Tonight, I made soup beans for dinner. No, I have not made a mistake when I say soup beans. I do not mean bean soup; I mean soup beans.
I am from Appalachia where soup beans are not the same thing as bean soup. Bean soup usually contains things like celery and has a more of a broth. Soup beans are northern, pinto, navy, or other white or brown dried bean cooked with ham or pork hocks.
They are usually served with corn bread. My mom usually made them with dumplings. So, we did not always have corn bread.
I tried to make them like hers, but she never used a recipe. I think I came very close.
Recipe: Soup Beans
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried beans (we always use northern)
- 6-8 c. water
- 6 c. water
- ham bone with some ham or smoked pork hock
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 2 tsp.salt or seasoned salt
- 1 -2 drops liquid smoke (if not using smoked ham or pork hock)
Instructions
- Rinse and sort beans.
- Place in large pot with 6 – 8 c. water.
- Let set over night. OR Bring to a boil for 2 minutes then remove from heat and let set covered for 1 hour.
- Rinse beans.
- Add ham bone and beans to pot with 6 c. of water.
- Add some seasoned salt and pepper. Add liquid smoke if you are using it.
- Cook on medium low for an hour.
- Cook uncovered for an additional hour or so until beans are very tender. Do not stir too much. Add additional seasoned salt and pepper, if needed.
- Add dumplings in when beans are almost done.
- Cover and cook until dumplings are done.
- Test by removing a dumpling and making sure it is cooked through.
Quick Notes
Liquid should reduce as the beans cook concentrating the flavors. Be careful when adding salt and pepper. It is best to add a little then more after tasting closer to the end of the beans cooking time.
The salt content of the ham will also influence how much salt to use.
Recipe: Dumplings
Ingredients
- 1 c. self-rising flour
- 1/2 c. milk
Instructions
- Mix ingredients. Drop by teaspoonfuls into almost completely cooked soup beans.
- Cover and cook until done in the middle.
Variations
Same recipe can make chicken and dumplings.
Just drop batter into heated chicken broth. Cooked covered for about 4 -5 minutes.
For full disclosure, I do not like soup beans. I never have liked soup beans. I only like the dumplings. I have only ever liked the dumplings. However, my husband and daughter both like soup beans and really liked these.
Thanks so much for sharing your Mom’s recipe. I bookmarked it because I want to try to make some dumplings. I’ve never once been successful at making them but I’m hoping your recipe will be the one. 🙂
My family is from the Appalachians, and so I know just what you’re talking about when you say there’s a difference between soup beans and bean soup. 🙂
Sheila, I hope the dumpling recipe works for you. The dumplings my Mom made were always light and fluffy. However, I know that they can also be a dense, pasta-ish and flat in many dishes. In fact, I can find “dumplings” in the grocery stores around here, but rarely the homemade-style noodles I used to buy in the “North.” 🙂
Not only did I grow up on soup beans with dumplings, but somtimes we would also put white bread over our soup beans and put mustard and sugar on top- it is sooo good. My grandma used to make this a lot during the depression- we always called it the poor mans dinner. by the way the sugar and musard is great on the beans and the dumplings too!!!
We ate this a lot when we stayed with our grandma. Sometimes for lunch we would have mustard and sugar sandwiches…….comfort food at it’s finest.
Hi! Thanks so much for this recipe! I grew up in Central West Virginia, and my Mom made soup beans and dumplings very often! As a child, I liked only the dumplings, too, but have since developed an appreciation for the soup beans, as well. I have been wanting to make dumplings, but wasn’t sure how to go about it, and this sounds exactly like how my Mom would have made them! I can’t wait to cozy up with this wonderful comfort food! 🙂
I’d love to know where your mom grew up. I’m researching historical cookbooks and found an almost identical recipe in an 1845 cookbook from Baltimore, Maryland. I decided to give the historical recipe a try because I love white beans. Your results look as yummy as mine!
My mom grew up in Ritchie County, West Virginia. All of her family had settled in the WV/western PA/eastern OH regions by the mid 1800’s, but the ancestry line traces back to eastern VA, easten PA, New Jersey and the eastern half of Maryland in the 1700’s.
Similar soup bean recipes are common in the Mid-Ohio Valley in both Ohio and WV. I also know that they are found in central and southwestern WV as well.
Your research sounds facinating! I love old cookbooks.