Senate White Bean Soup
Ingredients:
1 lb. navy or great northern beans
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup grated or shredded carrot
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 ham hock or meaty ham bone
2 cups chopped ham (can use country ham or smoked ham)
1 Tbs. bacon drippings
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2-3 drops of Tabasco sauce (optional)
Directions:
Wash and sort the beans. Place in your soup pot or dutch oven and cover with water about an inch over the top of the beans. Bring to a boil. Boil for just a few minutes. Remove from the heat and drain well. Place back in the pan with about 2 quarts of water. Add the chopped celery, onion, garlic, and shredded carrot. Add the ham hock or ham bone and the bacon drippings. Season with salt and black pepper. Bring up to a boil then turn down to simmer and simmer covered for about an hour.
Add the chopped ham and cook for about 2 more hours on medium low heat. Remove 2 cups of the beans and mash them with a fork and return to pot. This just thickens the soup. Also, remove the ham hock or ham bone and trim any of the lean meat from it. Discard the fat and bone. Cook for about 30 more minutes. The soup should be nice and thick at this point. Taste for seasoning, depending on what type of ham you used, you might need more salt. If you used country ham, you probably won’t need any additional salt.