Badische Bohnesupp'

Badische Bohnesupp' belongs to Baden and the Black Forest, and it belongs to Fasent, the Alemannic carnival season before Lent. On Schmutziger Dunschdig, the Thursday when the Narren, the carnival fools, take over the streets, this is the pot you want waiting: beans, smoked bacon, potato, broth thick enough to feed people who have been out in the cold.

Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. In the north, beans may mean green beans with pears and bacon, or sour cut beans from the crock. In Baden, this soup is dried white beans from the winter shelf, smoked pork from the larder, and a floury potato cooked until it gives its body to the pot. Das ist kein Bierzelt. It's a working soup with a dialect name and a serious appetite.

The technique is simple, and it decides the whole dish: soak the beans and cook them gently before the acid and final salt go in. Salt too early with hard old beans and vinegar too early with any bean, and the skins stay tough while the inside turns tired. Low heat lets the starch swell evenly, the bacon rind gives gelatine to the broth, and the potato breaks down at the end to thicken without a packet. Nicht aus dem Glas.

Watch the pot, not the clock. The beans are done when a spoon crushes one against the side without grit, and the soup is done when the potatoes have softened the broth but not vanished completely. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss. A spoon of vinegar wakes it up, and then you stop fussing.