Dutch brown bean soup, Grandma's style

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 250 g beans, brown, dried
• 2 liters of water or broth
• 1 stalk(s) leek
• 1 celeriac
• 2 carrots (winter carrots)
• 3 onions
• 2 potatoes, optional
• 1 sausage, smoked
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 clove(s)
• 150 g smoked bacon
• salt and pepper
• Parsley

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 45 minutes; Total time approx. 15 hours

After washing the brown beans, Grandma soaked them overnight in plenty of water. The next day, she drained them and brought them to a boil with plenty of water. The older the beans, the longer they need to cook. When the beans were almost ready, she put them in her soup pot and added about 2 liters of water or vegetable stock. She also usually added leeks, winter carrots, celeriac, and onions (all cleaned, sliced, and washed if necessary), a bay leaf, the clove, and a piece of smoked bacon, as well as pepper and salt to taste. Sometimes she also added two peeled potatoes and let the soup simmer for at least 45 minutes. For the last 20 minutes, she added a smoked sausage to the beans. After this time, the bacon and sausage were removed from the soup and cut into small slices. Sometimes they were added back to the soup or served separately. Bread was always eaten with the soup. Finely chopped savory or parsley was often sprinkled on top.