Home › Soups with Meat, and Purees › Baked-Bean Soup
Baked-Bean Soup
To a pint of baked beans add 1 quart water and a slice of onion; boil to a pulp, mash, and season. An equal part of sweet corn may be added; if dried corn is used, soak it overnight, chop, and add to beans after straining to remove the indigestible hulls. Do not use the water in which it was soaked.
A leftovers soup built on the previous day's baked beans, with no quantities beyond the pint of beans and quart of water. It works as written, but the seasoning and the final texture are left entirely to the cook.
- The hinge: strain, then thinBoiling to a pulp and mashing gives a coarse, grainy soup. Pass the beans and their liquid through a sieve or food mill to leave the skins behind, then thin back to the consistency you want with water or stock — a puree of this kind tightens noticeably as it stands.
- A pint of beansThat is a volume measure of cooked baked beans, roughly 2 cups or a standard 16 oz can including its sauce. The quart of water is a starting point; molasses-heavy beans will need more, plain ones less.
- Seasoning is doing the work"Season" is the whole instruction. Baked beans already carry salt, molasses and pork fat, so taste before salting and add sharpness rather than sweetness — mustard, a splash of vinegar or Worcestershire, and plenty of black pepper.
- The slice of onionOne slice simmered whole is a mild flavouring, not a base. If you want more depth, sweat a chopped small onion in butter first and add the beans and water to it.
- Dried cornThis is corn dried on the cob or cut and dried, not popcorn or cornmeal. It is still sold in some regions; whole-kernel canned or frozen corn substitutes directly and needs no soaking, just a few minutes in the finished soup.
- Discarding the soaking waterThe recipe gives no reason for throwing out the soak water; the likely concerns are grit and the flat flavour dried corn gives up overnight rather than safety. Add the soaked, chopped corn after straining so the kernels stay whole in the smooth base.