Grandma Lovisa's Bean Soup (The Best)

Submitted by Teresa Ness

Ingredients

1 lb. Northern Beans (soak overnight)

12 oz. salt pork (slice down middle of long way to skin and then slice the short way about 1/3") Remove skin

1 medium onion, sliced

1 clove garlic

1 large celery stick, cut into chunks

1 medium carrot, cut into chunks

2 quarts water

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a large pot (I always use my Dutch Oven because it browns everything real good.) fry salt pork until crisp, then add onion and garlic. Fry until tender. If the pan gets too brown, add a very small amount of water. Add the rest of the ingredients and boil gently at least 1½ hours.

Remove salt pork and cut off fat.

Mash with potato masher until most of the beans are gone. Return lean salt pork to soup.

If too thick, add some water or chicken broth.


Cook's Notes: Sounds complicated but not once you do it.


Grandma Lovisa - Born Melanie Puzinski in Galatia, Ukraine (under Russia). The family came to Canada to escape "The Russian Revolution" that started in 1905. Melanie married Giovanni Lovisa, from Italy, when she was 16 years old.

Russian History Lesson: Nicholas Romanov II was the last Czar of Russia from 1913 to 1917. He, his wife Alexandra and four children were executed on July 17, 1918 and buried in a roadside pit. There were many stories that a daughter, Anastasia, had escaped and there were many books and movies made about her. (Anastasia, with Ingrid Bergman is a movie I loved) Eighty years later 7/17/1998 their bones were dug up and they had a funeral in St. Petersburg fit for a Czar. They claim Anastasia's bones were there, but the bones of a daughter (Maria) and their only son (Alexei) were missing.

Melanie Lovisa had a younger sister named Anastasia.