Beans

Navy Bean Soup You will need the following: 2lbs Navy Beans 1lb Bacon Cooked Crisp 1 Large white onion diced 1 Garlic head smashed or diced 3 large carrots chopped 2 packs Cilantro chopped 1 tall beer for soaking beans. Soak beans for 6 hours or more in beer and water (cover to 2" above beans) in refrigerator. Cook bacon (cut in half) to extra crispy (so you can crumble it up). Cook onion, carrots and garlic together in a pan or skillet until the onions are translucent and then get a little color to them (caramelized). After beans soak, bring to a boil for 5 minutes then turn off heat and let rest for an hour, remove most of the liquid but retain it until finished as it may be needed. After the beans rest for an hour, mix in the onion, garlic and carrot mix and pour in the chicken stock, also crumble the bacon in (I like 1/4" pieces). If the chicken stock is not enough to just cover the beans add in some of the removed liquid until they are covered 1/4". Now cover with lid and put on low heat for a slow simmer for around 4 hours. After the 4 hours, remove the lid and continue on low until the liquid is reduced by half. Turn off heat and add in the Cilantro and mix. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. You can now eat or portion and freeze. The longer it sits the better the taste.