Monday, July 18, 2011

OLD GERMAN GREEN BEAN SOUP

This recipe is older than my children and I am the grandmother of seven, one in college!

2 cups leftover ham + the ham bone
1 pound fresh green beans
2 large potatoes, cubed
3 quarts water
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 medium onion, minced
4 slices bacon, cubed
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk

Place the ham and the ham bone with the beans, potatoes, water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a Dutch oven. Boil covered for half an hour or until the potatoes are tender. Meanwhile fry the bacon and onion together; add to the Dutch oven. Mix the flour with the milk until smooth and stir into the soup, stirring constantly while adding. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Serves 6 to 8 people.

Please note: This picture is a file photo.


14 comments:

Lucy R. Fisher said...

You might want to remove the ham bone at some point - perhaps before you add the milk/flour!

Unknown said...

I remember this soup very well. Both my grandmother (born in the late 1800's)and my mother made it a couple times a year, and so do I. The only difference in the recipes is that in my family sour cream was used instead of milk. It's mixed with flour and added very slowly so it doesn't curdle. The sour cream adds more body and a tasty slight tang to the broth of the soup.

Unknown said...

Barbara S. Gotta try it like that!

Unknown said...

How much flour would you add to the sour cream? thanks!! :)

Dianne said...

My Mom always made this soup and passed the recipe down to me. She always added fresh summer savory from the garden, delicious!

Tante Gisela said...

I remember this soup from when I was growing up, hadn't thought of it for years. Would you mind if I pinned your website to Pinterest? You don't seem to have a link for it on your site so I was just wondering....
Gigi

Linda C Wilson said...

Tante Gisela - You are welcome to post any of my recipes anywhere. I post them to share and am happy to have you share them. Thanks for asking. Linda

Tante Gisela said...

Thank you, now all I have to do is figure out how to get Pinterest to accept from your site.

Unknown said...

I love this soup. When I was young, my grandmother would make this for me whenever I was sick and bring it over in a gallon sized glass jar. Now when I'm under the weather I crave this soup. Thank you for sharing the recipe. Warms my heart!

Amber said...

My grandmother makes this nearly exact recipe! I love it so much and have never seen it anywhere else. Reminds me of home!

Me from OC said...

What, no bohnenkraut?

Tante Gisela said...

My mom and Oma also always added Bohnenkraut? What the English word for that?

Linda C Wilson said...

Tante Gisela the English for bohnenkraut is summer savory.

Doreen said...

This is wonderful! I was asking my mom for the recipe and she didn't know where it was. This is it! Fantastic! Thank you! Also, we just added the sour cream to our own bowls after it was cooked - no curdling and each person put what they wanted! When I was young though it wasn't so good. I didn't like the soup as a young child. My mom told me to add sour cream to it to see whether it was better. I still didn’t but she made me eat it anyway. When she left, I took my bowl and I threw it back into the big pot. Of course, since the sour cream was added after it was slightly noticeable! And I got into a little bit of trouble! DOGGONE sour cream lol!