Ciorbă de Fasole cu Afumătură (Romanian Bean Soup with Smoked Meat)

  • Preparation - 20 minutes
  • Soaking beans - 12 hours
  • Cooking - 2-3 hours
  • Servings: 8
  • Country: Romania
Thick brown bean soup with pieces of smoked meat in a bowl, served with fresh onion and bread.

The key to this soup is the long cooking of the dried beans and smoked meat to allow their flavors to blend perfectly. If you want to speed up preparation, you can use canned beans, but in that case, cook the smoked meat separately beforehand.

Traditionally, this ciorbă is soured with borș (fermented wheat or corn bran broth), but it is often replaced with vinegar or simply tomato paste, which adds enough acidity.

Ingredients

I. For the Beans and Smoked Meat

  • 400 g Dried white beans
  • 500 g Smoked pork with bone (knuckle, ribs, bacon)
  • 3.5 l Water
  • 3 pcs Bay leaf

II. For the Vegetable Base

  • 2 pcs Onion (yellow), chopped
  • 2 pcs Carrot, chopped
  • 1 pc Parsley root or parsnip, chopped
  • 100 g Celery, piece of root, chopped

III. For Finishing

  • 3 Tbsp Tomato paste
  • 1 Tbsp Sweet ground paprika
  • 1 Tbsp Plain flour (for thickening)
  • 3 Tbsp Vegetable oil/Lard
  • 1 tsp Dried or fresh tarragon
  • 1 to taste Salt, pepper, vinegar or borș (to taste)
  • 1 for garnish Fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 for serving Red onion, sliced

Instructions

Step 1: Preparation and Boiling the Beans

Soak the beans in cold water and leave them overnight.

The next day, drain the water, rinse the beans, and cover them with fresh cold water. Bring to a boil, simmer for 5 minutes, drain, and rinse (this step helps prevent flatulence).

Step 2: Cooking the Smoked Meat and Beans

Place the rinsed beans in a large pot. Add the smoked meat, bay leaf, and cover with 3.5 l of fresh water.

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer slowly for 2-3 hours until the beans and meat are tender.

Step 3: Preparing the Vegetables and Roux (Rântaș)

In a separate pan, sauté the chopped onion, carrot, parsley root, and celery in oil/lard until soft (about 10 minutes).

Transfer the vegetables to the pot with the beans and remove the smoked meat. Remove the bones, dice the meat, and return it to the soup.

In the same pan (with a little lard/oil), make a roux: add the flour, stir quickly, add the ground paprika and tomato paste. Mix quickly and add a ladle of cold water or soup broth to form a thin mixture.

Step 4: Finishing and Seasoning

Pour the roux into the soup. Add salt, pepper, tarragon, and let the soup simmer for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to combine and the soup to thicken.

Finally, sour the soup to taste with vinegar (or borș, if available) and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Step 5: Serving

Serve hot. Traditionally, it is served with sliced red onion and fresh bread.