Thick Bean Soup with Beef Brisket and Vegetables
I learned to make thick bean soup by accident, simply out of curiosity about similar dishes in the Balkans. Nobody in our family ever grew beans, so I had never seen them before, except in pictures. They were often mentioned in books, though. Until then, all I knew about bean dishes was the beans with bacon eaten by Jack London's famous heroes, Smoke and Shorty.
To my taste, soups like this are best made thick, puréeing all the vegetables or just part of them with a blender or rubbing them through a sieve. Legume seeds, dried beans included, are very nourishing on their own and are rich in protein and other valuable nutrients. So if you cook a thick, rich soup with pieces of meat, one bowl can keep you full for a long time.
In everyday speech people rarely say which beans they mean, and the word is often used for kidney beans. That is why, in most cases, they are what goes into soups. Soup beans are one of the staple foods across much of the New World, where many varieties are grown on a large scale. In cities, people generally prefer canned, ready-cooked beans.
Here we more often come across the so-called broad bean, or fava bean, a cultivated plant with edible parts. The seeds are used in many cuisines around the world: the Arab dish ful medames (ful midamess), which is beans stewed with spices, the Moroccan bissara sauce, the Italian soup maccu, and so on. There are also salads and all sorts of side dishes, and plenty of street food.
Dried beans can be boiled forever. So, to make things easier, soak them in cold water for 8-10 hours. Or, alternatively, steam them in boiling water for 1-1.5 hours. After that the cooking time shortens to under an hour.
We made the bean soup with a rich beef brisket broth and aromatic herbs. The vegetables (carrot, onion and a potato) were cooked at the same time as the meat. The soaked beans were boiled separately and added to the soup shortly before the end of cooking. Some of the beans, the carrot and the potato were puréed and thinned with broth, which gives the soup its thickness. Some of the beans and pieces of meat were left whole.
More with beef brisket
Buckwheat SoupHomemade buckwheat soup on a rich beef brisket broth with potatoes, carrot, onion and parsnip – a light, hearty Ukrainian-style soup, step by step with photos.
Pork Meatball Soup with Beef BrothHomemade soup with small pork meatballs poached in a rich beef brisket broth, with vegetables, fine vermicelli and herbs. Step-by-step recipe with photos.
Beef Brisket Soup with Basmati Rice and SpicesRich beef brisket soup with basmati rice, garlic and chili. A step-by-step recipe for a hearty, aromatic first course with a flavorful homemade broth.
Sauerkraut Soup with Beef and MilletHearty sauerkraut soup on rich beef brisket broth with millet, potatoes and tomato. Rinse the sauerkraut to tame the sourness. Serve with sour cream and salo.Ingredients
2 servings
- Dried beans 200 g
- Beef brisket 350 g
- Carrot 1
- Onion 1
- Potato 1
- Green onion 2-3
- Salt, black pepper, bay leaf, dried herbs (mix) to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- Good-quality dried beans are sold in supermarkets in small packs, usually 200-300 grams. That is enough for a good family-sized soup. If you buy them at a market, check the quality: there may be pests, mold or a lot of debris. The day before cooking, rinse the beans, cover them with cold water and put them in the fridge, overnight if you like.
- Transfer the soaked beans to a pot, cover with cold water and put on the heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat. The water should barely simmer. It is hard to predict the cooking time in advance. At the very least it takes 45 mins, and at most more than an hour. If the water boils away, top it up only with boiling water from the kettle. Do not salt the water; you can add a little salt 10 minutes before the beans are done, or salt the finished soup instead. Drain the water, as it turns dark and is not suitable for the soup.
- You can make the broth at the same time. Pour 6 cups of cold water into a pot and add the beef brisket, either cut up or in one piece. Bring to a boil and skim off the foam. If the liquid suddenly turns cloudy, I rinse the meat and cover it with fresh water, which only makes the broth better.
- Peel the onion, potato and carrot. I cook all the vegetables in large pieces or whole. Add the spices; so they do not float around in the soup, I use a sachet or a piece of clean cloth. You can put 1-2 bay leaves into the sachet, plus a pinch each of dried thyme, parsley, basil and rosemary. If you have dried green onion and soup roots, feel free to add them too.
- Simmer the broth gently for about an hour. The liquid should not bubble hard. Take the cooked vegetables and meat out of the broth. Cut the meat into pieces, any size you like. Add about a quarter of the cooked beans to the broth. Discard the onion and the herb sachet.
- Blend the carrot, potato and the rest of the cooked beans into a smooth purée. For easier blending, add 1-2 ladles of broth to the blender jar. You will get a smooth purée with no lumps. By the way, the cooked bean skins blend very well. Pour the purée into the broth and stir.
- Salt the bean soup to taste and add plenty of pepper. I did not add any other spices, but if you like, you can add ground coriander and a little chili. Let the soup simmer gently for a few minutes.
- Ladle the bean soup into bowls and divide the pieces of meat between them. Finely chop the green onion and sprinkle it over the soup before serving. Fresh bread or croutons go well with it. In some countries the soup is eaten with cornbread or nacho chips. The soup is at its best while hot, and it is better not to reheat it.
Meat tenderizerAliExpress
Kitchen probe thermometerAliExpress
Pull chopper for garlic and onionAliExpress
Oil sprayerAliExpress
Kitchen scale up to 5 kgAliExpress
Vegetable chopper with handleAliExpress| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 90 kcal per 100 g |
| Prep: | 1 h |
| Cook: | 30 mins |
| Total: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Cuisine: | European |
| More of my recipes: | |
| Rating: |