Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Before soup day, measure the dry navy beans and complete the linked soaking, fermentation, rinsing and cooking method. Drain and use the entire resulting cooked batch. Each bean must be completely soft, with a creamy center that crushes readily. Have finished salt-only bacon and beef meat stock ready.
- In a roomy stockpot over medium heat, cook the chopped prepared bacon through, stirring and turning as its fat renders and its edges brown. Lift the bacon onto a plate with a slotted spoon. Leave the rendered fat in the pot.
- Add the chopped onion to the bacon fat. Stir as it softens, adding the crushed garlic while it cooks. Lower the heat if edges brown before the centers soften. Continue until the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic fragrant.
- Add the fully cooked drained beans, the measured starting stock, bay leaves, honey and dry mustard. Stir gently. Bring to a boil, cover, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Simmer covered for one hour, checking the pot. Add more stock if needed for a looser soup, up to one-quarter of the starting stock amount. Some soft beans may split and thicken the liquid; stir gently to retain whole beans.
- Take the pot off the heat and remove all the bay leaves. Stir in the measured lime zest, lime juice and hot sauce. Taste a cooled spoonful before deciding whether to add more hot sauce.
- Ladle into bowls and top with the cooked bacon. Add optional sliced green onions and homemade cultured sour cream once that dairy food has been introduced.
- For leftovers, divide soup into shallow containers and cool promptly before refrigerating. Store bacon and dairy toppings separately. Use refrigerated soup within two days or freeze portions for longer storage. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat until hot throughout, adding a little stock if needed.
Notes
Beans: The displayed amount is measured dry before preparation. Use the entire drained cooked yield from that amount, not the same cup measure of cooked beans. Complete the linked white navy bean preparation before soup day: soaking, fermentation, thorough rinsing and cooking in fresh water. Its several-day time is separate.
Bacon: Weigh the finished, uncooked salt-only bacon after curing. Moisture loss means the original pork weight does not equal finished bacon yield. Cook it through in the soup pot before reserving it as topping.
Stock: The starting stock amount is displayed above. Keep up to one-quarter more available if you prefer a looser soup. At the base batch, use up to ten cups in total. Use homemade beef meat stock.
Timing: Fifteen minutes preparation and eighty minutes cooking are planning estimates, including about twenty minutes for bacon and onion plus the one-hour covered simmer. Ready beans, bacon cure, stock and optional cultured cream are prepared separately and their time is not included.
GAPS: Later Full GAPS after properly prepared white navy beans are tolerated and diarrhoea and other digestive symptoms have cleared. The linked bean preparation uses whey or kefir, drained and rinsed afterward; this preparation uses dairy. Optional cultured sour cream is added only after introduction. This is not an early Intro or No-Plant soup.
Yield and scaling: This recipe serves eight. Portion size varies with the thickness of the soup. A doubled batch serves sixteen; double all measured ingredient amounts. Keep the one-hour soup simmer as a starting schedule and check the actual pot; do not automatically double cooking time. Use enough pot capacity.
Storage: Cool promptly in shallow containers. Refrigerate soup for up to two days or freeze portions; keep toppings separate. Thaw refrigerated and reheat until hot throughout.