Amish preaching soup is a type of bean soup in American cuisine. It was typically served preceding or following Amish church services. Some versions are prepared with beans and ham hocks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_preaching_soup
I made this soup a few weeks ago. As you’ll recall from the original post, I wasn’t super excited about it. I thought it was too hammy.
I don’t remember what brand of ham I used last time, but it was just a chunk of a grocery store ham, like you might use to make diced ham for an omelette or something. It probably wasn’t a high quality ham.
You’ll also recall that I talked about two different versions of the soup- a bean soup and a bread and milk soup. Upon going back and searching I think that the bread and milk soup, known as bupli is really a different dish. However the main site I found reference to it on, amish365.com, talks about leaving the beans out because they didn’t think their community would like them.
Long story short, this time I decided to follow the optional ingredients version of my recipe. It’s probably far less authentic, but, I enjoyed it much more. It’s likely that using a nice smoked ham hock instead of the cheap processed ham made all the difference, and I’ll likely try the basic version that way again another time.
A classic bupil would have stale bread mixed in before serving, but I didn’t think that I would really appreciate that texture, so I chose to use the bread as garnish. I dried sliced white bread in a very low oven (about 170F) while the beans cooked. In the future I think I will actually toast the bread for more flavor.
Since following the alternate recipe made a pretty different soup, I’ve chosen to create a new post.
Amish Preaching Soup, version 2
Serves: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: Approximately 2-3 hours
Total Time: 2-3 hours plus soaking time.
1 lb. dried soup beans (navy, great northern…)
1 ½ lb. ham
OR
1 ¾ lb. ham hocks/ bones
Water to cover
2 cups diced celery
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 stick butter
¾ cup chopped onion
8 cups milk
Bread, toasted.
Salt
4 teaspoons chopped parsley, for garnish
Soak beans overnight.
In a sauce pan or soup pot, cover ham with water and bring to a boil. Simmer until tender, about 1 ½ hours. Skim broth, if nescessary, and add drained beans, celery and black pepper. Simmer until beans are soft, about 45 minutes- 1 hour.
Strain the beans, discarding the broth (or reserving it for another use if desired). Remove bones, if used, and chop the meat into bite size pieces.
Melt the butter in a soup pot and add onion. Sauté until translucent. Add milk,cooked bean mixture and ham. Heat over low heat until warm, and season with salt to taste. Serve garnished with parsley and toast.
Lorin cooks Legumes 
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