Cooking For Engineers

[Tivelo]

Tonight I tried making some navy bean soup as I remember my mother made it. I wanted to go pretty simple so there would be less variables if it turned out bad.

Soaked beans 8 hours, rinsed and brought to a boil with fresh water.
Sauteed a large diced morepoix in butter, with a couple bay leaves, mustard powder, and pepper. added this to the beans.
Simmered for 1 and a half hours.
Pureed a portion of the soup to help thicken.
S&P to taste. Done.

Turned out pretty good. Except... the carrots and celery were a bit too soft. I'm thinking I want to add them closer to the end, but it would defeat the purpose of the mirepoix. I'm wondering if I should bag the mirepoix and puree it with some of the soup when I thicken it, then add veggies. Or would I be better off just using a veggie stock from the start and adding the carrots etc, towards the end?

Thanks for any help with this,
Tivelo

[yocona]

I think your idea to use vegetable stock is a good one, regardless of when you add the mire poix. I use stock in lieu of water for soup and beans whenever possible. Also, I like to sautee a little onion in the pot before adding the rinsed beans and cooking liquid.

[Dilbert]

the mire poix certainly adds to the flavor - and a longer cooking time is useful.

in many cases, like the soup, you also want some identifiable texture - so I often add some 'fresh' later in the cooking time. most of the time you can 'just add more' but you can also hold back a portion of the original qty.