Hungarian Ham and Bean Soup

Tap an ingredient or step to check it off.

1. 1Step 1: Soak the dried pinto beans overnight in water, covering them by several inches, then drain before using.
2. 2Step 2: Chop all the vegetables into spoon-sized pieces, aiming for similarly sized chunks, about 1/4 to 1/3 inch.
3. 3Step 3: Melt 1/4 cup of the lard (or heat half the oil) in a 6-qt. pot over medium-high heat.
4. 4Step 4: Add the chopped onions to the pan, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften.
5. 5Step 5: Add the minced garlic and stir for a minute.
6. 6Step 6: Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and continue cooking until they turn light golden, 7–9 minutes.
7. 7Step 7: Near the end of this step you may notice a bit of a 'fond' (brown bits) forming on the bottom of the pan. That will add to the flavour, but take care to not let it burn. Since the next step is adding water - add a bit now and deglaze the bottom of the pan.
8. 8Step 8: Add beans, bay leaves, ham hock, and 12 cups water to the pot and bring to a boil.
9. 9Step 9: Keep an eye on this and reduce the heat right away to medium. Partially cover with a lid and cook until beans are very tender, about 2 hours.
10. 10Step 10: Skim off the foamy scum once or twice during cooking.
11. 11Step 11: After two hours, transfer the ham hock to a cutting board and let it cool while doing the next two steps. It will be very hot, but will be easier to handle later if you cut or pull it apart a bit to speed up the cooling.
12. 12Step 12: Take the dumpling batter from the fridge and drop it by bits into the lightly simmering soup to make little dumplings.
13. 13Step 13: Make the rántás / thickener below - and 'borrow' about 2-2.5 cups of the soup broth to be used for the rántás step.
14. 14Step 14: For the rántás: Heat the lard over medium heat in a 10-inch frying pan. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Cook 2 (maybe more) minutes. That mixture should be smooth and spread over the bottom of the pan. You want it to go from white to a very light golden colour. Do not walk away from this. It can go from perfect to a dark brown very quickly and then you have to start all over.
15. 15Step 15: Take the pan off the heat. Whisk in the paprika powder and paprika cream and stir off heat for about 1 minute.
16. 16Step 16: Whisk in the sour cream.
17. 17Step 17: With the pan back on medium-low heat, begin to add some of the soup broth you set aside. Each addition will go through stages of seeming to not mix in, then to mix in, and then thicken again. Keep repeating this until you have used the 1.5 cups of soup broth.
18. 18Step 18: At that point the rántás / thickener can be added to the soup. Cook 4–6 minutes more.
19. 19Step 19: If you haven’t already done so, drop the dumplings into the simmering soup to cook.
20. 20Step 20: Discard the skin and bone from the ham hock. Shred or cube the meat into bite-sized pieces and stir into the soup.
21. 21Step 21: Add pepper and add salt to taste. Serve with an additional dollop of sour cream - great with hearty bread!