Hot Dog Bean Soup by Andy Warhol

It’s the Fourth of July, or thereabouts. So I’m wondering what soup to cook that adequately recognizes Independence Day, American Style. Fortunately, there aren’t any soups that easily come in red, white, and blue. It’s the blue that makes it hard, a subject I covered on my What Color Is Your Soup project a while back.

Hot dogs and beans are about as classic fare as you could imagine, though, and if Campbell’s Hot Dog Bean soup was good enough for Andy Warhol to posterize, it must be cool. No, that’s not logic of any sort, and yes, Warhol was no doubt making the opposite statement.

Hot dogs and beans are about as classic fare as you could imagine, and if Campbell’s Hot Dog Bean soup was good enough for Andy Warhol to posterize, it must be cool. No, that’s not logic of any sort, and yes, Warhol was no doubt making the opposite statement.

But retro does have its own cool factor, and it’s not like I’m about to outgrow my childhood taste buds anytime soon. So cry havoc and loose the dogs of soup!

Yankee Bean and Hot Dog Soup

• 1 Lb dried Navy beans
• 1/2 large onion
• 3 stalks celery
• 3 medium carrots
• 3 slices bacon
• 2 quarts water
• 1 tbs Better than Bullion Organic Chicken Base
• 1 tbs salt
• 1 pkg hot dogs (Ball Park Beef Franks)

Soak the beans overnight, or for at least 12 hours and you’ll wind up to just about two quarts of beans after you drain them off. Chop and saute the onions and bacon with a tbs of vegetable oil until the bacon is done and the onion translucent, then add the carrots and celery in for another five minutes. Add the beans, water and chicken base. Of course, you can just use chicken stock if you have it. Simmer for two hours, or until the beans are good and tender.

I always stress at about the hour and a half mark thinking the beans are never going to soften up…but they do.When they’re done, take two cups of beans from the pot and puree them until smooth. Then return them to the pot to give it the cooked all day texture. Add the tbs of salt.

Cut the hot dogs into 1/4 in thick slices and brown ligtly on both sides, then add them to the soup and simmer for fifteen minutes to get the flavors to blend.

At this point, I had to add another 2-3 cups of water to get the consistency thin enough to pass for soup, but otherwise, that’s all there is too it.

Hot dawg!