Portuguese Kale Soup

Portuguese Kale Soup 

In the summers in the 1970s when Anthony Bourdain worked in restaurants in Provincetown, Mass., the town’s Portuguese fishing community was robust. It has shrunk considerably since then, but many local restaurants still brew up cauldrons of Portuguese kale soup, thick with smoked linguiça sausage and its spicier cousin, chouriço. This version is adapted from a recipe in “Appetites: A Cookbook” (Ecco, 2016), by Mr. Bourdain and Laurie Woolever, which was itself adapted from one by Howard Mitcham, whose “Provincetown Seafood Cookbook” Mr. Bourdain called “a true classic, one of the most influential of my life.” 

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

1½ cups dried red kidney beans

8 cups water, divided

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 large smoked ham hock 

3 to 4 quarts beef stock, preferably low sodium

1 pound linguiça sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices (see Tip)

½ pound Portuguese chouriço sausage, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices (see Tip) 

2 bunches curly kale, tough stems removed and leaves washed and roughly chopped (8 to 10 cups)

4 large or 5 medium waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into a large dice

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

Crushed red pepper

1. Add beans to a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot or Dutch oven with a lid. Cover beans with 4 cups water, add a large pinch of salt and bring to a rapid boil. Cover the pot and remove from the heat. Let beans sit, undisturbed, for 90 minutes until semi-plumped and slightly softened. Drain off cooking liquid. 

2. Add the ham hock, stock and 4 cups water to the pot with the drained beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 hour, using a slotted spoon to skim off and discard any scum that surfaces.

3. Add the linguiça, chouriço and kale and continue simmering for another hour. 
4. Add the potatoes, vinegar and a generous pinch of red pepper and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Simmer for at least another hour, adding stock or water as needed to keep all the elements submerged. The longer the soup simmers, the better the flavor becomes; aim for a minimum of 5 hours.

Tip: Chouriço and linguiça can be hard to find outside Portuguese neighborhoods. Cured Spanish chorizo and smoked kielbasa will yield similar results.

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