Navy Bean Soup

My grandfather was pretty much famous for this soup. It's legendary. Of course, he's been gone for over 15 years now and no one ever got the recipe. I was only 10 when he died, so I don't even remember the soup first hand, which makes it awfully difficult to replicate. I eventually adapted a recipe from Joy called US Senate Bean soup, which apparently has been served in the US Senate cafeteria for eleventy billion years, and can be made with navy or other like beans.

Why did I try? Well, it's what I like to call mortgage food - dirt cheap, therefore leaving money to pay the mortgage. While I'm trying out more mortgage food these days because I'll soon have one for the first time, the headlines tell me there's plenty of people out there who could use it these days. This is basically beans and potatoes, flavored with some cheap fat. Slow cooked, the beans almost totally disintegrate and it gets really creamy. Right out of the pot, it's okay, but the leftovers get better every day as the ham flavor takes over.

It's amazing how far away we've gotten from food like this that used to be so commonplace. First of all, I learned that navy beans are not navy at all. They're actually white, but they were popular food for the US Navy once upon a time, mortgage food being a great way to feed a crowd on the taxpayers' dime and all. Secondly, I learned what a ham hock is. In case you haven't come across one, and you end up staring at the butcher a little doe-eyed when he tells you they're in the self-serve case, and then try your best to look like you know what you're doing while you paw through a bunch of different meat products which may or may not be what you're looking for, this little package on the right is a ham hock. It's a piggy knee joint.

This makes a ton, we had dinner one night and 6-8 servings leftover. Feel free to cut in half if you don't want to be eating it for a week or are more particular about food safety than I am.

Ingredients

• 2-3 ham hocks
• 1 bag dried navy beans
• 1 large onion (we had leeks around, so we used those)
• 6 medium celery ribs with leaves, chopped
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and finely diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced

Directions

1. Soak the beans overnight, at least.
   
2. Turn the slow cooker on high and throw in the ham hocks to get the fat flowin'. (You could also do this on the stove top if you don't have a slow cooker around.)
   
3. Drain the beans, toss them in the slow cooker, and cover with cold water. I used less than half the water the recipe called for, mostly because it wouldn't all fit in my slow cooker, and I still think it was a bit watery. Just make sure there's enough for everything to cook in.
   
4. Turn the heat down to low and go to work.
   
5. (When I got home, I transferred everything into a stock pot to add the veggies, mostly for room and also the higher temperature. You could probably accomplish the next step on high in a slow cooker if you'd halved the recipe.) Take out the ham hock and pick off any meat; discard bone, fat and skin, although you should know that makes up most of a ham hock. Chop up the veggies and toss in, add salt & pepper to taste.
   
6. Simmer a half hour or so until the potatoes are really soft. Mash with a potato masher if that looks practical, I just served it as is. Most everything was mush already.
   
7. Serve with toasted sourdough bread, bonus points if it's garlic. Dip the bread in the soup for a little taste of (inexpensive) heaven.