Bohneneintopf (German bean stew)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Stew
- 100 g smoked bacon, diced small rounded
- 150 g onion, chopped rounded
- 150 g carrot, peeled, in 1 cm dice rounded
- 150 g celery, sliced rounded
- 300 g waxy potatoes, peeled, in 2 cm chunks rounded
- 500 g cooked white beans, drained, from a can is fine rounded
- 700 ml vegetable or beef broth rounded
- 1 bay leaf rounded
- 2 g dried savory, the classic herb for beans, do not swap it for thyme rounded
- 2 Mettwurst or Bockwurst sausages, sliced; optional but traditional (optional) rounded
- 15 ml white wine vinegar, stirred in at the end, to taste rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly ground black pepper rounded
To serve
- 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped rounded
Method
Method
- Render the bacon in a 4 litre pot over medium heat until the fat has run and the pieces are starting to crisp, about 4 minutes. Do not pour the fat off; it carries most of the flavour.
- Add the onion, carrot and celery and sweat 6 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir often; the bacon fat browns fast once the sugars from the vegetables hit the pan.
- Potatoes, beans, broth, bay leaf and savory in. Bring to a simmer, then turn down until it barely bubbles.
- Simmer 20 minutes, until a knife slides into a potato chunk with no resistance and the carrots still have a little bite.
- Fish out the bay leaf. If using sausage, slice it in and let it warm through for 3 minutes without boiling.
- Stir in the vinegar off the heat, then season with salt and pepper. Taste again after the vinegar; it changes how much salt the pot needs.
- Parsley goes on at the table, not in the pot, or it turns grey and limp before anyone gets a bowl.
Method in the Thermomix
Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl.
- Bacon into the dry bowl. Chop 3 sec / speed 5, then sauté 4 min / 120 °C / speed 1, measuring cup off, until the fat has rendered.
- Add the onion, carrot and celery, roughly chopped. Sauté 6 min / 120 °C / speed 1, measuring cup off, scraping down once halfway through.
- Add the potatoes in 2 cm chunks, the beans, broth, bay leaf and savory. Cook 20 min / 100 °C / speed 1, measuring cup on, with the simmering basket on the lid in place of the cup if it threatens to spit.
- Remove the bay leaf. If using sausage, add it sliced and warm through 3 min / 90 °C / reverse / speed 1 so the slices stay whole.
- Stir in the vinegar, salt and pepper. Mix 10 sec / reverse / speed 1 to combine without breaking the beans up further. Taste through the lid and correct.
Notes
- Savory, not thyme. German bean dishes lean on Bohnenkraut for a reason: it has a peppery, slightly bitter edge that plain thyme does not, and it is what makes this taste like a Bohneneintopf rather than a generic bean soup.
- The vinegar is not optional in spirit, even though it is written as to taste. A pot of beans and bacon fat is rich and a little flat without something sharp cutting through it at the end.
- This keeps and reheats well, and the flavour is better the next day once the savory has had time to spread through the broth. Loosen with a splash of broth if it has thickened too much in the fridge.
- Do not let it boil hard once the beans are in. A rolling boil breaks the beans apart and the broth turns starchy and cloudy rather than clear.
Ingredient substitutions
- Cooked white beans can be cannellini, great northern or navy beans interchangeably. A mix of white beans and kidney beans is also traditional in some households.
- Bacon can be diced Kassler or smoked pork belly for a heartier stew. For a vegetarian pot, use 2 tablespoons of oil instead and a teaspoon of smoked paprika to stand in for the smokiness the bacon would have given.
- Beef broth makes a richer pot than vegetable broth; either works, and vegetable broth is the one that keeps it dairy-free and closer to a lighter weeknight meal.
- No Mettwurst to hand? Any coarse-cut smoked sausage works, or leave it out entirely; the stew is a complete meal with just the beans and bacon.