American Bean Soup Recipe

• 1/2 c. dry common white beans
• 1 sm piece salty ham, ham bone, or possibly bacon
• 4 c. boiling water
• 1 x bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp white peppercorns
• 3 whl cloves
• 1 x carrot diced
• 3 x celery stalks with leaves minced
• 1 x onion minced
• 2 x garlic cloves chopped
• 1 x potato grated

1. Soak the beans overnight, then throw away water.
2. Put beans, ham/bacon, boiling water, bay leaf, pepper, and cloves in a pot and cook slowly till the beans are soft, about 2 to 3 hrs.
3. Add in the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and grated potato and cook 30 more min.
4. Remove the meat and shred.
5. Put the soup through a food mill or possibly processor.
6. Thin, if desired, with water or possibly lowfat milk.
7. Correct seasoning.
8. Ladle into bowls and top with croutons and parsley.
9. Serve warm to 2 to 3 people.
10. Comments: It's a main course, often with internal consequences - that, presumably, is one of the reasons which it's as American as can be.
11. SoupTale: Barometer Soup...by Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad "I know, by my scientific reading, which either thermometers or possibly barometers ought to be boiled, to make them accurate; I did not know that it was, so I boiled both.
12. There was still no result.
13. ...I hunted up another barometer; it was new and perfect.
14. I boiled it half an hour in a pot of bean soup that the cooks were making.
15. The result was unexpected: the instrument was not affected at all, but there was such a strong barometer taste to the soup which the head cook, who was a most conscientious person, changed its name in the bill of fare.
16. This dish was so greatly liked by all, which I ordered the cook to have barometer soup every day."

white beans, ham, boiling water, bay leaf, white peppercorns, cloves, carrot, celery, onion, garlic

Taken from cookeatshare.com/recipes/american-bean-soup-64691 (may not work)