Recipe Thread

[The Grand Nudger]

Greens & Soup Beans.

You're gonna need a big ass crock pot or a massive dutch oven (or both) for this one, and when you're done it'll feed an army.


-Prep-
1lb dry beans (I like the 15 bean mixes you can get at any grocer, just toss out the spice packet that comes with it - it's garbage)
2tbsp vinegar or lemon juice.

Rinse the beans, pick out any stones or bugs, and cover them with cold water to soak overnight. Whatever container you have just fill it to about two inches over the beans. The vinegar or lemon juice goes in, stir it around a little bit (soaking helps with digestion - less gassy beans - the vinegar is for something else I'll cover later). You can follow the directions for a quick soak on the beans if you like (quick boil, rinse and set) but I'm lazy, so I like to let em lie overnight.

After the beans have soaked and you're ready to cook you'll need-

5 large carrots (peeled and diced)
5 large celery stalks (rinsed and diced)
1 large sweet onion (peeled and diced)
1 large garlic clove, crushed/diced (about 2 teaspoons)
1 lb greens (I like to mix collards and kale) roughly chopped (if you don't like greens, leave em out)
1 lb salt pork or bacon (cube the saltpork to about 1inch - or chop the bacon - actually prefer salt pork for soups - the salt helps to offset the blandness of beans)

Toss the salt pork or bacon into a large dutch over or a huge skillet (pref one you can cover) with tablespoon of veggie oil (or bacon grease) on low and get it cracklin. Once you've got some of the fats rendered dump the carrots, onions, celery and garlic in, give it a stir, and cover for about 5 minutes (till the onions are translucent) stirring occasionally throughout. Once the onions are translucent toss the greens in, stir, and cover till they just begin to wilt.

Now we have delicious pork-ey goodness all over everything. Here in the last bit we're going to make the broth, give it a quick boil (safety first motherfuckers) and then transfer it to a slow cooker (on low) or turn the gas down as low as we can get it and let it go for about 8-10 hours. To do this, you'll need.

Enough chicken broth to cover the whole shebang (@ 50 ounces - the big swanson cans you see at thanksgiving - or just make your own)
14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes in tomato juice.
-a note on tomato juice, vinegar, lemon juice - any acid really. You'll hear people advise you not to add these things until the beans are fully, or nearly, cooked. They all slow the process of the bean becoming tender. In this recipe, with this cooking time - we actually want that to happen.....so that we can cook the beans in the broth long enough for them to absorb flavor without turning to mush. Redneck cooking 101 - slower is always better. If you don't like chunks of tomatoes you can use V-8. I love V-8 for any vegetable soups, and the V-8 with pepper really helps to spice em up. Keeping the beans from getting tender too early is especially important if you're using a bean mix - like we are- because not all beans cook at the same rate. Some -will- be done before others and regardless of our efforts and some -will- split. This is not an issue, it just thickens the broth. Overall, we want the insides of the beans to be tender, but we want the skins to stay tough enough to keep the beans together. Feel free to add the tomato at the end, omit the vinegar in the rinse if you like. Don't say I didn't warn you..lol.

1-2 tbsp chili powder. I like dark chili powder, it's sweeter and adds more color to the broth.
Salt and pepper to taste. If you used salt pork....you can skip adding any salt....right?
-some other things people add but I omit. Dijon mustard, worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, parsley.....the list is endless.

Once you get the broth were you want it, dump in the pork and veggies, rinse the beans a couple more times, and toss them in too. Stir it all up, and bring the whole thing to a boil - just in case-. Once you've had it boiling for 2-3 minutes turn the heat down as low as possible and cover it for 8-10 hours. If you're using a dutch oven you can leave it on the range, or you can put it in the oven at about 205 (I'd go the oven route) - but imho it's just easier to transfer the whole pot over to a big slow cooker and give it maybe an hour or two on high then turn it to low. 8-10 hours no matter how you do it (may take longer, crockpots are not exactly standard). Plus you can leave it on low for a very long time without the beans going to mush thanks to the tomato and just keep getting yourself bowls full. Your soup aint done in 8-10 hours? NP, let it go longer.

Serve this with cornbread or burn in hell. If I had to guess I'd say this makes about 2-3 gallons of soup.

(The super traditional way to make this is with black eyed peas, collards, okra, sweet onions, and garlic - the only things you can reliably grow in the heat of the florida/georgia summer lol- you just put the pot outside to cook lol....i jest i jest)