A little birdie told me that "jmcquown" > said:

>Beer certainly wouldn't hurt. And of course I forgot to mention onion,
>garlic (and celery if you have it) - those are sort of a 'given'. Maybe
>even carrots as Sheldon suggested. Bay leaf (to me) in bean soup is also a
>'given'. Black pepper, of course. Penzey's tellicherry blend is nice. And
>yes, as sf suggested, salt at the end. I prefer to salt each serving to
>taste rather than dumping salt into the entire pot. I love the idea of
>grated cheese on this sort of bean soup. I do that with my 5 Bean. But I
>also like hot sauce or cayenne pepper in bean soup, too. Again, to taste in
>each serving.

The first add-in that I thought of (besides bay leaves) was carrots. But I
really wanted to try the original deal (as much as possible, given the
ingredients we had on hand) before doctoring it *too* much.

The next time I make this soup, I'm going to leave the chili powder out,
and find another spin to put on it. It was very good, but it tasted too
much like chili. I'd like to have a soup that has its own flavor.

Carol
--
Coming at you live, from beautiful Lake Woebegon