Black Bean Soup
Mrs. Morris Addison
One pint of black Mexican beans, put them in five pints of water (without soaking), boil about five hours. Pass beans and liquid through a sieve, half an hour before serving; do it thoroughly, that it may be thick enough. Put it back into the pot with salt, pepper, bunch of thyme, onions, a quarter of lemon cut in thin slices, and a tablespoonful of butter. Have two eggs, boiled hard, cut up in your tureen, and a wineglass of good wine. Pour soup on it and give it a stir.
A classic 19th-century black bean soup, puréed smooth and dressed at the table with hard-boiled egg, lemon, and a glass of wine.
- “Black Mexican beans”Simply black turtle beans — the common black bean. No overnight soak is called for here; just a long, slow boil (about 5 hours) until meltingly soft.
- Pass it through a sievePushing the beans and liquid through a sieve (or blending) is what gives this soup its signature velvety body. Thin with a little water or stock if needed.
- The classic garnishSlices of hard-boiled egg and thin lemon in the tureen are traditional and worth keeping — the egg adds richness, the lemon brightness.
- “A wineglass of wine”About ¼ cup of Madeira or dry sherry, stirred in at the end — the finishing touch that defines the dish.
Puréed black bean soup, finished with sherry or Madeira and a slice of egg and lemon, was a fixture of American tables in the 1800s — genteel enough for a club dining room, cheap enough for a family. (A near-identical version has been served in the United States Senate’s dining room for well over a century.) The nod to “Mexican” beans hints at the ingredient’s Latin American roots; the splash of fortified wine is the Old-World flourish that turned a pot of beans into something for company.
From page 10 of the 1904 edition.
Original page from the book
