Cold Mornings, Warm Soup

Winter seems to have arrived. Finally.

Personally, I’ve been dreading the cold. Right now, it makes my life just that little bit harder. But I’m not complaining, I’m just acknowledging the cycles of life: To get to summer, you have to live through winter. It is as simple and as profound as that.

I had to get up early to start working my way through the mountain of work that suddenly amassed on my table. Knowing that this is likely only the start of a hectic few days, I had to make my way to the kitchen for coffee. That beverage that signals the transition from night into day, from bed to desk and without which many of us have no detectible personality.

The morning was different; it was cold, but it smelled of slow-cooked bean soup. Another telltale sign, in our house at least, that winter has now reached its full potential. Lifting the lid, I start salivating. Instantly, profusely and intensely.

My mind produced a short clip of bean-related places: The refried beans of Mexico City; the dodgy chilli bean stew they prepared for us outside Bielefeld and for which they had to get special permission from the local authority to cook over an open fire in the backyard; and the many bean soups cooked at home from Keetmanshoop to Otjiwarongo and now here in the capital city.

Quite a trip to take before the first coffee of the morning.

I have to admit, for the most part, beans do not turn me on. In Mexico City, I mostly ate the (eggs) and salsa with tortillas, avoiding the refried beans.

I have not had a full English breakfast in many years as I found the politest way of saying ‘I can’t stand baked beans’ is simply to avoid ordering the royal fry-up altogether. It’s a pity because I quite like black pudding.

Since the ordeal in Bielefeld – we lost nearly half a working group of African sociologists in a single, bean-polluted night – I have abstained from anything that combines the words ‘bean’ and ‘stew’.

But I have never said no to home-made bean soup. Not in our house and not on a cold winter morning. That would be a sin.

Bean soup has to be cooked slowly – overnight in a slow cooker if possible – using dried beans soaked in clean unsalted water for a few hours. A handful of chopped vegetables – onions, carrots, garlic and celery – form the flavour base of the soup together with some smoked pork knuckle or speck. Leave the skin on and make sure there is a little fat too.

To that you should add some stock – chicken or vegetable – but no seasoning; avoiding adding salt at this stage ensures that the beans will become soft. Season the soup toward the end.

Fresh herbs are welcome, and some tomato paste if you must. Use cannellini or butter beans if you long for the hills of Tuscany; Lion’s red speckled sugar beans if it is Keetmanshoop you’re after.

Tinned beans are fine if you are in a hurry, but it’s not quite the same, and besides, you’ll miss out on that wonderful early morning aroma.

For the most part, bean soup is a humble soup. It does not ask for much and lays no claim to expensive ingredients. Use what you have, and your family will thank you for it.

If you have to spend money, buy a good ham bone or smoked knuckle. No more.

All too often, we confuse slow cooking with cumbersome cooking. To cook over low heat does not require a lot of hands-on cooking. Use the technology: Slow cookers, pressure cookers and various multi-cookers are all inventions to end kitchen slavery; they even cook while you sleep.

I can tell that today is going to be a good day, I can see three little sheep’s tails in the soup. The beans are soft and will break up when we stir; the soup will be thick. I’ll fry up some bread and cheese to make croutons and we’ll add fresh, chopped parsley and maybe a splash of vinegar to brighten things up.

I’ll fill a bowl and grab a silver spoon and set out to find a sunny spot to spoon the soup and chew the fat.

Then it will be a perfect day.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams dry red speckled sugar beans, soaked in

cold water for at least eight hours

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 2 large carrots, peeled, then diced

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 1 large eisbein (smoked pork knuckle)