In article >,
"James Silverton" > wrote:


> Can you really tell the differences among 15-, 14-, 13-bean soups etc.?
> Or does the number just mean, throw in what's around?

They cheat, IMHO. I doubt that many home cooks buy 15 sacks of beans,
usually people buy one sack that is marked for making 15 bean soup (I've
seen other numbers, like 10, but 15 seems most common). They do list
all 15, but one is usually barley.

OK, so I lied. Here's a recipe to make your own mix:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/rec...Mix61401.shtml

1 pound dried black beans
1 pound dried red beans
1 pound dried kidney beans
1 pound dried navy beans
1 pound dried great northern beans
1 pound dried baby lima beans
1 pound dried large lima beans
1 pound dried pinto beans
1 pound dried green split peas
1 pound dried yellow split peas
1 pound dried black eyed peas
1 pound dried red lentils
1 pound dried green lentils
1 pound dried brown lentils
1 pound dried cranberry beans

There's also a recipe to make the soup, using two cups of the above.
There's no barley, but note 3 kinds of lentils and two of split peas.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA