Boiled Broad or Windsor Beans
7 personsIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Add 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt to each 1/2 gallon of water.
Shell the beans; they should be young and freshly gathered.
Cook and serve
Put the beans into the boiling water, salted as above.
Boil rapidly until tender, about 15 minutes for very young beans, 20–25 minutes for moderate size.
Drain the beans well in a colander.
Dish the beans and serve with a tureen of parsley and butter.
Serve boiled bacon separately with the beans.
Optionally, garnish ham with the beans; if the beans are very old, remove their skins.
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
- Beans (in the method)
- Form the main body of the dish; boiling softens their starch until tender.
- Bacon (in the method)
- Adds salty, fatty flavour to the beans it is served alongside.
The step that matters
Boil rapidly until tender. Beans cooked too briefly stay firm and starchy, while overcooking makes them mushy and break apart. Timing should match the bean size, since younger beans cook faster than moderate-sized ones.
“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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