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

[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.