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

[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.)