Portuguese Bean Soup

I have strong opinions on the subject of Portuguese Bean Soup: No macaroni. No Portuguese sausage. No canned beans. No shortcuts. The soup starts with dried beans, soup bones and ham hocks and simmers long and slow.

Using Portuguese sausage is a common shortcut, but if you’re cooking the soup as you should — loooooow and sloooooow, the sausage will quickly become dry and stringy. Besides, Grandma would say that sausages are too expensive to be used in soup! The authentic message is to begin with ham hocks and soup bones, then flavor the soup with the the same ingredients used in linguica (Portuguese sausage), including garlic, pepper and Portuguese five-spice.

Lately, soup bones, like other bone-in meats, are becoming difficult to find. However, supermarkets in Hawaii routinely stock oxtails. One day, when there wasn’t a soup bone to be had in my local Safeway, I bought oxtails instead and made Portuguese Bean soup with them. Wow! Rich and exceptionally meaty. If you make the soup with oxtails, it’s important to make the broth the night before and refrigerate it so that you can readily skim away the fat. Oxtails are very rich!

Portuguese spice is the not-so-secret ingredient in many Portuguese meat dishes, including sausages, soups and roasted meats. It’s a spice mixture that varies from family to family but always includes “warm” spices, such as cinnamon, cloves or allspice, and often bay leaves or rosemary, which are frequently used in Portuguese cooking. In the old days, the spices were purchased whole, roasted and then ground, with groups of people sharing the expense and the work. You can save expense and time by placing whole spices in a muslin bag (available in kitchen supply stores) or tied into a square of cheesecloth.

Here’s Advertiser food editor Wanda Adams’ recipe for Portuguese Bean Soup, based on the one in her bestselling book, “The Island Plate” (Island Heritage, 2005).

Portuguese Bean Soup

2 1/4 cups dried red beans Water Olive oil 1-2 smoked ham hocks 2 pounds meaty soup bones (have the butcher crack them if they’re in huge pieces) or oxtails 1 tablespoon ground Portuguese spice (recipe follows) or whole spice in muslin or cheesecloth packet 2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed 1 (27-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 carrots, peeled, cut into chunks 2 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks 2 pipinella (chayote) squash, cut into chunks 1 bunch collard greens (or Portuguese cabbage, if you have it in the garden), washed and cut chiffonade (strips) 1' ring Portuguese sausage, sliced, if desired A handful of watercress leaves and tender stem ends (optional) Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

The night before: Soak beans in water to cover overnight. Make stock: Rub soup bones or oxtails with olive oil and Portuguese spice (if using ground spice) and roast in 500-degree oven until dark brown. In deep soup pot, cover soup bones or oxtails and ham hocks with garlic and water (if using whole spice in packet, add it at this point); boil, skim foam and turn down heat to simmer; simmer 1-2 hours. Remove soup bones or oxtails, trim meat from bones; discard bones and gristle and Portuguese spice packet, if using. Return meats to broth. Chill overnight and skim away fat the next day.

On soup day: Bring broth to room temperature, add drained beans and 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Skim foam, turn down heat and simmer 1 hour. Taste and add additional garlic, salt and pepper, as desired. Stir in tomatoes, carrots and potatoes and simmer 20 minutes; add pipinellas and simmer a further 20 minutes. Taste and add seasonings as desired. (And if you want to add some Portuguese sausage, now is the time to do it!) Shortly before serving, bring soup to a gentle boil, add collards and watercress, simmer just until greens are cooked.

Makes enough for a big Portuguese family!

Portuguese Spice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a rimmed baking pan, mix together 1 bottle of stick cinnamon, 1 bottle whole cloves, 1 bottle whole peppercorns, a handful of bay leaf and a handful of star anise (cheap in Chinatown). Toast these until crisp and aromatic. Grind fine in a blender or spice grinder. If this is too much trouble, make a cheesecloth bag and put in 1 whole cinnamon stick, a couple of cloves, a few peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves and a star anise.