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The Melting Pot
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1861-1900 - U.S. military mess cooks
A hearty military-style bean soup built on navy beans, smoked ham hock, onion, celery, carrot, and bay leaf, adapted for a home pot from large-batch service traditions.
Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
15 minutes
Cook time
2 hours 45 minutes
Total time
3 hours
Servings
6 to 8
Region
United States military and institutional kitchens
Era introduced
1861-1900
Introduced by
U.S. military mess cooks
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Bean soup is the kind of sturdy food that makes sense in military and institutional kitchens: dry beans store well, ham bones season a large pot, and the finished soup feeds a line without fuss. The Armed Forces Recipe Service indexes several bean soups, including navy bean soup and bean soup with smoked ham hocks, while the U.S. Senate made a related navy bean and ham soup famous in the Capitol. This home version keeps the mess-hall virtues: simple ingredients, a long simmer, and a bowl that tastes better the next day.
Drafted from Armed Forces Recipe Service indexing for Navy Bean Soup P 008 00 and Bean Soup with Smoked, Cured Ham Hocks P 008 01 in MCO P10110.43G (https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/MCO%20P10110.43G.pdf), plus the official U.S. Senate bean soup recipe and tradition (https://www.senate.gov/about/traditions-symbols/senate-bean-soup.htm).
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