetables, bay leaves, season with black pepper and drop in a handful of finely chopped flat leaf parsley.
5. Cover the pot and simmer until the beans start to become soft. It will take at least 45 minutes up to an hour and half, depending on how long the beans have been soaking in water.
6. Once the beans start to soften, add diced potatoes and the meat that you took of the bone and sliced.
7. Cook for 40-60 minutes or until the potatoes are almost fully cooked.
8. Prepare a paprika based roux. Heat up oil and add 2 tbsp of paprika and flour. Stir properly and once the oil has been absorbed, start adding water in batches while stirring. Aim for a paste-like consistency.
9. Stir the roux into the soup, make sure no lumps form. Add 4-5 cloves of garlic, crushed. This step is optional.
10. Give the soup a taste and add salt and pepper or even paprika, if needed.
11. Cook for a few more minutes and we are done.
12. Serve in a bowl, topped with flat soup noodles or similar pasta type.

Do you have any soup recipes that you keep on preparing over and over? Share them please, I'm always looking for new soups to try


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Aug 5, 2021)

Another bean soup you might enjoy _

U.S. Senate Bean Soup
SierraCook

U.S. Senate Bean Soup

Bean soup is on the menu in the Senate's restaurant every day. There are several stories about the origin of that mandate, but none has been corroborated.
According to one story, the Senate’s bean soup tradition began early in the 20th-century at the request of Senator Fred Dubois of Idaho. Another story attributes the request to Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, who expressed his fondness for the soup in 1903.
The recipe attributed to Dubois includes mashed potatoes and makes a 5-gallon batch. The recipe served in the Senate today does not include mashed potatoes, but does include a braised onion. Both Senate recipes are below.

The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe
2 pounds dried navy beans
four quarts hot water
1 1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper to taste
Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened. Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally. Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup. Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper. Serves 8.

Bean Soup Recipe (for five gallons)
3 pounds dried navy beans
2 pounds of ham and a ham bone
1 quart mashed potatoes
5 onions, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
four cloves garlic, chopped
half a bunch of parsley, chopped
Clean the beans, then cook them dry. Add ham, bone and water and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and mix thoroughly. Add chopped vegetables and bring to a boil. Simmer for one hour before serving.


The above is from the U.S. Senate website. Here is one of the recipes that I use.

U.S. Senate Bean Soup

1 lb. dried navy or great northern beans, sorted, soaked overnight, and drained
12 cups cold water
2 meaty smoked ham hocks (2 lbs.)
3 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped celery
1 cup mashed potatoes
3 gloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme leaves

In a large pot, bring beans, water, and ham hocks to boil over high heat. Lower heat and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally and skimming the surface, for 1 hour or until the beans are tender.

Stir in onions, celery, mashed potatoes, and garlic. Season with pepper and thyme. Raise heat to high and bring to boil. Lower heat and simmer , covered for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer ham hocks to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, cut meat into bite sized pieces, discarding the bones, and stir back into the soup.

*Chief's Black Bean Soup*
From my cookbook - You Can Be a Great Cook With Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Black Bean Soup
	Black beans are similar to pinto beans in flavor.  They are a bit smaller though.  You will find this soup savory, with a Mexican flair that will leave you wanting more.  OLE’
Ingredients:
2 cups. dried Black beans	
3 cups water
2 slices Smoked-Bacon, cut into 1/2" pieces
½ tsp. Salt
1 medium onion, chopped
Toppings:
1 tsp. dried Thyme
3 Corn Tortillas, cut into 1/4" strips
3 cloves Garlic, sliced	
6 tbs. onion, finely chopped
2 Bay Leaves
6 tbs. Cilantro Leaves
5 cups chicken stock
6 Lime Wedges
	Rinse and drain the dried beans. Cover with water and bring to a boil.  Cook for 40 minutes.  Test the beans. If they are tender, drain and set aside.
Fry the bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove the bacon from pan and drain on paper towels. Add the onion, thyme, garlic and bay leaves to bacon drippings.  Sauté’ for 4 minutes. Add the beans, bacon, stock and 3 cups water to pan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Add salt, and simmer for 30 minutes.  Discard the bay leaves. Remove 1 cup of the beans and puree.  Return the pureed beans to the soup.
Brush the tortilla with oil and microwave until tender.  Serve the soup in shallow bowls with tortilla strips laid across the top.  Sprinkle with desired toppings.
*
Most bean and pea soup recipes are similar to those listed above. For that reason, I am going on to the next category of soups and leave you to experiment with various legume soups.  Try replacing the ham or bacon with chicken, turkey, or pork.  You will find that they go great with the bean soups.  In fact, though it’s not a soup, add ground beef to your next batch of baked beans.  The flavor will surprise and delight you.

