Porter Chorizo Black Bean Soup
On October 17, 1814 the streets of London where flooded with beer. Porter to be exact. At around 6pm, a 22-foot-tall monster barrel of beer, containing over two million pints of porter, succumbed to the pressure of the liquid pushing mightily against the large iron hoops. The burst was so loud, a literal explosion, it could be heard as far as five miles away and caused a chain reaction of erupting barrels across the Meux’s Brewery’s rooftop.
The resulting tidal-wave of beer flooded the streets, the crowded nearby tenements that housed impoverished Irish immigrants, and a local church. In an attempt to score free beer, and salvage the precious liquid from the perils of waste, the local citizens ran through the streets with pots, pans, and mugs to stock up on the wealth of brew that had been bestowed upon them.
The beer tsunami killed a total of nine people, the last man succumbed days later to alcohol poisoning in a valiant attempt to assist the cleaning of the streets by consuming as much of the rogue beer as possible, but most drowned in the beer infused streets or where crushed under the weight of beer toppled structurs.
So when the questions comes up, "Is there really such a thing as too much free beer?" the answer, apaprently is  1,224,000 liters happens to be too much.Â
Porter Chorizo Black Bean Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 cup chopped white onions
- 12 wt oz Mexican Chroizo divided
- 24 oz porter beer
- 3 cups beef broth plus additional to taste
- 1 lb about 2 ¼ cups dried black beans
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- salt and pepper
- ½ tsp chili powder
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- ½ cup shredded cheddar
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, cooking until soft. Add the chorizo, cooking until browned. Remove approximately half of the chorizo, reserve for soup topping (alternately, you can cook half of the chorizo in the soup pot, and cook the other half just before serving the soup).
- Add the beer, broth, beans, garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder.
- Simmer the soup until the beans have softened, about 4 hours. Salt and pepper to taste. Add additional broth to thin, if desired.
- Ladle into bowls, top with reserved chorizo, cheese and cilantro.
Comments
Dean Green September 15, 2014 um 1:32 am
This is so good! I actually saved all the chorizo to stir in at the end and it was AMAZING. I also froze some and it was even better once I warmed it back up. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Tieghan September 15, 2014 um 6:47 am
I love chorizo and with a fall weather, this is perfect!
Susan September 15, 2014 um 8:33 am
I’m a big fan of chorizo as well as beer – as is my husband, so it’s a no-brainer that I should make this recipe. It sounds wonderful. I would probably soak the beans first, simply because it helps to make them more digestible for me.
Val September 16, 2014 um 3:45 pm
Great story! I love how you write 🙂
addie | culicurious September 22, 2014 um 1:56 pm
What a fascinating story! Also: this soup looks amazing. 🙂
simon September 24, 2014 um 4:19 am
You can definitely see your enthusiasm in the work you write. The world hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. Always go after your heart.
plasterers bristol March 4, 2015 um 12:56 am
This sounds super delicious. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Simon