Recipe: Swamp Soup

My version of Hermine Brady Green’s recipe shared with me by Sean the Fairhope City Docks dockmaster.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, the dockmaster at Fairhope City Docks included, with the welcome package, a recipe for something called Swamp Soup. The original recipe by Hermine Brady Green serves 12 to 15 and “may be cut in half.” My version here kinda sorta cuts it in half because (1) I don’t need to feed a dozen people and (2) my largest pot simply isn’t big enough.

Sean said that it was important to use Conecuh sausage, which is local to Alabama and available in all the local supermarkets and even Walmart. Sure enough, I had no trouble finding it. I also found it in a few Florida Panhandle supermarkets.

Here’s my version of the recipe.

Ingredients

• 
  Here are the ingredients that I found locally when I made this in Alabama.

  1 onion, coarsely chopped

• 1 lb Original Conecuh smoked sausage, cut into 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices
• 2 16 oz cans seasoned mix greens*
• 1 16 oz can seasoned collard greens*
• 1 16 oz can great northern beans*
• 1 16 oz can seasoned black-eyed peas*
• 1 16 oz can black beans, rinsed
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar**
• 1 qt low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tbsp Better Than Bullion Ham Base (optional)

* Margaret Holmes is the preferred brand. All the cans I found were only 14.5 oz. (Thank you, shrinkflation.)
** The original recipe says this is “very important.” I’m not sure why. You sure can’t taste it.

I highly recommend using low-sodium chicken broth and skipping the Better Than Bullion — unless you like your food very salty. (I don’t.) You can always add salt but you can’t take it out. The seasoned greens and beans add a lot of flavor and salt.

Note that my recipe calls for twice the amount of meat and onion than the original version.

Preparation

This couldn’t be any easier.

1. 
   Start by sautéing the onion and sausage together.

   Sauté onion and sausage in a large pot until the onions start getting soft.

2. Add all the canned greens and beans, undrained (except the black beans, which I like to rinse to prevent the soup from getting muddy looking).
3. Add the chicken broth, apple cider vinegar, and Better Than Bullion (if you’re using it).
4. Simmer for 1 to 4 hours.

The original recipe calls for adding water to make it watery like chicken soup. I didn’t do that because (1) my pot wasn’t big enough to add anything and (2) I like a thicker, heartier soup. There’s a pretty good chance that adding water would help remedy the salt problem.

I think this is a great recipe for a cold or blustery day. I certainly enjoyed it when I made it Christmas week in Orange Beach, AL during the deep freeze.