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Wash Day Green Beans

July 15, 2012 by The Runaway Spoon 8 Comments

Wash Day Green Beans in progress

Wash day beans are an old tradition, one that has taken on many forms in many places. The story goes that laundry day was once a week, usually a Monday, back when doing the wash meant heating up vats of water on an old wood stove to dump in the wash tub, then scrubbing the clothes by hand on that old washboard.  The practical housewife was not likely to plan an elaborate meal to add to her work load, but the menfolk who spent the day laboring in the fields still needed a hearty meal.  So, with the woodstove already fired up, our smart lady would put a pot of beans with some piece of meat on the back burner to simmer away while she got on with the washing.  As I understand it, this is the origin of red beans and rice and many other slow-simmered bean dishes, and the tradition of eating red beans and rice on Monday still persists in Louisiana and around the South.  But for me, wash day beans always conjures up this classic, old-fashioned sweet and tangy green bean dish.  I buy gorgeous green beans at the farmers market, or pole beans take to this method wonderfully.

I have often thought that the tendency in the modern kitchen for quickly cooking vegetables misses a real trick.  “Crisp-tender” is the buzzword for vegetables now, but the common assumption that vegetables cooked long and slow are overcooked is a shame.  There is a transformative point in the cooking when the beans turn into something magical, wholly apart from their quick-cooked cousins. I attended a food conference recently where John Egerton, a master of Southern cuisine and cooking, stated that “slow-cooked green beans get a bad rap.”  I couldn’t agree more.  And it had me rushing home to rustle up some wash day beans.

Wash Day Green Beans

I usually cut the beans into pieces about 2 inches long for ease of eating, but it is not necessary.  These shrink and turn a deep, mellow green.

12 strips of bacon

6 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

6 Tablespoons sugar

2 pounds of fresh green beans, washed and trimmed

Ground black pepper

Cut the bacon in to small pieces and drop into a large skillet with a lid, preferably black cast iron.  Cook the bacon until it is crispy, then remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon to drain.  Take the bacon drippings in the skillet off the heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.  If you add ingredients while the grease is hot, everything will splash and sizzle and burn.

When the bacon drippings have cooled off, add the cider vinegar and the sugar and return to medium high heat.  Stir until the sugar is melted.  Add the green beans and about ¾ of the bacon pieces and stir to coat.  Cover the pot, lower the heat and cook on low for 2 – 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until you are ready to serve.

Sprinkle with ground black pepper and the remaining bacon pieces.   Serve immediately.

Serve 6 – 8

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Filed Under: Farmers Market, Fruit and Vegetables, Sides, Southern Specialties, Vegetables Tagged With: bacon, farmers market, green beans, Southern speciaties, Vegetables, vinegar

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Comments

  1. Michelle says

    July 15, 2012 at 5:01 pm

    Although I am firmly in the crisp-tender camp for the most part, I do still have fond childhood memories of slow-cooked green beans. However, when I’ve made them, they’ve never turned out how I wanted them to. I must try again, though, with vinegar and sugar. Inspired!

  2. The Runaway Spoon says

    July 15, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    They always bring back memories for me! Enjoy!

  3. Jackie @Syrup and Biscuits says

    July 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    Green beans are certainly one veggie I don’t like crisp tender. Also, good green beans must have the flavor of smoked meat of some description. Nicely done!

  4. The Runaway Spoon says

    July 16, 2012 at 12:39 am

    Thank you!

  5. Shelley says

    August 10, 2012 at 4:21 am

    Thank goodness for you! I have never found a recipe for slow-cooked beans in all of my *modern* (“must be bright green, slightly blanched and tender-crisp”) cookbooks. Well, I always end up overcooking the suckers, especially broccoli, because I can’t stand half-raw 😉 I can’t wait to try this. Cheers!

  6. Cranky Gerd says

    September 1, 2012 at 10:40 am

    Thank you!! I am so tired of “crisp-tender” and often avoid ordering vegetables in restaurants because of this misguided trend (and I’m vegetarian!). Slow cooked vegetables are a dream. I know what you mean about them reaching a magical moment of being “just right,” in taste and mouth-feel.

  7. John says

    February 19, 2013 at 12:06 am

    I have always eaten red beans on Mondays, but this string bean recipe sounds great. I will certainly try it!

  8. Brook Hubbeling says

    October 5, 2022 at 8:30 am

    There is a long forgotten French practice of washing laundry in bean soak water to remove stains, as well.

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I'm P.C. I think I am like most people. Somewhere in the middle between food snob and food schlub. Just being in the kitchen makes me happy. I live, mostly in my kitchen, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.

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