Bland bean soup

[cjsmith]

Bean soup: onion, celery, a lot of great northern beans, parsley, *some* kind of meat for flavor.

If the meat used is salt pork, the soup turns out to have absolutely no flavor whatsoever. Seriously, this is the blandest thing I've tasted in a long time.

I'm sure some herbs and spices could save this. Beyond the obvious cracked black pepper, what would you add?

Comments

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Fish sauce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_sauce). Umami in a bottle.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh bummer. Fish makes me throw up. Something salty maybe? MSG??

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

Ok, suboptimal. Going with the "salty meat" theme, maybe bacon would work better than salt pork? Broth instead of water...garlic never hurts...pre-saute the garlic & onions in a little butter...although really all that is stuff to do if you make the soup again.

Right now I guess I would add rosemary, sage & thyme. Really, I swear. :) A tiny bit of vinegar or lemon juice. And maybe grate some parmesan over the top. Maybe saute some sliced mushrooms in a little butter & add them.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I do the soup with slightly-browned mild Italian sausage, it comes out scrumptious. This batch, though... why did I do a full pound of beans in the double-size crock? Why?

I guess those other three do work well with parsley, eh? ;-) And lemon juice, mmm, I never would have thought of that.

You will laugh when you read what I tried before writing this post: pull out a bowl, start smelling every little jar in the spice cabinet, and add the first thing that smelled good. Garam masala. It's surprisingly not bad. Not exactly what I think of when I think "bean soup", though!

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Actually, the 'smelling every little jar in the spice cabinet' routine is a remarkably effective way of learning what works. And you can probably 'save' the batch with a bit of doctoring. It may not be as good as usual, but it can still be made better than it is.

If sausage makes up a better version, you might try adding just a tiny bit of fennel and poultry seasoning (I know, it sounds weird, you're just going to have to trust me here). Maybe not both at once. Try one, try the other. They're both really strong spices, so a single bowl won't take all that much.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

Miso would give you salt, without MSG. MSG is not usually your friend or anyone's.

Miso comes in many different colors and all have different histories, ingredients and flavors.

I second the parmesan on top suggestion.

Another way to save it is to add intensely flavored toppings and decorations - if you use chili sauces, this would be a place for that. Or preserved vegetables (mysterious chinese store veggies in a packet. Salty and pickled tasting.) Etc...

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

I know this isn't helpful, but I first parsed your concoction as "brain soup".

Hmm, maybe it might add flavor. :-)

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Braaaains. Well, I guess I'm not using mine right now. :-)

[dpolicar]

Garlic sauteed in olive oil, mashed up into paste, add savory and thyme.
Or, for a different approach, minced fresh ginger and galangal -- maybe add some mace. A little brown sugar if you like, but not enough to actually taste

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Ooo, interesting.

I wish I had a clue about herbs and spices. I can imagine improvement in that one area would make the biggest difference in my "cooking".

[brooksmoses]

Mostly the way I've obtained a clue has been playing -- "this comes to mind / smells like it might go, let's put a lot and see what it tastes like". This seems like a good time to do some playing, exactly like you did with the garam masala.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Whole cumin seed. But then I'm a little strange when it comes to spices...

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I like cumin. Why whole? My instinct would be to think first of ground, considering this soup has already been through all the cooking it's likely to get.

[inflectionpoint.livejournal.com]

whole cumin seed, take that and toss into a small amount of damn near smoking hot oil.

let the flavor blossom into the oil. will take about half a minute. turn the heat off and remove oil pan from the heat. pour this infused oil and spice into your soup.

learnt that from an Indian friend as a way to extract and mobilise spice flavors. They called it bhunao. Bhunao refers t the method and can be done with any spice.

[kent4str.livejournal.com]

Ah - I'd missed the "done with cooking" part. You're right, then, whole wouldn't work, but I prefer the flavor of whole if you're going to be cooking it a while.

And
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Ah - I'd missed the "done with cooking" part. You're right, then, whole wouldn't work, but I prefer the flavor of whole if you're going to be cooking it a while.

