Braised Green Beans and Potatoes

I grew up Pennsylvania Dutch and Ham and String Beans was a favorite dinner dish during bean season, typically the summer months. We used both green beans and wax beans, fresh from the garden or farmers market. This recipe omitted my favorite ingredient, vinegar! Ham and beans was always served with apple cider vinegar on the table to add to your bowl. Heaven! And, in true PA Dutch tradition, lots of bread and butter to sop up the broth.

This is very much like the beans and potatoes my granny, ( Alabama girl, Coal Valley), use to fix on Sundays and holidays. Left overs with 'pot liquor' ladled over left over cornbread. I miss you, granny! Pax, jb

Hallelujah! Crisp green beans provide none of the richness that beans and potatoes cooked together in the briny broth give you. I do not want to hear my beans squeak! More squeak, less flavor.

For @VegetarianWife - yes. If you want to create this effect, without the ham hock (or smoked turkey wing) - Use an onion with a couple of cloves stuck in it (keep an eye on them - as you maybe have to fish those two cloves out later if they fall out of the onion) - And put a 6 or so dried shitake mushroom in. They will plump up, and add a meaty savory flavor. Add some good olive oil to make up for the richness you'll lose by leaving out the pork. It will be delish.

Any suggestions from vegetarians on how to adapt this recipe for my vegetarian wife? I’d rather not omit the pork but…

I still cook greenbeans the "country" way. We cook greenbeans with ham hock, salt pork or even bacon. It's my husband's favorite meal. We don't use chicken stock. When using a ham hock I slowly simmer it in water for an hour or so in order to be sure it's tender and falling off the bone when I add the greenbeans and potatoes. Lots of salt and pepper. Serve with steamed corn on the cob, fresh sliced tomatoes and onions ...

This is essentially a soup. No slotted spoon for me! I want a bowl of that, broth included.

So happy to see this in Cooking at last. We at this a lot when i was growing up, particularly at the close of the growing season when beans were so plentiful they were likely to be past the stage where the could just be steamed & eaten crisp. You had to cook them soft. Like Lisa our version came down the PennDutch side of the family. Ham hock essential for a tasty pot liquor. No chicken broth needed. Where is the ground black pepper? Lots and lots.

I’m happy to read about slow cooked beans getting some praise. To my mind there are two kinds of green beans - almost two separate vegetables. Crisp bright green beans with lemon butter and perhaps another herb and then the soft, gently simmered beans flavored with ham hocks and maybe onions and potatoes to soak up the broth. I never tasted this kind till I moved to the country and was invited to Ruritan and other community dinners where they were almost invariably served. So delicious!

We made this frequently when I was a child (central Ohio). A ham bone leftover from Sunday dinner, and the direction “go out to the garden and pick a mess of beans” meant something awesome for dinner. Of course we ate ham and green beans a lot in the winter, using the beans we had canned. When mom didn’t have ham, she used bacon, and cornbread was mandatory—baking that was usually my job.

When my wife and I got married in 1980, she described to me how her mother made green beans- basically, just like those in this recipe. I scoffed, saying the only way to cook green beans was to steam or boil until crisp-tender. Of course, once I tried the braised beans, I saw the error in my ways, and was hooked on this dish! And, of course, I remain so today. In fact, this story motivates me to cook up a pot this very evening!

This dish is heavenly. I always simmer a big pot of smoked hocks first, taking the meat off the bones halfway through cooking and reserving the meat for the next day. Return the bones to the pot and continue to cook and refrigerate until until the next day. That’s when the stock has separated from the fat so it can be skimmed off. Then I proceed with the dish that turns out lighter but just a delicious.

As a South Georgia native, I must say what I hope has already been mentioned below: A halved or sliced white onion MUST be added at the beginning with the beans. Also, a fresh bay leaf will make an immense difference over the dried. Finally, if you use vegan margarine and a good vegetable broth, the mean is unnecessary.

Growing up in the hills of North CRolina, I can attest to the glory of a good pan of green beans prepared similarly. Two notes: first, the beans were never picked until "full" or fully seeded. Second, garlic was unknown. Never saw it used until we moved north. Otherwise the recipe is pretty accurate, but with added cooking time (up to 4 hours if the beans were really mature).

The tradition in my part of the South was to simmer the bean pot over low heat for a much longer time, until the beans (and later added potatoes) absorb most of the delicious stock. I have cooked beans for almost 24 hours before. Did they resemble the vegetable I started out with? No. Were they delectable? Ahhh, nothing like them. And, in late summer when the garden was full, we often added a couple of ears of fresh corn kernels, or some cherry tomatoes. YUMMMMM!