Making History: Pinto Bean Soup

My mother loved to make soup and although I didn’t appreciate it at the time, bean soup is now one of my favorites from her repertoire. But my bean soup prowess is limited to my mother’s bean soup recipe and I haven’t explored any other variations, until now.

On my other blog (Recovered Recipes) I am currently hosting a food blog event named “Making History”, where participants select an old recipe card and make the recipe then show both the recipe card and outcome (there’s still time to participate – deadline is October 17th, 2008). A few weeks ago, I shared this recipe for pinto bean soup and have been anxious to make it ever since. So, here it is — my entry for the Making History event!

Unlike my mother’s soup, this recipe uses quite a few spices as well as tomatoes and green peppers. The outcome though is a delicious soup that is hearty and robust. The recipe card is shown below. Although the original owner of the recipe card marked off a few of the ingredients, I followed the recipe as it was written and included all of the seasonings. Be careful to note that I believe the lower case ‘t’ represents a teaspoon while the capital ‘T’ represents a tablespoon.

The soup is easy to make and makes a large batch, enough for 6 people or so. I soaked the beans overnight then drained. I added the beans, 8 cups water, and 2 cups chopped ham to a large pot and cooked over low heat for about 2 hours (a light simmer). Then, I added the remaining ingredients and cooked for another 45 minutes. Using the back of my spoon, I mashed up some of the beans to thicken the soup. Adjust seasonings and serve. I should note that I did omit the MSG and butter.

Although I still love my mum’s soup, this version is also good. I discovered the recipe in an old set of recipes I purchased on eBay. The eBay seller informed me that she bought it from the original owner who was in her 80s and entering a retirement home in Oklahoma. The weathered recipe shows that this must have been a special soup for her family and was likely made often. I’m happy that I had the chance to try it and could share with a few more people!

I need to stop typing so I can go have another bowl of soup. I also made a ridiculously large batch of gingersnap cookies today and will be sharing the outcome of those later this week :-)