a Review from the Top: March 2023

I was asked to document my process for making Dan's Famous Bean Soup. So I took a few photos (for this particular batch) so that everyone can see what it takes.

Of course, you can start with any beans, but the best beans we have are the Rancho Gordo beans. In this case, I am using the Vaquero Beans, which look like Holstein Cows.

(In case you didn't know, for every cow there is an equal and opposite bean. See here.)

Rancho Gordo Vaquero Beans

As with most of my bean soups, I like to use some fresh herbs. In this case, I have some thyme growing on the back porch:

Fresh Thyme

And I like the way fresh bay leaves liven up the soup:

Bay Laurel Tree

Thyme, cut

Fresh Herbs, thyme and bay leaves. Feel free to put in whatever you have. Oregano, parsley, sage. But keep in mind that the high pressure will smooth out all these flavors. If you want to preserve them, you may want to add some right before you serve.

Thyme and Bay Leaves, washed and ready to go

Now, of course you will need the vegetables. Again, use what you have on hand. Hard to make soup without onions and garlic, though.

Yellow Onions

I use soup as an opportunity to use vegetables that might be a little past their prime. Here is an example of some old celery, that will be delicious in the soup:

Celery

I did pick up some fresh peppers, though, This red pepper was HUGH! Almost a pound. beautiful, though.

Red Bell Pepper

I always feel bell peppers are interchangeable. Red, green, orange, what have you. Pick them for their size and their color if you want.

The green one is much smaller than the red one.

Green Bell Pepper

I like jalapeños in my soup! You may not. These are not really too hot.

Jalapeño

Of course, you need carrots. What is a soup without carrots?

Carrots

And garlic is a necessity as well. I like lots of garlic. I think it is very hard to put in too much garlic.

Garlic

And here is the whole ensemble:

Looks delicious, doesn't it?

This is olive oil in the pressure cooker. Put it in, and turn the heat on as low as it can go. Let it heat up the whole pot.

Olive oil in pressure cooker

And of course, you need salt. This is salt from Argentina, the salt beds in the northern part of the country. You can see where it came from here.

Salt from Salta, Argentina

In case you didn't know, the carrots must be peeled. We don't name inanimate objects in this house, but if we did, the device we use to perform this function would be called Emma Peel.

Peeled Carrots

Since this is going into a pressure cooker, you don't need to be to precise in the chopping. If I were just going to cook the soup on top if the stove, I would probably chop them finer.

Chopped Carrots

Into the bucket.

Vegetable Bucket with carrots

Chopped celery.

Chopped celery

Put it all in the bowl.

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots and Celery

These are good looking beans. That is one pound

Vaquero Beans

You need to wash them and look for field debris. I have never seen field debris in any Ranch Gordo beans

Washing Beans

Washed Beans

Now you chop the other vegetables while the beans drain.

First, the red bell pepper, As I said earlier, this is a HUGE pepper.

Heading and footing red bell pepper

Unroll the pepper so you can turn it into matchsticks

Unrolling the pepper

Then you line them up and getting ready to chop

Lining up the matchsticks

Chopped red bell pepper

Chopped Red Bell Pepper

Add the peppers to the vegetable bucket

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper

Do the same with the Green Bell Peppers

Chopped Green Peppers

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Peppers, Green Bell Peppers

Now chop the Jalapeño

Prepping the Jalapeño

I like to chop the Jalapeño fine, and leave the seeds in to give it a little extra heat

Chopped Jalapeño

Vegetal Bucket getting full

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño

Now the onions. I did two, a big one and a medium one. But like garlic, it is hard to have too much onion

Onions, peeled

I use an onion technique I learned from a Knife Skills book. You cut the onion in half, then slice it radially. Finally, you chop it into slices

Onion, ready to chop

Then you chop it.

Chopped Onion

Add it to the bucket.

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño, and one Onion

Vegetal Bucket with Carrots, Celery, Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jalapeño, and Two Onions

Of course, you have to dispose of the scraps.

Peels, seeds, etc

My Coffea Arabica plant as a palate cleanser.

Coffea Arabica

Then you put is all in the pressure cooker

Everything dumped into the pressure cooker

Stirring the pressure cooker

Now, on to the garlic. More is always better.

Garlic

I chop the garlic fine.

Finely chopped garlic

You can add any spices you want. These are whitish beans, so I usually use lighter spices. If I had darker beans, I would add cumin, for example. Here, just oregano and cayenne pepper