Bean Soup Elevated

I think that I make a wicked bean soup with Portuguese sausage. I learned yesterday that the soup is called posole in Portuguese. I even sell bean soup bags with my recipe. It is ironic how my friends and family keep buying me bean soup mixes to "broaden my approach" to soup making. Well, last night, I broke down and opened one of those commercial bean soup mixes. Since I did not have the optional ham hocks suggested, I found smoked meat, cut it into bite sized pieces and put it into the soup. I let the beans simmer merrily for an hour and found that the soup was bland even with the seasoning that was included in the mix. So, I put some glugs of Worcestershire sauce and sprinkled red pepper flakes. Let the mixture simmer merrily for an hour. Tasted it...something is missing. Sprinkled in some Hawaiian salt to taste. Ahhhh...good. The beans were not mushy but just the right texture. The smoked meat was tender. The gravy was great with a slight kick at the end...just a gentle kick. We had the soup with some homemade whole wheat bread. Now if we had some rice, the meal would be akin to the Louisiana favorite of red beans and rice. Still the queen of bean soups!!