Experimental black bean soup

[Dannyalcatraz]

 

 

I made a black bean soup with a twist.  The results (above) were served with a ball of white rice and a dollop of sour cream.

 

I soaked 1lb of beans overnight, then drained them.

 

In my stock pot, I cooked 1lb of bacon (sliced into squares) and 1lb of a Louisiana hot sausage (all beef).  After they cooked, I removed the meat from the pot and set it aside.

 

I then added 1/2 of a large onion, 4 stalks of celery, one bunch of green onion, and a whole head of garlic (all diced) and cooked them in the meat’s rendered fat until the white onion began to clarify.  I then deglazed the pot with one can of chicken stock and added the beans.  I also added one chicken bouillon cube and 4 bay leaves.

 

THE TWIST: the rest of the liquid the soup would need was supplied by the braising liquid from a pork butt I cooked the day before.  That liquid was made from 2 bottles of Blue Moon beer and 2 bottles of Asahi beer, and had been seasoned with salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, brown sugar, chives, and parsley.  (Plus the rendered fat from the pork butt, of course.)

 

The flavors were a little more complex than my typical creole red beans.  And unfortunately, I undercooked the beans slightly- they’re not as soft as I’d like.  Overall, though, the results were good enough to warrant further exploration.  

While I could simply add beer to a pot of beans directly and get similar results, the experiment’s PURPOSE was to see what I could do with braising liquid after using it for its primary purpose.  (Gravy is another option, but that’s a LOT of liquid to make gravy out of…)

[Dave Bryce]

1 hour ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

 

THE TWIST: the rest of the liquid the soup would need was supplied by the braising liquid from a pork butt I cooked the day before.  That liquid was made from 2 bottles of Blue Moon beer and 2 bottles of Asahi beer, and had been seasoned with salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, brown sugar, chives, and parsley.  (Plus the rendered fat from the pork butt, of course.)

 

 

 

Nice, Danny!

 

dB

[Threadslayer]

Was it a conscious decision to use those two types of beer for the liquid or was that just what you had on hand?