Bean Soup

I love my mother-in-law's bean soup that is served with sauerkraut, but I have never tried to make it because I didn't think it could possibly be as good as hers. We made lots of calls to her to make sure that we got everything right, but in the end my husband said it was nearly perfect!

Making this soup was perfect for a weekend predicted to have snow, and it gave me an opportunity to try out my slow cooker method for Calypso Beans again.

Bean Soup

1 lb Calypso Beans (from Lonesome Whistle CSA)

5 c water

1 lb ham shank (or ham hock)

1/2 lb smoked pork chops (bones cut from meat)

2 polish sausages (or mix of Hungarian, smoked, etc.)

3T butter

flour

sauerkraut

Place beans and water in slower cooker and cook on low for one hour until beans are plump.

Add in ham shank and bones from the smoked pork chops. Cook on low for 6 hours stirring occasionally.

Make Johnny Cakes to put in the oven just before starting the next steps on the stove top.

When fully cooked, remove bones. Transfer soup to a pot on the stove top.

Strip ham from bones and return some to the soup. Cut up pork chop meat and add to the soup. Cut up sausage into rounds and add to the soup (This photo shows one Polish and one Hungarian sausage. We decided to use two Polish in the final soup.)

Turn up the temperature to boil the soup.

Make a roux with butter (or fat) and flour. Mix roux into boiling soup to thicken stirring constantly. Turn down and serve hot with sauerkraut.