Look at this pan filled with yummy goodness. It had all the makings of a perfect bean soup.
Yet somehow, somewhere, something went horribly, horribly awry.
The garden had finally frozen over, and during my weeding, I found some late-fall veggies who had been hiding under the foliage–green tomatoes, eggplant, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, Anaheim chilis, onions.
I took a handful of bacon trimmings, chopped them up with the veggies, and browned them lightly. When the veggies were done, I tossed them in with my pot of beans cooking in chicken stock.
It should have been a no-brainer. Yet somewhere along the line, this pot of soup turned into The Dead Sea. It was so salty you could float a horseshoe on it.
OK, maybe it just tasted that way.
I am not sure what happened. I don’t cook with salt, and the beans were dried–not canned. Perhaps the bacon was salted, but if you look above, you will notice the pot is HUGE and filled with water. The small amount of bacon I added shouldn’t have made a difference.
I blame gremlins.
The kids wouldn’t eat the soup. Everyone else choked down a half-bowl…with lots and lots of bread.
I thought about tossing it to the chickens, but I was afraid the salt would mummify them from the inside out. In the end, I doubled up the water and made dirty rice with the leftovers. The end result was still saltier than I like it, but definitely edible. Tasty even.
It just goes to show, you can’t win them all…especially if you have gremlins.
Larissa blogs at The Henway.
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Barbee says:
That’s really strange. I am very sensitive to salt, too. I recently made a “quick soup” using mostly canned foods plus a few fresh vegetables — never again! I didn’t add any salt, but it was so salty I could hardly eat it. Yours looks good.
On January 11, 2011 at 2:21 am
Sandra says:
Was it homemade stock? Sometimes the commercial kind is very salty to me.
On January 11, 2011 at 6:44 am
CindyP says:
OH, it looks so good!!!!!
I’ve had over salty broth by using the low-sodium bouillon…more isn’t better, use 1 tsp like they tell you! LOL!
On January 11, 2011 at 7:53 am
mom2wildboys says:
You can rescue a salty soup by simmering a peeled potato or two in the liquid for a while (I usually cut it in half or large chunks to increase the surface area) and then fishing them out. The potatoes absorb a lot of salt.
On January 11, 2011 at 8:42 am
Dede ~ wvhomecanner says:
hmmmm thinking several times someone tasted, salted, tasted salted when you weren’t looking? Used to happen here now and then but when I started having to cut salt due to health/meds ‘they’ finally stopped. Oh, no one ever admitted to it of course 😉
dede
On January 11, 2011 at 8:45 am
LauraP says:
Bacon, commercial broth, the contributions of secret salters . . . nah, I like blaming the gremlins.
On January 11, 2011 at 8:54 am
Larissa says:
Gremlins are way more likely than anyone in my house helping me cook! 😉
On January 11, 2011 at 9:33 am
Rachel says:
It was Tim. He loves the salt, he salts everything he eats, BEFORE he tastes it to see if its already salty. Definitely Tim.
On January 11, 2011 at 9:51 am
Ross says:
Had to be the gremlins and the stock.
On January 11, 2011 at 10:36 am
Grace Reynolds says:
The potato trick and extra water usually does it. At least you were able to salvage those good veggies!
On January 11, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Ross says:
If you canned your stock from your own recipe you may have salted the stock pot at the start. Then when you canned the stock you may have added salt to each jar. If you cooked the stock down some you would have further raised the salt concentration.
On January 11, 2011 at 1:36 pm
Larissa says:
My roosters are low-sodium 😉 I never use salt so…GREMLINS!
…I’ll take personal responsibility for the big stuff. But the soup? Nah. Besides, there wasn’t enough potatoes in AZ to fix it. 🙂
On January 11, 2011 at 1:55 pm