Description

The original recipe calls for smoked turkey wing but I chose to make it with a meaty hambone for two reasons. One: I had no idea where to find smoked turkey wing despite my best efforts. Two: I had a meaty hambone in the freezer. Feel free to use bacon if you like. Soup is a flexible dish.

The resulting soup is hearty, smoky and chock-full of meat. Of course that’s because I chose to make it that way. If you like meagre scrippits of bacon instead, go ahead and scrimp.

Scale

Ingredients

2 cups dried navy beans
2 tablespoons oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups smoky ham (or ham bone with lots of meat still attached)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried thyme
6 cups homemade or low-sodium chicken stock
Fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

Rinse the beans and discard any stones. Place the beans in a large bowl, cover with at least 2 inches of water and leave to soak overnight. Drain and rinse the beans again.
In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Gently cook the onions for 2 minutes. Add the carrots, celery and garlic. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until they begin to get soft.
Place the beans, sautéed vegetables, ham, bay leaf and thyme in a slow cooker.* Pour in the chicken broth. The liquid should cover the beans by at about 1/2 inch. Add more stock or water, if necessary. Cover and cook for 8 to 12 hours on low or 4 to 6 hours on high. The beans should be tender. If you don’t lift the lid during the process, you shouldn’t need to add any more water.
If using bone-in meat, remove the bone from the soup once the beans are tender. Using two forks, pull the meat from the bone. Cut into bite-sized pieces, if necessary. Discard the bone and any skin. Return the pieces of meat to the soup. Season with pepper. You shouldn’t need to add any salt because ham is salty enough. Discard the bay leaf. Or keep it for one lucky person.

Notes

If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can make this on the stove top. Use a large pot or Dutch oven instead of a skillet to sauté the vegetables. Once you add the stock, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 hours or until the beans are very tender. You might need to add more stock or water with this method.