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Black Bean Soup
Three cups of beans soaked over night, in two quarts of water; the next day add two more quarts of water, one and one-half pounds of beef and let stand on the stove, where it will keep very warm but not simmer for four hours. Then add one large onion chopped fine, a bunch of thyme and one of parsley, twelve cloves, six pieces of mace, one pint of tomatoes, and a slice of bacon. Let this boil very slowly for an hour and a half, strain through a colander and then through a sieve. Serve in a hot tureen in which are hard boiled eggs, and add a glass of sherry.
— Mrs. George Person
A nineteenth-century black bean soup built on a beef stock made in the same pot, then pushed through a sieve until smooth. The method is sound; only the vagueness about heat needs attention.
- The long warm soak"Keep very warm but not simmer for four hours" describes a back-of-the-range spot on a coal stove, well below boiling. On a modern burner, hold it at a bare simmer with the lid ajar rather than trying to hover below one; four hours of beef sitting in the 40F-140F range is the thing to avoid here.
- Beans and soakingThree cups of dried black beans is about 1 1/4 lb. The recipe keeps its soaking water and adds two quarts more; if you prefer, discard the soaking water and start with fresh, which is usually said to improve flavor and digestibility.
- The beefA pound and a half of shin, chuck or short rib on the bone gives the body the recipe assumes. A boneless lean cut will make thinner stock; add a marrow bone if that is all you have.
- Mace in pieces"Six pieces of mace" means blades of mace, the lacy aril off the nutmeg, not ground. Ground-to-blade equivalents vary, so use whole blades and tie them with the cloves in cheesecloth, which lets you lift the spice out before straining.
- A pint of tomatoesMeasured by volume, either fresh or home-canned. A 14.5 oz can of whole tomatoes with their juice is a reasonable substitute; there is no sugar or paste in this, and the tomato is there for acid, not sweetness.
- Two strainingsColander first to pull out bones, herb stems and spice bag, then a sieve with a wooden spoon or a food mill to force the beans through. A blender gets you smooth but not silky; the sieve step is what removes the skins, and skipping it leaves a gritty soup.
- Eggs and sherryHard-boiled eggs go in the tureen sliced or chopped, and the sherry goes in off the heat at the last moment so it does not cook off. A "glass" here is about 1/4 cup; dry amontillado or oloroso, not cream sherry.
- SaltNone is specified, as the bacon and the cook were expected to handle it. Salt after straining, when the volume has settled.
Black bean soup, thickened by sieving rather than by flour and finished with sherry and sliced egg, was a fixture of American hotel and club dining rooms through the second half of the nineteenth century. Black turtle beans themselves came north through the Caribbean trade, and the name likely encouraged the association with mock turtle soup, which used the same trick of forcemeat or egg floating in a dark, spiced, well-strained broth. Its appearance in a printed collection under a contributor's name shows how quickly a restaurant dish could travel into home kitchens once it was written down, mace blades, sherry glass and all.