The BEST Soup Beans You'll Ever Make (The Appalachian Way)

The BEST Soup Beans You'll Ever Make (The Appalachian Way) If your beans ever came out hard in the middle, mushy on the outside, or tasting like nothing at all, it was not you. Most of the time it was an old bag of beans and a fire that was too high. Today I'm showing you how my granny made soup beans in a holler in Letcher County, Kentucky: one pot, a ham hock, the lowest fire in the house, and time. You'll learn why salt does not make beans tough (and what really does), whether you need to soak them, why you never pour out the pot likker, and how one pot of beans turns into three different suppers. --- SOUP BEANS – FULL RECIPE Ingredients - 1 lb dried pinto beans (buy from a busy store for the freshest bag) - 10 cups water - 1 smoked ham hock, or 1/4 lb fatback or salt pork - 1 yellow onion, peeled and cut in half - 1 tsp salt to start, more to taste - Black pepper Method 1. Sort the beans on a sheet pan or table. Pick out the little stones, broken beans and shriveled ones. Rinse in cold water until it runs clear. 2. Put the beans, water, ham hock and onion halves in your biggest pot. No salt yet. Bring to a boil for about 5 minutes. 3. Turn it down to the lowest simmer you can hold, one lazy bubble every second or two. Lid on, tilted a finger's width. Cook 2 to 3 hours. Check the water every half hour and add HOT water from the kettle if it drops below the beans. Never cold. 4. At around the hour mark, pull out the ham hock. Taste the likker, then add salt and pepper. When the hock is cool, shred the meat and put it back in the pot. 5. The beans are done when one crushes against the side of the pot with no resistance at all. Taste the likker and adjust the salt until it tastes like something you'd drink from a cup. Serve with skillet cornbread, raw sweet onion and a spoon of chow-chow on top. Notes - Soaking is optional. It saves about 30 minutes and can help digestion, but some flavor goes out with the water. - Keep acid (tomato, vinegar, chow-chow) out of the pot until the end. Acid keeps beans from softening. - Still hard after 3 hours? The beans were old. Start over with a fresh bag. - Freeze leftovers in portions WITH their likker. --- ONE POT, THREE SUPPERS Night 1: Soup beans and cornbread, loose and brothy. Night 2: Cook 2 cups of beans with a little likker in a skillet with bacon grease until thick and glossy. Spoon over buttered cornbread. Night 3: Mash leftovers with chopped onion and a handful of cornmeal, shape into cakes and fry in bacon grease, about 3 minutes a side. --- Tell me in the comments: what county are you from, and did your people eat their soup beans with chow-chow or raw onion? Skillet cornbread (last episode): [LINK] My cleaning channel, Clean the Old Way: [LINK] Next time: homemade chow-chow. #soupbeans #appalachiancooking #pintobeans #oldfashionedcooking #southerncooking #beansandcornbread