2 1/2 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight
1 large or 2 small ham hocks
3 to 3.5 quarts water
3 tbsp olive oil
2 to 3 large onions
4 cloves garlic
3 small fresh green peppers (jalapeanos if, preferred)
8 berries allspice coarsely crushed
2 tsp brown sugar (or 1 t of molasses)
3 tbsp tomato paste
3/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
Directions
Salt Grated rind and juice from one lemon
Put the drained beans and hock in a very large pan, cover with the
cold water and bring gradually to a boil. Leave to simmer while you
prepare the other ingredients.
In a frying pan heat the olive oil, then gently fry the onion, garlic
and chili with the allspice and lemon rind, stirring occasionally,
until the onions are translucent. Add this mixture to the beans and
go on simmering for 2 hours, by which time the beans should be
tender. At this point add the sugar, lemon juice, and tomato puree.
Cook for another 30 minutes. Add salt if necessary.
Remove the hock, and pick off any meat. If you would like a smooth
soup, as mine (the author) was, process the mixture in batches and
return with the meat to the pan. Otherwise, for a rougher texture
crush with a potato masher. If the mixture seems too thick at this
stage, add more water and bring back to the boil for a minute or two.
Ladle the soup into bowls, with a spoonful or two of cream stirred
in, and serve with a crusty bread.
If you are feeling lavish, a couple of spoons of dark rum added
towards the end give a Bajan fillip.
INFO TEXT: Arriving stiff and crumpled inside and out after an eleven
hour flight, this was my first taste of Bajan Cooking, and I ate it
late at night trying to imagine the sea beyond a dark frieze of
langourous palms. Dense but smooth, with a snap of chili, the soup
was both homely and exotic, and very restoring.
Barbados produces splendid ham and bacon, and a ham stock is what
makes this different from other Carribean variants. Or, as here, use
a hock, soaked first to remove some salt.
From a book called FOOD MAGIC by Jocasta Innes.
Posted by Troy Wade. Courtesy of Fred Peters.
Servings: 6 servings
Bajan Black Bean Soup Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Bean; Soup; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
It is possible to read the history of `recipes` way back into the far past, at least as far as the Egyptians, and quite possibly further than that. In practice though, these, early recipes were just very basic hieroglyphic recipes for preparing food.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to food historians is a series of clay tablets in the Sumerian language which recount the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making drinkers feel exhilarated and blissful. Later on, in The time of the romans 25BC a man called Apicius compiled a few scripts describing recipes cooked by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were split into starters, entrees and desserts, a very modern way of dining. Aspicius tells us how the cooks of his times made use of a good variety of aromatic flavours, including many that are still in use today for example bay, fennel and asafoetida. Over the succeeding few centuries, the wealthy families of Wesstern Europe competed with each other to lay on the most exotic banquets, and because of this the best chefs and their recipe collections could command a high salary. Nevertheless, it was during the 1800s that fine cooking and recipe books became popular. The Famous Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to collecting, trying out, and recording the recipes of their peers. When we get to the 20th century, recipe publications are in high demand, mostly due to higher levels of literacy, people having increased leisure time and having more money to spend. |
We hope you enjoy this Bajan Black Bean Soup recipe.