Recipe used with my permission, as I wrote the cookbook.

seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Ksm (Aug 5, 2021)

I love soups. My  favorites are homemade beef vegetable,  chicken corn with rivels and Pennsylvania style pot pie. (Which is a soup, not anything like a pie)

I make all my own broths. For beef vegetable I use a beef chuck roast that cooks in my crock pot for about 8 hours with a onion tossed in the pot. I do the same thing for the chicken corn with cut up chicken pieces. I remove the meat from the stock and shred or chop. I put the stock in the fridge overnight so I can remove all the grease that came to the top. 

I sauté chopped onions, celery and carrots in a little olive oil with salt and pepper.

For beef vegetable, I add my veggies to my stock. I like corn, lima beans, green beans, cabbage, peas and any other vegetable you may like and one can of chopped tomatoes. I like to use as many fresh vegetables as possible.  Add the chopped meat last. I usually add basil and oregano as well. And just let simmer until all the vegetables are done.

For chicken corn I start the same way with onions, carrots and celery. I then add fresh corn and fresh rosemary and thyme and the chopped chicken to the stock. To make the rivels, it’s just flour and egg and salt and pepper mixed together. We like a lot of rivel, so I’m guessing I use about 3/4 cup of flour and two eggs. You do want it to be a little on the wet side. I start with two eggs and just add flour until correct consistency. You need to have your broth boiling, then just drop very small spoonfuls of your rivels into your broth. Just remember they will get larger when they cook.

For the Pennsylvania style pot pie, it all starts the same. I have made this using ham, beefOr chicken. Start with stock ad your meat and noodles. The noodles are once again just flour, eggs salt and pepper. With this you want the dough drier so you can roll it out.  We like our noodles to be on the thick side. Thicker than you would roll for pasta. Once rolled out, cut into 2” squares and drop into boiling stock. I usually add parsley and thyme.  

Good stuff.

Sorry I don’t have better recipes. I was taught by my mom and grandma. Nothing was ever written down. 
Just toss in this then that.


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## Ksm (Aug 5, 2021)

All of your soups sound wonderful.I will definitely be trying these new to me soups.


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## cookwewill (Aug 5, 2021)

Chief Longwind Of The North : Mashed potatoes in a soup sounds like a great idea, I bet it's gonna thicken it up really nicely. Will definitely give this recipe a try  Thanks for posting it!


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## cookwewill (Aug 5, 2021)

Ksm said:


> Sorry I don’t have better recipes. I was taught by my mom and grandma. Nothing was ever written down.
> Just toss in this then that.



For someone who cooks regularly, these instructions are all I need. Thanks for posting there!


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## cookwewill (Aug 5, 2021)

cookwewill said:


> For someone who cooks regularly, these instructions are all I need. Thanks for posting there!



Cool, lemme know how you liked them


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## larry_stewart (Aug 5, 2021)

Soups are the best.  me and my daughter love them, my wife and son not as much.  Ive been known to go to a restaurant and order the soup for desert ( having already had it as a first course) if it was really good, as my wife chowed down on cheese cake.


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## larry_stewart (Aug 5, 2021)

cookwewill said:


> The second one is a more common soup know all around the world. It's a thick bean soup with vegetables and some meaty bits. People usually use some kind of ham, but I go for smoked pork ribs that I cook first in order to make a simple stock thats smoky in flavor.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Do you have a preference as to which kind of bean works best in this soup ?


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## taxlady (Aug 6, 2021)

There are two soups that I make regularly. One is this Root Vegi Bisque. And the other is this Italian White Bean and Sausage Stew from Chef John.


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## cookwewill (Aug 6, 2021)

larry_stewart said:


> Do you have a preference as to which kind of bean works best in this soup ?



I actually like to mix the types up a bit, kidney, navy, pinto... whatever I can get my hands on. The only rule I follow is to use beans that are similar in size, so they all cook more or less at the same time.


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## larry_stewart (Aug 6, 2021)

cookwewill said:


> I actually like to mix the types up a bit, kidney, navy, pinto... whatever I can get my hands on. The only rule I follow is to use beans that are similar in size, so they all cook more or less at the same time.



Gotcha!  Thats what I figured, just wanted to clarify.  One of those use what you got recipes ( My favorites )

Im looking forward to giving its a go.  A little different than my soup approach , and I love learning/ trying something new.


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