Add to: Recipe Box | Grocery List | Meal PlannerRecipe submitted by heybrookeashley, 07/13/06
Soup BeansIngredients (use vegan versions): 1 lb bag of pinto beans (uncooked)
1/3 cup butter-flavored Crisco
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:Soup Beans are definitely a southern favorite, and they are extremely easy to follow. This recipe is exactly how my grandma used to make them except she used fatback to season the beans, and I opt to use butter-flavored Crisco instead.
Sift through the beans to make sure there are no little rocks or bad-looking beans mixed in. Discard the rocks/bad beans (there will only be a few), and rinse the beans THOROUGHLY. I like to put them in a pot full of water and then drain them 3 times just to make sure they're clean.
Next, put the beans in a large pot and cover them with water. Fill with water up to about 1 1/2 inches above the line of beans. Cover the pot and turn on high. Once the beans start boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer and simmer the beans for 20 minutes.
After the 20 minutes, drain the beans again. (This process gets the beans to start cooking, while removing some of the scuzz that will inevitably form during this initial cooking).
Return the beans to the pot, add the butter-flavored Crisco, and again fill with water up to 1 1/2 inches above the beans. Bring to a boil again, then reduce to low heat (lowest setting even) and let the beans simmer for at least 3 hours.
If you turn the heat down low enough, you could let these beans cook all day long, and the longer you let them cook the better they will be! As they continue to cook the juice will thicken and you will have amazing soup beans at the end. You will need to add plenty of salt, probably about 2 tablespoons, but salt to your taste.
Also very important...don't forget to stir the beans often. I probably stir them about 10 times in the course of their cooking. The more you stir the beans, the more the beans will mush up and make the juice thicker, which is what you want.
This recipe goes REALLY GREAT with cornbread. It's a southern tradition. I also have a recipe for cornbread on VegWeb and I would recommend making the two together. If you break up the cornbread into pieces in your soup beans they will be outstanding!
Enjoy!
Serves: 4-6
Preparation time: 5 mins
