Stop Buying Canned Beans — Seniors, Make This Mountain Pot of Soup Beans Instead

Get my printed cookbook: 36 recipes, 60 kitchen methods: https://vernasbook.com Open a can of beans and look at it. Now think of the day you tried the dry kind, simmered them all afternoon, and they were still hard in the middle. That was not your cooking. More often than not, those beans were already old when you bought them. My mother put soup beans on the table every Monday and every Thursday, from one bag, in one pot, for pennies, and I have never tasted a can that came close. Stay to the end for the best part of the pot, the part most folks pour down the sink. 🍲 MY MOTHER'S SOUP BEANS (serves 6 to 8) • 1 lb dried pinto beans • 3 tablespoons salt, for the soak • 1 smoked ham hock, about 3/4 lb (or a few strips of bacon, cut small, or 2 tablespoons bacon grease) • 1 medium onion, chopped • 8 cups water (2 quarts) • About 1 teaspoon salt to finish, more to taste • Black pepper, and red pepper flakes if you like it 🔥 THE METHOD 1. Spread the beans on a plate and pick out the stones, the shriveled ones, and any split in half. Rinse until the water runs clear. 2. Soak in salt water: 3 tablespoons salt in 4 quarts of water, overnight on the counter. Drain and rinse. (Forgot? Cover with the same salted water, bring to a boil, take off the heat, and let stand covered for 1 hour. Skipping the soak works too, they just cook longer.) 3. Beans, ham hock, chopped onion, and 8 cups of water into a heavy pot. No salt yet. Bring to a boil and skim off the gray foam. 4. Turn it down to a bare simmer, one slow bubble every couple of seconds. Lid tilted. 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours, checking from 1 1/2. Top up with hot water if the beans are not covered, never cold. 5. Done when a bean gives way against the side of the pot with no fight, creamy all the way through. 6. Now salt. Taste the broth, not a bean, and add a little at a time. About 1 teaspoon on top of what the meat gave, sometimes more. Acid (tomato, vinegar, chow-chow) only at the very end. 7. Thin broth? Mash a cup of the beans against the side of the pot and stir them back in. Serve with cornbread, raw chopped onion, and chow-chow. 🥄 THE POT LIKKER The dark broth in the bottom of the pot is the best part. Never pour it down the sink. 🍳 THE SECOND SUPPER • BEAN CAKES: mash 2 cups of drained beans with 1/2 cup cornmeal, 1 minced onion, 1 egg, salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper. Let stand 10 minutes. Shape 1/2 inch thick and fry in bacon grease 3 to 4 minutes a side until a hard brown crust sets. • DUMPLINGS: bring the leftover beans and likker to a gentle simmer, drop in spoonfuls of thick biscuit batter, lid on tight, and do not lift it for 15 minutes. • FREEZE the rest in portions with some of its likker, up to 3 months. Both recipes, with every measure, are in the printed cookbook: https://vernasbook.com THE HONEST WORDS • Still hard after 3 hours? Most likely the beans were old. Buy a fresher bag. • Split and mushy? The heat got away from you. • Bland? Nine times out of ten you were shy with the salt. • Fresh beans that fight you every time? Check your water. Hard water can stiffen the skins. A scant 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda per pound, and no more, can fix it. Soft water, skip it. • Keep a few cans in the pantry for the tired nights. No shame in it. If this saves you from one more can this winter, I would take a subscribe as a personal kindness. It costs you nothing and it helps me keep making these for you. Have a blessed day. -Verna CHAPTERS 0:00 The can of beans and the day you gave up 1:29 The other bean video (the sequel) 2:33 Piece 1: buy the right bag 4:15 Piece 2: sort and the salted soak 5:39 Piece 3: the pot and the fat 6:49 Piece 4: the low simmer 8:18 Piece 5: salt and acid 9:18 Piece 6: pot likker, the best part 10:09 Piece 7: the second supper 11:38 Honest words #soupbeans #pintobeans #appalachiancooking #southerncooking