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Boiled French Beans

Boiled French beans are young green beans cooked quickly in salted water and served with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Boiled French Beans

7 persons

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Add 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt and a small piece of soda to each 1/2 gallon of water.

  2. Cut off the heads and tails and a thin strip on each side of the beans to remove the strings.

  3. Divide each bean into 4 or 6 pieces, according to size, cutting them lengthways in a slanting direction.

  4. As they are cut, put them into cold water with a small quantity of salt dissolved in it.

  5. Have ready a saucepan of boiling water with salt and soda in the above proportion.

Boil and serve

  1. Put the beans into the boiling water, keep them boiling quickly, with the lid uncovered, and be careful that they do not get smoked.

  2. Boil for 10 to 12 minutes for very young beans, or 15 to 20 minutes for moderate size after the water boils.

  3. When the beans sink to the bottom of the saucepan, indicating tenderness, take them up and drain them in a colander.

  4. Serve the drained beans with plain melted butter.

  5. If beans are very young, they may be served whole; otherwise cut into thin strips.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

French beans (in the method)
Provide the main vegetable; boiling softens them to a tender, edible texture.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and a smooth, savoury coating when served melted over the drained beans.

The step that matters

Boil with the lid uncovered and keep the water boiling quickly. A fast, uncovered boil keeps the beans bright green and lets volatile acids escape, while a covered pot can turn them dull. Checking tenderness by watching them sink helps avoid overcooking, which makes beans soft and grey.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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