I really wanted to grill more this week, but it’s been so rainy lately that I’ve been stuck inside. No grilling, but I can still keep with my summer theme, right? Soup seemed like a good idea, and I settled on this Slow Cooker Pork and Black Bean Soup recipe. I do love to use my crockpot! This recipe sounds like it is light enough for the hot weather while being substantial enough to be the main course. To the grocery store!
The combination of chipotle chiles and adobo sauce adds a smoky kick to this thick, no-fuss soup. If you want to cut down on the heat, skip the chopped chiles and just use the adobo sauce.
The Ingredients
There weren’t too many ingredients in this recipe, and nothing was unusually expensive. The pork shoulder I found wasn’t boneless, so I bought one that was just over two pounds to compensate.
The Process
This recipe sounded easy and it was. Unfortunately, I had to make it twice due to technical difficulties. Let me explain.
The Frist Try
Simple instructions, easy prep work, and I had my black bean soup cooking in my crockpot after just 8 minutes. Since I had to have time to photograph the soup before dinner, I chose to cook it on high because it was faster.
After 5.5 hours on high, I took the pork shoulder out to shred, and it wasn’t fall-apart tender like slow-cooked meat normally is. It wasn’t under- or over-cooked, but I did have to work a little to cut it off the bone. It wasn’t too bad, though, and I had it back into the crockpot with the pureed soup in 5 minutes.
Now for the technical difficulties. First, the beans were undercooked. I took a small bite, “yucked”, and put the lid back onto the pot. Maybe the fact that the pork wasn’t boneless caused the problem? I’m really not sure.
At any rate, I was exhausted by this time and asked my husband to put the soup into the refrigerator after it cooled a bit. I headed to bed thinking I’d cook it more the next day and re-sample it. Well, it didn’t make it to the refrigerator, and I had to dump it the next day.
The Second Try
This time I had to hunt for a pork shoulder. Publix didn’t have it, but Winn Dixie had a pork butt that looked like it would work. It was way more than I needed (over 4 pounds), but I was able to cut off a 1.5-ish pound piece and freeze the rest. Oh, and apparently pork shoulder and pork butt are the same things. I don’t get it, but I’m not questioning it.
This time I woke up early enough to cook my black bean soup on low for the full 8 hours, and it was a completely different result. The pork fell apart as I was taking it out to shred, and the beans were cooked perfectly. There was no yuck reaction when I tried it–it was delicious!
