When I was a kid, we lived in Miami, and we had a Cuban neighbor whom I now only remember as "Mrs. Garcia." She had arrived in Miami via boat from Cuba, and I don't know where she is now, but she gave my mother her recipe for black bean soup, which I still use to this day. So wherever you are, Mrs. Garcia, thank you for this recipe. It has ruined me for all other black bean soups; nothing I've had in Cuban restaurants matches up to this.
While the ingredient list and preparation time of this classic soup are both short, the soup itself takes several hours to cook and the beans have to be soaked overnight, so I think this is best made on the weekend, when you'll be home all day to stir and season the soup as it cooks. It fills the house with a wonderful aroma, too, which is a bonus.
And last but not least: The vinegar is the secret ingredient; it makes the soup more creamy and gives it a little "tang."
Tester's Notes
I love black bean soup, so I had been meaning to try this recipe of Kathryn's for a long time. Black bean soup reminds me of my years living in Florida, where soups like this one were menu staples of many of the restaurants in my neighborhood.This soup does not disappoint. It has the depth of flavor that beans develop as they cook, slowly — not to mention the richness from a ham hock slowly falling apart in the pot. The soup was extremely easy and quick to prepare — it took me 5 minutes to refill the bean pot and add the vegetables. It cooked, long and slow, and covered with a lid so I didn't even have to worry about the water boiling off.
The result was an irresistibly creamy soup — and a lot of it! This is one to make, eat for two days, and then freeze as a little care package for your future self. - Faith
Mrs. Garcia's Black Bean Soup
Serves 8 or more1 pound dried black beans
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ham bone or smoked ham hock
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1/3 cup white or cider vinegar
To garnish:
Sour cream
Chopped raw onion
Chopped red pepper
The night before cooking the soup, place beans in a colander and wash them with cold running water. Pick out any rocks or beans that are broken or shriveled. Put the beans in a large (4 quarts or larger) Dutch oven or soup pot with a lid and cover with enough cold water so that it comes to one inch over the top of the beans. Soak overnight.
The next day, drain the water out of the pot and refill with clean cold water. Add enough water so that it comes an inch above the beans. Stir in the chopped onion, pepper, and garlic. Add the ham bone or hock, and stir in the olive oil. Add 2 teaspoons salt and a generous quantity of black pepper.
Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off any white foam, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for 4 to 5 hours, until the beans are very soft and the soup is creamy, not watery. Check after 2 hours. If the beans seem dry or stewy, add another cup of water. The final consistency should be velvety and thick, and the soup should coat the back of a spoon. (The beans will soften in the first two hours. The goal is to continue cooking the soup until some of the beans break down and create the smooth, thick soup base.)
Stir in the vinegar and simmer for an additional 15 minutes, uncovered.
Serve over rice (optional) and garnish with chopped raw onions and sour cream. Also, if you like, little bits of chopped chicharrónes can be garnished on top. Add some sweet fried plantains as a side dish!
This makes a large pot of soup, but it freezes very well.
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(Recipe originally published 2009-10-12)
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yum. In the pot this weekend!
Perfect. It's been a while since I made black bean soup. This even sounds a lot like my "just-keep-adding-more-stuff-to-the-pot-until-it-tastes-right" recipe! Granted, I usually end up with about 12 quarts of soup so I'll be taking this recipe to heart. Thanks Mrs. Garcia!
Yum. My wife and I used to go to the Winter Music Conference in Miami every spring and would hit the Cuban diners for black beans.
The best black beans I have ever made were in a pressure cooker. I like to add a healthy dose of cumin to mine also.
Can anyone offer any ideas on a vegetarian option or an alternative to the ham bone? I'm really looking for something to provide the same smoky flavor without the ham of course.
Thanks!
Liquid smoke, added at the end (no more than a teaspoon though) gives a similar flavor to the ham (not the same however.) It's how I've vegan-ized quite a few of my family's southern recipes.
This looks great!
Nephils, you may be able to substitute smoked paprika for the ham hock. I've heard of people using that in recipes in place of bacon.
I have lived in Miami for 5 years and have Cuban family and never heard of using pork product to season. The best (and most traditional) black beans always have red bell pepper in addition to the green, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, and olive oil.
Dippy question I know, but is it possible to buy a just ham
bone from a butcher?
Or also, for vegans/veggies--just add a nice dose of ground chipotle or chipotle in adobo for some smoky action. I also always add a lot of lime juice to my cuban bean soup.
Thank you Loki, Sarah and lotus...I thought about ground chipotle since I recently started using it in other soups and it does add that nice deep smoke flavor...but I will also experiment with the liquid smoke and smoked paprika...especially since the chipotle tends to add a lot of heat
For all those of you thinking this sounds good... you were right. I just made a pot and it was super easy and absolutely delicious!
I was skeptical of the vinegar, so I tasted it pre-vinegar (it was yummy), and then added in about half the vinegar and tasted it again to make sure it would be okay... and it was great! I added in the last bit, let it simmer, and couldnt wait to eat it.
Thanks for the recipe Kathryn, this really is a good one! The only change I made was doubling the ham, cause like using pork products with wild abandon!
OK, probably too late for nephil's question, but "Artisan Salt" makes an alder-wood smoked salt that might do the trick. A ham hock is pretty salty, so you might need to add salt anyway, and their Alder smoked salt tastes great and goes a long way. It's pricey for salt, but you don't use a lot for seasoning like this.
http://www.artisansalt.com/
This soup is not only inexpensive to make--it's delicious! We've prepared it at least eight times since the recipe originally posted in October.
