Ham and Bean Soup

1/2 pound of dry Black Beans
Chunk of Ham still attached to the bone
2 medium onions, diced
2 Cups of Carrots cut into big chunks
3 bay leaves
~1 big Tablespoon of Brown Sugar
after cooking, salt and pepper to taste

Sort and rinse the dry black beans, toos them into a pressure cooker with the other ingredients. TIP: Adding the brown sugar and not salt before cooking helps the beans retain their shape without turning into mush. Add water about 3 times as much water as there is of the bean mixture. Stir it around to disolve the sugar. Put the lid on the cooker and bring to pressure over medium heat. Once it is to pressure, I use a weight set for 15 psi, turn the heat down so that pressure is maintained, the weight should rock and shake but not too fast, for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly depressurize the pot. Remove the bay leaves. Take out all pieces of bone. Remove the big chunks of ham, break them up and return them to the pot. You may need to add more water to get the right consistancy that you desire. Salt and pepper to taste, you may not need much salt due to the ham but some people like more salt than others. Taste it before adding the salt.

Recipe Notes

Black beans are not the traditional bean to use in a ham and bean soup. However, I find they add significantly to the flavor of the soup and that flavor is just right. Besides, black beans have a lot more fiber than white beans.

You could try this in a slow cooking crock pot. I have not tried that and you will have to experiment with time and amount of water to add. It would be my guess that it would require more water than in the pressure cooker.

I suppose you could try this with precooked beans but since the bone needs cooked. I suppose you could use boneless ham but the flavor and consistancy will not be quite the same as with having cooked the bone.

Recipe History

I cooked a 16 pound full ham for Christmas in 2007. So I had to do something with the left over meat and bone. I started tossing a few things in the pressure cooker and stopped with the thought that simpler is better. Well, it turned out amazingly good as you will see.