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...