This comment is also probably too late to be helpful to the original poster, but I have had great success substituting powdered Lapsang Souchong tea (just leaf tea pulverized in a spice grinder) for smoked pork products. I haven't used that trick for this soup, but I routinely sub the tea powder for bacon in pasta recipes.
Oh my goodness! I just found this recipe and finished cooking it up today. Inspired by the comments, I also added red pepper, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, lime juice and chipotle in adobo. At the Mexican shop I stopped at for the chipotle, they did not have a smoked ham hock. So I bought a fresh one and threw in some fabulous smoked bacon I had on hand, which I then removed at the end. I went to taste my final product and could hardly stop eating it! It is soooo good. Thank you, Mrs. Garcia!
Oops. Make that sweet red pepper along with the green.
black bean secret from miami:
When soaking, add a good sprinkle of baking soda. It will help soften the beans.
you're welcome.
About to eat this after cooking all afternoon (following a quick soak--sort beans, cover with water, bring to boil for a minute, take off heat and let sit an hour)--it smells heavenly. I threw in a bit of bacon since I didn't have the ham.
I'm eating this now and it is DELICIOUS. For modifications, I put in two pork hocks (not smoked). about a tablespoon of bacon fat, and a red pepper. I halved the amount of vinegar, and it tastes great. I also didn't have 4-5 hrs, so I did 3 (which got the beans sufficiently soft) and cheated by blending half of it to get the creamy/smooth/chunky variety of texture. Oh man is it good though.
My Cuban abuela does things a bit different....making a sofrito to put in instead of just throwing the onions and peppers in the soup, including bay leaf and cumin, not using ham (she uses that for red beans), and using a pressure cooker to help break down the beans. The soup is ALWAYS served with rice in a Cuban household.
A Cuban lady told me how to make black beans, and she added a wooden spoonful each of vinegar and soy sauce along with the traditional garlic, green bell peppers, and onion. I also add cumin and a bay leaf. I do not add meat to mine and I love a dollop of sour cream on top of the soup when serving. Some people also add chopped tomatoes as a garnish. I love living in South Florida and our local Cuban restaurants.
I'm going to try this when it eventually cools off here. I'll be leaving out the ham and putting in some vinegar at the end.
thanks!
Try the rind of parm reg cheese for the richness. If you want it a little smoky, add a little bit of liquid smoke.
Two vegetarian black bean soup alternatives that are very similar are the Brazilian black bean soup from the original Moosewood Cookbook, and Deb Perelman's black bean soup from Smitten Kitchen. Both are incredibly delicious, the Moosewood recipe uses orange juice for flavor and SK's uses chipotles and lime juice. You don't need the ham hock!
http://recession-proof.savvysugar.com/Mollie-Katzens-Moosewood-Brazilian-Black-Bean-Soup-2518436
http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2010/01/black-bean-soup-toasted-cumin-seed-crema/
The first black bean soup I had was at Las Novedades, a restaurant in Tamp's Ybor City. Huge mound of white rice, covered with the bean soup and all covered with diced onions. There was cuban bread and butter to go with it. Absolute heaven! Carbs? Yes, but O Glory, what a meal!!
I was just thinking of making black bean soup! Will have to try this recipe. Although unless I have some ham hocks in the freezer, I'm just going to use some bacon I have languishing in the fridge.
Red pepper sounds like a good addition.
This recipe is making me reconsider my vegetarianism...
@playingdaisy said what I was thinking, the onions, peppers and garlic go into a sofrito first and serving this without white rice to go on top of, is unheard of in a Cuban household. Ever since my abuelita died I can't find anyone to match her Black Beans, but people like her and Mrs.Garcia are what make dishes like these so nostalgic and wonderful I guess.
This is the black bean recipe I always use, and it's great. I broil or sear the ham hock before I put it in the soup. Usually add a tablespoon of ground cumin and use lime juice instead of the vinegar.
If you want to speed up the process of the beans breaking down to paste (way beyond tender) break out your immersion blender and give it 2-3 pulses in the pot after the beans are nice and tender. Or spoon a cup or two into a regular blender and puree. Bam, instant soup body.
We make this regularly in the winter and it's wonderful. If you use unsalted homemade stock, it's also medicinal. We always use pigs feet. Just pull them out before you serve the soup, remove the meat from the bone and return the meat to the soup. Garnish with lots of chopped cilantro and hot sauce. It'll cure what ails ya!
I'm Cuban and I make the sofrito (garlic,onion,peppers) and add cumin, gives it an earthy flavour. You forgot the sugar, 1 tbs white sugar IS the secret ingredient in most Cuban homes. My mom used to make it in the pressure cooker, then once it's done, teke it off the stove, add the vinegar, a bit of olive oil and close the lid, let it rest.
This Black bean soup is not "Cuban" it's Latin American... Black beans especially are a Guatemalan staple. My family is from El Salvador and this bean soup was eaten practically every day with rice, cheese, sour cream and corn tortillas. In Miami there are many Nicaraguans whom I'm sure make the same soup.
This soup is seriously the best black bean soup I have ever had. It is amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Goya makes a powdered ham bullion that may be an option, depending upon how vegetarian you are. Look for it in the Spanish food aisle....it comes in a small tan box of 8 or 10 envelopes.