Soup Beans

"There was an old man of Orleans,
Who was given to eating of beans;
Till once out of sport,
     he swallowed a quart,
That dyspeptic old man of Orleans."

- Edward Lear

I don't know too many people who don't like soup beans and corn bread.  That being said, my husband was one of them, until he ate mine after we were married.  Soup beans are one of those things that are not incredibly difficult to prepare, but if you know what you're doing they turn out a whole heckuva lot better.  This is my go-to way to prepare either pintos or black beans.  Even my daughter, picky eater that she is, and my son (who is even pickier) will eat these.  Well, my son will drink the "water" the beans cooked in.  Close enough - I won't split hairs!

Soup Beans

2 lb pinto beans (Halstead are best for quick-soak)

16 cups water

6-14.5oz cans low sodium chicken broth

3-14.5oz cans filled with water

1 lb country ham hock (optional)

1. First things first, you must sort, rinse, and drain your beans.  No one wants to end up with a rock in their mouth!  These are the beans and debris I picked out of my 2 pounds today.  You may only want to pick out rocks, so do it however you want to.  This is merely a suggestion and the way I do it.

2. Dump the sorted beans into your largest stock pot (I think mine is 12qt), and add the 16 cups of water and put on the lid.  Bring it to a boil for 5 minutes.  Turn off the heat, but leave the pot on the hot cap for 2 hours.

3. Drain and rinse the beans again.  They should be about double the size they were dried.

4. Put them back in the pot.  Add the ham hock (if you don't have a ham hock, use a meaty bone from a spiral ham, or large chunks of spiral ham), chicken broth, and water.  Put the lid on.

5. Bring back to a boil, then turn down to simmer.  You can literally simmer these all day long, as long as you don't run out of liquid.  The longer you simmer, the more tender the bean will be.  If you don't cook them long enough, they are a bit chalky in texture.  Also, they are much better on the second day, because the liquid has had time to thicken.

6. Once you have simmered them for a couple of hours, remove the ham hock to a cutting board, and shred the meat, discarding the bone, fat, and skin.

7. Add the shredded meat back to the beans, stir, and serve with cornbread.