Soup from the Bayou

Beautiful soup, so rich and green,

Waiting in a hot tureen!

Who for such dainties would not stoop?

Soup of the evening, beautiful soup!

Lewis Carroll—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Soups have nourished people in almost every culture for longer than 10,000 years. Prior to the Bronze Age and the invention of something like a pot, ancient civilizations boiled meat in water, using as a ‘pot’ animal skins staked over fire. Others heated stones and then moved them from the fire into a hole filled with water, then adding meat, vegetables and grain.

The word ‘soup’ is derived from the German word sop, which originally referred not to the soup itself, but to the bread over which soup, broth or other liquid was poured. From sop came sup and suppe. Sup was another word for ‘eat’ and ‘supper’ denoted the meal…zuppa, sopa and shorpa, a variety of words offering insight into how important this hearty dish has been in our collective history.

With a big chunky hock left over from a fresh ham, letting it go to waste was out of the question, so I looked through The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine for a good way to put the ham hock to use. Of course, the big cookbook offers a wide choice of soups, but I was looking for a recipe that uses white beans and ham, sure I would find something with those ingredients as a base. The answer was Cajun White Bean Soup. I was stopped for a moment by the inclusion of tasso in the list of ingredients, not sure I could find the real thing this far from south Louisiana. Tasso is a dried pork seasoned with cayenne pepper, garlic and salt and then heavily smoked. The word ‘tasso’ comes from the Spanish tasajo which is dried, cured beef. The Cajun pork version is a popular seasoning in South Louisiana. For my white bean soup I was forced to substitute country cured ham which is the closet thing to tasso at the local market.

So, here is a tried and true recipe for CAJUN WHITE BEAN SOUP pretty much guaranteed to please.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large package Great Northern Beans

2 pieces heavy smoked ham hocks ( 1 large ham hock will serve as well)

1 cup julienned tasso

¾ cup oil

2 cups diced onion

2 cups diced celery

1 cup diced bell pepper

¼ cup minced garlic

2 cups diced tomatoes

water as needed

1 bay leaf

salt and cracked black pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

The cookbook says to presoak dried beans overnight in cold water, but you will get the same result by placing the beans in a large pot with 10 cups of water; bringing it to a boil for 2-3 minutes; removing the pot from the stove and letting the beans stand covered for 1 hour. When the beans are ready, heat the oil in a 2-gallon soup pot, add the onion, celery, bell pepper, garlic and tomatoes. Sauté 3-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are wilted. Add ham hocks and tasso. Continue to sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Stir beans into vegetable mixture and sauté 2 minutes.

Pour in enough cold water to cover beans by 2 inches. Bring to a rolling boil, reduce to simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for approximately 1 hour. When the beans begin to get tender, mash them against the side of the pot to create creaminess. Season with bay leaf, salt and pepper. Continue simmering and stir-mashing the beans now and then. The soup is ready when it has reached a creamy consistency.

Adjust the seasoning and serve with warm French bread and a green salad.

Count on a preparation time of a little over two hours, and with the measurements here soup enough for ten or eleven people. A little bread and salad served with it makes a hearty and filling meal.

A Gift of Soup

Searching around the kitchen pantry, thinking about lunch and not finding much there, I check the refrigerator. Nothing down below, but in the freezer I find a large container of bean soup. Frozen solid but I have an appliance for that, and the big hunk of frozen bean soup looks like just the thing. It’s soup someone gave me a month or so ago that until now has been lost behind popsicles and pork chops.

Some time later, after turning the soup for a spell on its magic defrosting rack, the appliance signals that the beans are jumpin’. Soup’s on. The crunch of an onion roll is good complement, so I toast one up. I’ve eaten this same soup before and the surprising fragrance rising hot off it is familiar. By surprising I only mean that it is close to gamy, maybe something like pheasant or quail. On the other hand, I am fairly certain neither of these two birds found their way into B’s soup. Whatever it is, the fragrance stirs my appetite.

I have paper and pen at hand thinking I will jot some notes on the taste, but I am hard pushed to distinguish the flavors in this soup. In some dishes the names of ingredients come to mind, but this one defeats me. White beans, ham hocks, sausage… There my certainty ends. Whatever the remaining combination of ingredients might be is hard to say. The soup is rich and full of country flavors, very close to Louisiana cooking. The fact that B, who made this soup comes from Louisiana might have something to do with it. She cooks a lot, and it all started when she was a little girl in Baton Rouge, cooking beside her mama. But the bean soup, wherever she learned it, wherever the recipe traveled from, the bean soup is a fine gift from a good cook.

Without knowing specific ingredients my sense of description is confused. Bean soup with ham is probably a familiar taste to many, so think of B’s soup as starting from there and building to a rich stew-like thickness, chunky with ham and sausage, a hint of Louisiana air tying the flavors together. Not everyone will choose to, but I ladle the soup over a spoonful or two of steamed white rice. The onion roll too, is a tasty extra. I’m comfortable with a glass of iced coffee this time, but a glass of Wal-Mart’s Oak Leaf sauvignon blanc would be a good match with a hearty bean soup like this one.

Sorry B if I have confused your recipe through the failure of my dull tongue to interpret the seasonings. I’m usually better, but this one addled my taste buds. When you make the soup again, if there are leftovers… What do you think? Any chance you’ll be in the neighborhood?

Greatest thanks and love to the person who teaches me about food and cooking—Beverly.