Soup beans and corn bread
 

This was one of my favorite meals when I was a kid. I can't find a recipe anything like my mom's and she didn't use a recipe. I can never get the seasoning right so the beans have that earthy savory taste. Any ideas out there?

I think some of the spices I use might lend that "earthy" flavor you spoke of. I know that my kiddos (all now adults) still think I make the best beans, lentils, etc., so I'll tell you the mainstay.

I start out with a broth created from cooking smoked ham hocks. I let them simmer a good long while until I can pick the good meat out of them and place the small bits back into the broth and discard the bones, rind, etc. As the ham hocks are cooking, I add a lot of chopped onion, some garlic, salt and pepper. Then I add a bay leaf or two, some chopped or diced carrots and the presoaked beans, lentils, etc. Lastly, I add some chopped celery. That's the base. Sometimes I enhance with small speatzle (sp) dumplings to the lentil soup, and even some bits of pasta, barley, etc., for other combos. Of course, there's always the occasional add of parsley and/or chopped spinach.

As to the cornbread, my family much prefers the type cooked with canned chopped green chilies, canned cream-style corn, and a healthy add of shredded cheddar cheese. Let it sit for a few minutes in the baking pan before placing it in the oven to get a nice, crisp top.

Hope this is close to what you're describing, and now my appetite is whetted so I think I'll make up a mess of this and call the kids.

I buy the 15 bean mix. I just dump it in a pot with about a pound of ham chunks and a large onion and way more salt than a doctor would like. I never soak it all night or any of that other stuff you are supposed to do. Let it simmer all day. My mamaw never put anything else in hers either, but she only used northern beans. I really like the mix.

Pinto beans, Ham hock, chopped onion, bay leaf, salt just enough water to cover the beans by an inch or 2 simmer 4-6 hours or longer till soft stir occasionally and make sure the beans are covered with water.

Cornbread is 1/2 cornmeal 1/2 flour, a cpl tbs suar ( just enough to keep the bitterness out) , veg oil, egg and milk. Pour into a greased preheated cast iron pan cook in a hot oven.

Serve with pan fried potatoes, sliced onion and chow chow....

And don't forget to invite me over for dinner :-)

Man! Now i want some! I dont eat ham but use turkey ham, i know what she means though, tried all the above but still missing something!!

My mom used to own a restaurant. She was frequently asked for her recipe for ham and beans. She used pinto beans, ham bone, and her spices....nothing but salt and pepper. Try it!

I presoak 4 cups of sorted Great Northern beans overnight, cook them in chicken broth, add a finely chopped onion, and a large smoked turkey leg to keep the fat down and cook till the beans are soft. Check for salt and add pepper. Delicious. My husband likes cornbread with it, but I don't care for it so I eat homemade wheat bread.

Sometimes no matter what you do it will not taste like moms, there is just something in a memory that you can't duplicate.

We have soup beans at least once a month. Just beans, water, ham broth or a ham bone, salt. That's it!

I live near Philadelphia and around here we add one shredded carrot, a chopped-up potato(for thickening) and GARLIC!
Sometimes a fresh tomato. No it is not veggie but it is earthy.
OOPS, I forgot - some kind of ham - smoked butt is very flavorful.

Did you have boiled dinner before she made bean soup? (boiled ham bone with vegetables carrots, onion, potato, cabbage) Perhaps she used the leftover broth in her bean soup. The cabbage might be the seasoning that you miss.

I like to just cook pinto or red beans with a 1/2 pound of bacon chopped up and added at beginning of cooking. I put this in a crock pot the night before I want it and by 5 the next day it's done. Then salt and pepper to taste. Love to either have corn bread or just dip other breads in the juice.

You may be right about this. When I went home this summer I was dying to have a Richard's steak sandwich. In my mind I could almost taste the last one I had years ago. I was really disappointed. Although it was good it tasted nothing like I remembered. The recipe is supposed to be the same.

Pinto beans ham hock salt chile power will give u that flavor

My mother-in-law always said you couldn't cook beans without a ham BONE in them and she had the best beans I have ever tasted. I think she added some onion and salt and pepper to the mix and always used Northern beans, no the navy beans. She always said the navy beans were too hard.

I think vegetable soup tastes better with soup bones cooked in them too. I have tried it with and without and there is something in the bones that give the soup, beans or whatever you are cooking a better flavor.

We like a sweeter cornbread, so I have always used the Jiffy Mix, but have now come up with a recipe that is close to the same thing so if not in a hurry, I make it from scratch.

All this is making me hungry for some ham and beans Ummmmm!

All this talk about soup

If you want a quick and easy recipe, or one that you can take to a function, here's what I do, and everyone LOVES it when I take it to functions:
1. Brown 1 lb. hamburger meat with 1 chopped onion and a clove or two of garlic, drain grease off
2. Place meat, onion and garlic in a crock pot
3. Add 5 cans assorted beans with the liquid (or as many different assortments as you want, I use more than 5 types: great northern, pinto, garbanzo, lima, butter beans, black beans, kidney beans, green beans, etc.) I don't use pork and beans or ranch style beans
4. 1 can Rotel tomatoes (original or hot) with the liquid. We like spicy, so I use hot
5. 1 can chopped tomatoes with the liquid, or fresh tomatoes
6. 1 or 2 chopped jalapenos (or canned) if you like spicy, which we do
Optional if you want to add: chopped fresh cilantro and a can of corn

Serve with homemade buttermilk cornbread

Try replacing the ham with crisp cooked chopped bacon, we like the pepper bacon for this. I do rinse most of the pepper off before cutting, since DH can't eat dinner while sneezing. Lol! Real earthiness to bacon and beans. Cook the bacon on low until crisp but not burnt

funny, I just heard this song the other day! An oldie but a goodie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM9jT2eM6KQ

Would you mind adding the cornbread recipe. Glenn swears he doesn't like cornbread but I think he's like this recipe. He loves hot peppers of any kind.

Sounds yummy.

Just read this post. Better late than never I guess! My Mother always added a Tablespoon of mustard to her Great Northern beans when she first put them in the pot, along with the onion, ham and salt and pepper and water. I have always done this too.

Someone asked for the cornbread recipe I use. I'm almost embarrassed to show it here, it's so easy. I use a 9x9" pan sprayed well. Dump all this in a bowl: 2 boxes of Jiffy cornbread mix, 2 eggs, 1 small can cream style corn, 1 small can chopped Ortega green chilies (or jalepenos if you like it spicier) and about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese. You can also add a small can of chopped ripe olives if you like. Mix it well and put into the baking pan. Let it sit for 5-7 minutes (makes for a crispier top). You can also sprinkle a bit of the cheese on top of the resting batter. Bake at whatever temp/time the box calls for - I think it's 400 for 20-25 minutes (or maybe it's 350 - please use whatever the box suggests).

Let it sit out until it's cooled off enough to handle. Cut into squares and provide lots of butter. Yummy!

Prepared mustard or dry mustard?

Jo that does look very yummy and I will eat that any other time, but not with beans. It's not a taste thing it's a tradition thing. Some comfort foods/meals I just can't alter.

The worst for me is Thanksgiving I only want my family cornbread sage dressing on thanksgiving. Any other time including christmas I will eat and very much enjoy any other kind of dressing, just don't mess with my thanksgiving traditions.

What time should we be there??