Hey oh
I made bean soup last night for dinner. Now, I realise I am in the minority (more than likely), but in my soup I used a pound of coarse regular ground pork (it was a debate between the ground pork and salt belly). Fryed it up nicely first in a fry pan. Before adding it to the soup itself, I removed about a cup of the beans with slotted spoon. These I added back to the oil in the frypan, and then re-fryed the beans to a nice paste (IE roux), and added this back to the soup. Adds a real nice silky smoothness to the soup.