It's a cold, frigid day here in Eastern, KY. My husband is home on vacation and I was looking for something to warm up both of our bellies. Then I thought, "hum, haven't had brown soup beans in forever."
So off to the kitchen I went and put some on. I didn't get to soak them overnight in water, as I usually do, to make them more tender. But they are on cooking now.
A trick I learned years ago from my granny, was to put a teaspoon or so of flour (I use self rising) into the the pot. It will make your bean juice thicker. And that's the part of the beans I love. I don't even care if I get any beans in my bowl as long as I have the juice. But it has to be thick, I can't stand watery bean juice. As you see in the pic, my beans are no where near done, because the juice still has a watery look.
Alot of people that I know will add things such as pork bacon, salt pork or ham hock to their beans to add flavoring. Being as I am allergic to pork and most meats, I however, add about 5 slices of turkey bacon to the beans along with salt. I'm not sure if the turkey bacon slices really add any flavoring, but it looks good. lol.
As a side to my beans, I prefer to make what we call around here, "batter bread." Batter bread is basically a mixture of self rising flour and water (most use milk, but I'm allergic lol) mix it up in a bowl and fry it on top of the stove in vegetable oil until golden brown. It's really great for soaking up the bean juice. I just love it. My husband hadn't ever had it until he met me. He always had home-made bisquits with his beans. But he says he likes the batter bread just as much. And since it's my favorite, that's what I fix with the beans. lol.
After the beans are in my bowl, I enjoy them with sliced onions, a teaspoon of relish and the side of batter bread. Uuum Good!
Do you add anything special to brown beans when cooking them for flavor?
