276813 Wed Mar 02 10:26:07 -0800 2005 6 31 Home Cooking 0 1461371 Will be making an enormous batch of black bean soup tomorrow for Soup Night. I'm contemplating using the food processor to finely dice the onion, celery and carrot for the aromatics but I've never done that and I'm not sure if the resulting ultra-fine dice will diminish the flavors. It would certainly speed things up but I care more about the results. Any advice? Wed Mar 02 10:26:07 -0800 2005 0 GretchenS 1 1461388 It might be hard to saute the veggies properly, as finely chopped onions (and celery) are very watery--you end up steaming, rather than sauteing. (You will also lose the chunky texture to the soup, if that matters to you.) P.S. Because I cook in quantity, I usually buy my chopped onions at Smart & Final. The bag they sell contains nearly 9 cups of chopped onions and only costs around $4.00! Wed Mar 02 11:40:17 -0800 2005 1461371 0 Funwithfood 1 1461393 If the intention is to use them as mirepoix, then that should be fine. Unless you wanted to brown them first, then you would need to start with larger chunks. the size of the mirepoix depends on cooking time, and they are only conveniently large (so to prevent excessive chopping) when you have long cooking times. Are you goign to puree them at the end to form a soup base? Now if you want beans with distinguishable chunks of carrots, celery, and onion, that's a different matter. Wed Mar 02 12:02:40 -0800 2005 1461371 0 rudeboy 2 1461394 Yes, it is for the mirepoix. I will partially puree the soup at the end but not completely. I guess part of my question is, do we all think it's preferable to have distinguishable chucnks of veggies in black bean soup? Wed Mar 02 12:06:23 -0800 2005 1461393 0 GretchenS 3 1461517 If they're the size of the black beans, I'm all for it. Thu Mar 03 03:17:36 -0800 2005 1461394 0 JK Grence (the Cosmic Jester) 1 1461404 Chop the aromatics (mirepoix, sofrito, soffritto) and saute them. Puree them after they are sauteed. If your using dry black beans, cook them in water without any additions especially salt or anything acidic like tomatoes. Presoaking is not necessary. They should be tender within an hour of simmering. Add the sauteed aromatics and whatever seasonings you wish to the cooked beans. After the incorporated ingredients have simmered long enough for the flavors to blend, puree half the beans. Add the pureed beans back to the soup. Have chopped cilantro available for garnish. The ChiliDude has spoken! Wed Mar 02 12:54:23 -0800 2005 1461371 0 ChiliDude 2 1461457 I think pureeing the sauteed vegetables prior to adding them to the beans is an unneccesary step if you are "immersion blending" the soup (all or part) at completion anyway (just my humble opinion). Wed Mar 02 16:03:58 -0800 2005 1461404 0 Funwithfood