There is no real "recipe" for navy bean soup.
Take a pound of navy beans, put into a strainer and rinse, picking them over to remove any bits of dirt of dark beans.
Put into a pan, add water to cover the beans and bring to a boil, turn off fire,cover and let sit for 30 minutes.
put back into the strainer and rinse.
Put the baens back into the pot and add water to cover by 2 inches, add one small yellow onion finely chopped, one carrot crated and a smoked pork hock or a meaty ham bone.
Cover and simmer until the beans are aas done as you like. I like mine falling apart, about 2 hours.
Remove the bone and pick any meat off and add back to soup.
Add salt as needed ( remember to taste, you never know how salty a ham hock may be) and several good grinds of black pepper. Some people add a sprig of thyme with the vegetables, I prefer it without the thyme.
Very easy soup!
Linda C

trudymom: To make it really special one can saute the onion before adding, and cook the beans in stock instead of water.

I soak the beans overnight but bringing them to a boil & then letting sit for an hour works also.

I dice up about two cups of trinity (onion, celery, & carrot) & saute in a tablespoon of olive oil for about 5 minutes so until the onions turn translucent. Then I add one minced glove of garlic & saute for about another minute.

Like pink I use chicken stock rather than water. Simmer for a couple hours or until the beans are soft & the meat is falling off the bones. Remove the ham hocks or bones, shred the meat, return meat to soup pot, stir & IT'S SOUP!

Ham hocks work great as does the ham bone left over from a baked ham dinner.

We like navy bean soup served with cornbread.

There's also a rather famous recipe for Senate Navy Bean Soup that includes potatoes.

/tricia

Begging your pardon, but the famous senate bean soup contains no potatoes...It's pretty well what I make, but I like the sweetness of the carrots.

Here is a link that might be useful: Us Gov, senate bean soup

I've seen several different versions of the "Senate Bean Soup" so who is to say which one is correct?

I like to add a little thyme to my navy bean soup and I use chicken stock instead of water also. A little rosemary is good, but not much because it can be too strong. I also like to take 2 or three cups of the beans with a little of the stock and puree and place back into the soup. Makes it more creamy.

Here is a copy of the version I make that everyone loves. I often use potato buds instead of mashed potatoes to save time, you can't tell in the soup. I also use the quick soak method for my beans and I use half water and half chicken broth. I put the beans and the water/broth mixture in a dutch oven and bring to a boil. Boil for three minutes, remove from heat, cover and let stand for one hour. Then proceed with the recipe. I never remember to soak the beans the night before.

Here is a link that might be useful: Senate Bean Soup

I use chicken stock rather than water and like Beverly I like to add fresh thyme or rosemary to bean soup. And of course a ham bone or smoked pork hock.

Ann

the following recipe was printed in the Maryland Gazette in the mid 80s and made the claim of being THE true

Senate Navy Bean Soup

Makes about 3 quarts.

1 meaty ham bone (or 1 1/2 lbs ham hocks)
1 pound dry navy beans
1 cup chopped onions
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed potatoes (or 2/3 cup potato flakes)
1/4 cup chopped, fresh parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon dry ground oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 bay leaf

Wash and pick over the beans. In a large kettle, cover the beans with 6 to 8 cups HOT water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand 1 hour. Add 2 quarts COLD water and the ham bone. Bring to a boil and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes or until the beans are tender. Remove the ham bone and trim the meat, returning meat to the pot. Serve hot. Freeze any leftovers.

Here's the one I use:

Navy Bean Soup
From Food Network Kitchens

1 lb navy beans, picked over, rinsed and drained
10 sprigs parsley
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 large smoked ham hocks, about 1-1/2 lb
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, coarsely chopped
8 c cold water
1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
Butter for garnish

Place beans in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by about 2 inches. Bring to a boil and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, remove from heat, cover and let sit for one hour. Drain and reserve. Tie parsley, thyme and bay leaf together with kitchen twine.

In large soup pot or dutch oven, combine the beans, herb bundle, hocks, onions and garlic with the water. Bring to a boil, cover and adjust the heat so that the soup cooks at a gentle simmer. Cook until the beans and hocks are completely tender, about 1-1/2 hours.

Turn off heat and remove hocks. Cool slightly. Remove meat from hocks, discarding the bones, fat and skin. Cut meat into small cubes. Remove herb bundle from soup and discard.

Puree about 3 cups of the beans with some of the liquid in a blender. (For a smooth soup, you may puree all the beans). Stir the puree and diced meat into the soup. Heat the soup and adjust seasoning as needed with salt & pepper.

Ladle into heated bowls, place a small pat of butter on top of each bowl of soup, serve.

Linda

Pretty much like Lindac posted. I like to float a bay leaf in mine! A few miles down the road we have the Fairgrove Bean Festival! Always felt bad for the pretty gal in a nice dress being crowned the Bean Queen.... is that a compliment or curse? Gera is to close to have a bean festival so they simply serve bean soup and call it the Gera Festival. At the festivals they don't use much more then a couple ham bones, beans, and water. At Gera they prefer to garnish it with a dash of white vinegar... some of the older folks won't eat bean soup without it. Fairly strong German heritage around there with grown men crying at the sound of a polka being played.

When I was younger I often dropped a couple spoons of bacon grease into the pot! Yummy with great texture from the fat. More calories then I need these days.

: )
lyra

Lyra, you be nice. I've got some hilarious home movies of me dancing the polka at age two, on stage, while my Dad played at those 3-day German wedding parties! Us 3 girls learned to polka before we could walk a straight line. And, to this day...when I play 'Silent Night' you could polka to the beat. :)

My Dad would sometimes just go outside & start playing. Neighbors would show up in our yard from blocks around when they heard the music. Pretty soon, there'd be dozens of people doing the polka in the street in front of our house. Mom always served some kind of food & sometimes it was bean soup because you could feed an army on little money. Dad also had a radio show on Saturday mornings...yep, more polkas! Ahhhh, simplier times.

Roll out the barrel, We'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run...

/tricia (who also likes vinegar on bean soup & most everything else too)

My bean soup is also very much like LindaCs, although I agree with Lyra and like a bay leaf in mine.

I always just toss everything into the crockpot and let it cook all day, so I have a "pot of beans" ready when I get home from work. Add a nice chunk of cornbread and life is SOOOOO good.

Annie

I adapted this recipe for Minestrone, which uses part navy (or white or great northern) beans. I suppose you could make it with all navy beans instead of the combo of white and kidney beans, but it is one of my favorite soup recipes now. I made a double batch at my parents' house last December, and then froze it in 1 quart containers. I think DM still has some left, and it made it easy for her to have quick meals. One quart made four servings for her.

Lars

Thank you all for your wonderful recipes. I just got done making it, and I wish you could all smell it--oh, that ham bone just made it so wonderful. Thank you for your time!! Need to get that corn bread bakin'!!

Thank you!!!