Vickie’s Southern Green Beans
When I was young, we would trek down to Tennessee to visit the relatives. My Dad’s Mom loved to cook. Of course she kept cooking even when everyone had sat down to dinner or supper. My Dad was always telling her to sit down and eat. Within 5 minutes she’d jump back up and run to tend something else in the kitchen.
I loved the smell of her house. It always had such a warm and welcoming scent. Primarily because she was always cooking something. She had her own large vegetable garden and was always canning and cooking for the freezer. It’s always the simple recipes you don’t write down and become lost to the shadows of the past. I’ve never been able to recreate her version, but I stumbled on a version that my family loves. They go great with a ham or chicken dinner.
People ask, what’s the difference between country green beans and green beans? The answer is cook time. Today a lot of people barely cook green beans, making them crunchy and hard. That might be great for the vitamins, but it’s not the way our country ancestors cooked beans. My grand mothers cooked the way their grand parents cooked and so on. They cooked the hell out of their veggies.
Preparation Time: 4 to 8 hours
Serves: A large family
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. fresh or frozen cut green beans.
- 1 tblspn bacon grease
- 1/2 tblspn salt
- 1 tblspn butter or margarine
- 2 slices uncooked bacon
Directions:
- Place all ingredients in a large stew pot
- Add hot water until beans are fully covered.
- Cook on medium heat for at least 4 hours, but the longer you cook them, the better they are.
Serve:
- Drain excess water and place beans in a serving bowl.
- Top with 1 tblspn butter
- Serve hot
© 1997-2018 Springwolf, D.D., Ph.D., Springwolf’s Creations. All Rights Reserved.