Ham and Navy Bean Soup Using Chipped Black Forest Ham

Submitted by EleEng

"This Ham and Navy Bean Soup recipe using chipped Black Forest Ham is a little time consuming, but the results are outstanding and well worth the time it takes to assemble and cook."

 

• Ready In: 16hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Yields: 14 soup bowls
• Serves: 14

ingredients

• 2 cups finely diced celery
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can sliced carrots, finely diced
• 2 cups finely diced red onions
• 2 cups of one combined and finely diced orange and yellow bell peppers
• 1 lb black forest ham, chipped then finely diced
• 2 cups tomato juice or 2 cups of v8 juice
• 6 cups water
• 2 -4 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 bay leaves

directions

1. The Day before Serving:

2. Around 10 AM the day before serving, take your 1-lb. 8 oz. bag of Navy Beans and rinse them off. (I use the Hurst Brand of Navy Beans.) Pour the rinsed beans into a 5-qt. stove top pot. Fill the pot with 8-cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer the beans for about two minutes. Turn off the heat and place a lid on the pot, let sit until 7 or 8 PM. When boiling the navy beans be careful. The beans may foam up and overflow the pot; adjust the heat as necessary. Throughout the day, occasionally check the water level in the pot to ensure the beans remain covered; add water if necessary.
3. While this is going on, take fresh celery stalks and finely dice them into small pieces until you have about 2-cups of diced celery. (These celery pieces need to be very small in order to soften up during cooking; otherwise you will need to pre-cook them.) Place the diced celery into a large, sealed storage container. Keep this container refrigerated until you assemble the mix for cooking.
4. Now drain a 14.5 oz. can of DelMonte Fresh Cut Sliced Carrots and finely dice them. Place diced carrots in a sealed container and refrigerate. (I stopped using raw carrots because it takes to long for them to soften up in the soup. If you use raw carrots, I recommend pre-cooking them to a desired softness.).
5. Then, take a medium to large size red onion and finely dice it up into very small pieces (smaller the better) until you have about 2-cups of diced onions. Place the diced onions into a storage container then refrigerate till assembly in the evening.
6. Now, finely dice up a large yellow and a red bell pepper until you have about 2-cups of diced peppers. Place the diced peppers into a storage container then refrigerate until evening.
7. You now prepare the critical ingredient: the Black Forrest Ham. Ask your local deli for one pound of Black Forest Ham Chipped. (I have had good luck with Black Forest Ham produced by Eckridge, Kentucky Legend, and Sara Lee.) Finely dice the chipped ham and place into a sealed storage container until evening.
8. You may ask, “Why are we using finely diced chipped ham versus cubes, chunks, ham bones or etcetera?” Using finely diced chipped ham adds a tremendous amount of ham surface area to the soup. This increased surface area allows the flavor of the ham to better permeate throughout the bean soup, thus greatly increasing the overall flavor. You will taste the difference.

9. The Evening before Serving:

10. At around 7 to 8 PM take your finely diced ingredients out of the refrigerator and sit them next to your 6-qt. crock pot.
11. This recipe will fill the crock to its brim. I recommend using a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner in your crock pot to simplify clean-up.
12. Using a measuring cup, scoop 1 to 2 cups of navy beans from the pot they have been soaking in and pour them into a small hand-held colander or strainer. After the cloudy water drains off immediately rinse the beans under cold water from the kitchen faucet. Shake the colander to ensure beans are well rinsed. This is a critical step to achieve great flavor. Now pour the beans directly into your crock pot. After every 2 to 3 colanders of beans layer in 1 to 2 cups of your diced Black Forest ham on top of the beans.
13. Pour your previously prepared container of diced celery, carrots, onions, peppers, and remaining ham into the crock pot. Now thoroughly stir all the ingredients until well-mixed.
14. Sprinkle in 2- to 4-teaspoons salt, 2-teaspoon pepper or 4 whole peppercorns, 1-teaspoon garlic powder, 4-bay leaves, and mix again.
15. Pour 2-cups of Campbell’s tomato or V8 juice, and 6-cups of water into the crock pot. Stir all the ingredients, put the lid on, turn the crock pot to its “LOW” setting, and let it cook all night.
16. For the first few hours the smell of onions will be strong. However, this odor will dissipate as they cook into the soup.

17. The Day of Serving:

18. After cooking 15 to 16 hours the soup normally reaches the bean softness and consistence we like. (We placed the crock on LOW at 8 PM the night before and it was done by 11 AM the next day.) Note every crock pot is different with regards to amount of heat it produces. Therefore, after 12 to 14 hours I recommend you monitor the soup closely until it reaches the consistence you require.
19. Note, if the beans, celery, bell peppers, and carrots are still not soft (they should not crunch when chewed) after 12 to 14 hours of cooking, then turn the crock pot to “HIGH”; you make the determination.
20. About 1 to 3 hours before serving, take a metal potato masher; a flat bottom one with holes seems to work best, and mash up some of the beans against the bottom of the crock pot; only mash a small portion. Mash just enough beans to make any clear fluid at the top of the crock pot take on the color of the beans and increase the overall thickness/consistence of the soup. You may have to do this one or more time until you are happy with the soup thickness. Using this method, you do not have to pour a portion of the soup mix into a food processor to grind it up. You would then return this mixture to the crock. Many recipes call for this procedure in order to produce the typical bean soup appearance.
21. If the soup is still too watery for your taste, then let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes until all solids settle to the bottom of the crock. After the beans settle you may skim off the excess water using a small melt-proof container. I use a glass measuring cup. Do not remove too much water, only enough to reach the consistency (thickness) you are looking for. (REMEMBER THE SOUP WILL THICKEN UP AS IT COOLS.) Now stir, serve, and ENJOY. (Note, if there is soup left. I recommend you keep and reheat it later. When reheating stir in a little bit of water if necessary. According to our guest the bean soup is even tastier when reheated.).
22. If you plan on making corn bread to go along with the bean soup, I recommend you start baking it one hour before you serve the soup.
23. Upon serving, let each individual add pepper, salt, or other condiments/spices to suit their palate. This is a critical component; the mixture is under-salted to begin with because Black Forest Ham can be very salty depending upon its brand name. Adding salt when served will make all the flavors explode when eating.