SMOKED DEER SAUSAGE & WHITE BEAN SOUPSMOKED DEER SAUSAGE & WHITE BEAN SOUP
Recipe by: George Graham — Acadiana Table
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons bacon grease
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- ½ cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 2 cups sliced smoked deer sausage
- 1 pound dried large white beans
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Hot sauce, if desired
Instructions
- Start the vegetables.
Heat the bacon grease in a largecast-iron pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until it begins turning translucent, about 5 minutes. - Add the sausage.
Add the celery, carrot, and sliced smoked deer sausage. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. - Build the soup.
Add the dried white beans and enough chicken stock to cover everything. Stir in the bay leaf, parsley, rosemary, Cajun seasoning, and a little salt and pepper. - Simmer.
Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cover.
Cook for about 1 hour, checking and stirring roughly every 15 minutes. Add additional stock as necessary while the beans cook.
- Get it creamy.
Once the beans are tender, the broth should have developed that naturally thick, creamy consistency you want from a good pot of beans.
Remove the bay leaf and taste. Adjust with salt, black pepper, Cajun seasoning, or hot sauce.
- Serve.
Ladle into bowls and serve with rounds of toasted French bread.
George Graham’s Notes
Graham says the sausage is what makes this recipe special. He specifically recommends Rabideaux’s smoked deer sausage, which combines venison with pork to give the otherwise lean deer meat additional moisture and richness. He notes that smoked pork sausage or another good smoked sausage can be substituted.
He also says this works well in a slow cooker—about 5 hours on low.