And
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Ah - I'd missed the "done with cooking" part. You're right, then, whole wouldn't work, but I prefer the flavor of whole if you're going to be cooking it a while.

And <ljuser="inflectionpoint">'s method sound interesting. I'll have to try that.

Also consider smoked paprika, hot or not to your taste.

[kimatha.livejournal.com]

I bet some diced ham would help, and Tony C's Cajun Seasoning.

[recordersmith.livejournal.com]

My thought was cumin as well.

[recordersmith.livejournal.com]

Split it into smaller batches and try the various suggestions...and report back on what worked :-)

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Were I making it over again, I'd add bay leaves, but they don't do much at the last minute. Also in this category: garlic, broth instead of water (though if you have bullion cubes, you might try tossing an appropriate number of those in and seeing if it helps). I generally put a huge heaping lot of cumin in bean soup, but that's with black beans. Not sure if it goes with northern beans. I also usually add diced carrots and bell peppers (sauted with the onion and celery) and maybe some tomato (added later). Lemon (just a little) or orange (more) juice is good in black bean soup, too.

The smelling things and tossing them in if they match approach sounds like a winner. I might try oregano or savory to start with.

[brooksmoses]

Pensey's sells powdered bay leaves, which are for the win.

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

Cumin and corn starch. Or separately, some oregano and spicy italian sausage.

[dawnd.livejournal.com]

Other vegetables, sauteed in some oil, garlic, and maybe some of the other spices people have mentioned? I'm thinking carrots here, for starters.

[erisian-fields.livejournal.com]

Smoke flavoring, maybe?

[wildseakitten.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised salt pork made it bland... probably needed some salt in addition to the salt pork when cooking. I'd try adding a bit of salt now... Try adding chili powder to it, a bit at a time. should dress it up.

[kathryn-aka-kat.livejournal.com]

Any sort of white bean makes me think of cassoulet. So, duck/goose fat, garlic, a little cooked fresh tomato or some stewed/crushed canned tomato, some prosciutto or pancetta? And next time lamb, duck/goose, sausage, pork shoulder, -and- the salt pork. :-)

[eichin.livejournal.com]

Did you just dump the salt pork in, or fry it up first? (The one thing I've ever used salt pork for was pierogi - when frying them, a little in with the onions in the pan. Thus I think it's really more "something to have maillard reactions happen to" than a basic flavor :-)

[brooksmoses]

One thing I'm starting to learn is that usually when things I cook come out bland, it's because I haven't added anywhere near enough salt.

I second the advice on frying the salt pork until crispy, first, if you didn't do that; that makes a notable difference.

Beyond that, to try to save it now I'd probably add some sort of fresh herb and simmer it 15 minutes or so to meld that in. Parsley comes to mind; basil or thyme would also work and might be good.

Oh, one other wild idea, which came from my poking at oatmeal recently: If you've got some cream or milk on hand (and can have it with your diet, which I don't remember), maybe adding 1/8-1/4 cup or so to a 2-cup bowl of the soup would be interesting to try, with some of the other things.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Salt: It Makes Food Taste Better

(I assumed salt pork was pretty salty already, but I wouldn't know.)

[brooksmoses]

(I'd think so too, but it depends on how much one uses. And I think it's not as salty as it sounds, since it's mostly fat and brine doesn't diffuse into fat much. But I could be misremembering; it's been a while since I've had any.)

[jtidwell.livejournal.com]

Coming in late on this thread, but... I often find that bean soups without any acid taste really, really bland to me. Some to try, not necessarily together:

* Tomatoes
* Lemon, lime, or orange juice (though orange adds lots of sugar too)
* Wine
* Vinegar. Cider vinegar is my favorite for generic use, but you can also try red wine, rice, or balsamic vinegar (same warning about sugar), depending on the flavors you want.

For the soup you describe, I would add some canned diced tomatoes early in the cooking process, but it's too late for that. :-) Cider vinegar might rescue it, though; apple flavor complements both pork and pale beans. A dry white wine might work too.

I agree with previous posters about Maillard reactions -- always tasty with beans! -- and salt. I'd try those in addition to acid.

So what did you end up doing, and how did it work out? :-)