Method for Green Beans

Boil or Steam?

Julia Child has led a full life, yet a peaceful one. When it comes to cooking green beans, for example, she has never had any doubt: Always use the "French bean system" for superior taste, texture, and color.

Many can be envious. I myself have never had anything but questions about this method. Is it really necessary to heat up a great tub of water, salted at that, just to cook a few green beans?

For years I hovered in a tortured agnostic state: not quite a believer, yet not courageous enough to disbelieve. (Remember that Marcella Hazan and Richard Olney also espouse Julia’s method). I incessantly compromised by using token excess water but surely never enough to accomplish any real purpose.

Delivery at last came unexpectedly from Paul Bertolli who casually observed, in Chez Panisse Cooking, that green beans can be steamed "to fresher effect". I tried steaming, and the beans did taste fresher, and I have been steaming them ever since.

Have I found peace? No. For if you put it to the test you will find that steamed beans, fresh as they taste, are not as uniformly round or green as those boiled in a vast quantity of salted water.

It depends finally on your private rating system for green beans. If you give equal points for taste, color, and texture you will use the French method. If you value taste and rapid preparation time above all, you will steam them. In either case we give up something. There can be no final peace, because there is no perfectly cooked bean.

Recipes are given for boiled and steamed beans. In my experience, pan-steaming is not a contender here, as the beans are not cooked evenly enough.

Place steamer basket in kettle with water just below bottom of basket. Cover and heat rapidly until steam comes up through the basket. Rinse beans, place in basket, and cover.

Steam until just tender, when beans have lost their raw taste, but still remain firm. Times will be a few minutes longer than for the boiling method below, about 10 to 12 minutes.

Taste is the test. To play safe, begin tasting at 8 minutes. When beans are done, spread them on a plate to cool. (Or stop cooking with cold water in a colander, which will cause a slight loss of flavor.)

The Italian Marcella Hazan has provided the clearest explanation for the French bean system. The salt, she says in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, exists to provide a uniform green color, and does not go (appreciably) into the beans. The large quantity of rapidly boiling water is to seal the bean initially and cook quickly without drop in temperature.

All Western authors agree that there is a narrow window of opportunity in which the beans are just right, after which they are overcooked, begin to get soft, and lose their fresh flavor.

Hazan notes that properly cooked beans have a "round, nutty, sweet flavor." Undercooked, they have the "raw taste of grass."

For 1 1/2 pounds of beans, Julia Child recommends 6 quarts of water, 1 ½ teaspoon salt per quart.

In an uncovered kettle, bring the water to a rolling boil and add beans. When the beans are done they will still be firm, but have lost their raw taste. This will take perhaps 6 to 8 minutes.

Taste is the test. To play safe, begin tasting at 6 minutes. When beans are done, spread them on a plate to cool. (Or stop cooking with cold water in a colander.)

What Next?

After you have the finished bean, perfectly cooked according to your private rating system, what do you do with it?

First, celebrate. Boiled or steamed green beans are delicious simply with a little butter or olive oil. For cold beans, stir in a little vinaigrette.

For variety try any of the embellishments below, or one of the Provencale recipes following. Also, see salad section for green bean salads.

Embellishments for Green Beans

GREEN BEANS PROVENCALE

One of the great flavor combinations of the world is the Provencale green beans, tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs.

A Mark Twain Trap

Julia Child in Volume I presents a perfectly delicious version of green beans Provencale. It has long been a favorite in our household. The lengthy preparation time, however, always limited its bookings.

There is also the matter of the Mark Twain Trap. Mark Twain advised to buy a stock that would go up. If it wouldn’t go up, don’t buy it.

This trap occurs in Julia’s recipe. You first boil the beans, undercooking them. By how much are they undercooked? By just enough so that they will complete cooking later, in oil with the tomatoes. If the beans finish cooking too early or too late for the tomatoes, you then learn - too late - that you judged incorrectly in the boiling operation.

Steeping and Green Beans Provencale

In a later version of the same dish Julia herself, in From Julia Child’s Kitchen, provided a solution to this problem:

She cooks all vegetables without oil, then stirs in oil and lets it steep a few minutes at room temperature

This suggestion was not undertaken lightly. Julia noted that she doesn’t like most sauces with green beans because the flavor must go into the beans, while still the beans must not be overcooked

For this to happen, there must indeed be oil present, and it must somehow be induced to coat the beans. Steeping, she said, was the answer.

This recipe uses Julia Child’s concept of steeping, as noted above. Onion wedges are started in water, for freshness. Addition of oil, to coat the beans, is delayed until cooking is completed..

The result is very fresh, like a salad. Maybe it is a salad. Whatever, it is fresh, tasty, and quickly prepared once you become familiar with the procedure.

The green beans may be steamed (for freshest taste) or boiled (for color and uniform texture). In either case they require no further cooking, thus no guesswork.

Onions and tomatoes are given in minimum proportions, essentially present to flavor the beans. When tomatoes are fresh and inexpensive, you may want to use more, peeling for maximum flavor. But do not wait for beefsteak tomatoes. Plum tomatoes work perfectly well here.

Serve hot, at room temperature, or chilled. May be refrigerated overnight.

Serves 6

Steam or boil the beans, as described above, to the desired point of tenderness. They will undergo no further cooking.

To prepare the onions and tomatoes

Onions and tomatoes may be prepared while the beans are steaming, the beans added whenever done.

Peel the tomatoes, if you wish, for better flavor. (Cover bottom of a pan with water and bring to simmer. Add tomatoes and simmer covered until skin is loosened, 45 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on tomato.) Cut the tomatoes into wedges. 

Cut an onion in half longitudinally, then in wedges as thin as you can by hand.

Cover bottom of saucepan with water and bring rapidly to the simmer. Add onions and seasonings.

Bring back to the simmer. Cook uncovered 2 minutes. Add tablespoons of water if pan should start to run dry.  Onions will soften and lose their raw taste, but should still keep their shape. Pour off most of the cooking juice and reserve it.

Stir tomatoes into the onions, bring back to simmer, and cook 1 or 2 minutes. Add reserved juice if necessary to keep from running dry. Tomatoes will contribute some of their juice while retaining their general shape.

You want 1 or 2 tablespoons of juice at this point. Pour off excess juice, or add reserved liquid, as necessary.

Stir in olive oil. Heat, stirring, 30 seconds to blend. Remove pan from stove to rest until beans are ready. Juice should be delicious at this point.

To Finish

Whenever beans are ready, stir them into the tomato and onion mixture. Toss well to coat with the oil and juice.

Set aside and let steep 10 minutes. Stir again from the bottom and add a little more olive oil if necessary.

Serve now or later, decorating with parsley.  The longer the mixture sits, the more the flavors will blend.

Variations

Add grated cheese.

Mushrooms, bits of ham, red peppers might be added, although they alter the special character of the dish.

Canned tomatoes are not recommended here as they spoil the fresh, open-air, Provencale effect.

Here the vegetables of the preceding recipe - green beans, onions, and tomatoes - are given distinctly different treatment.

Freshness is not the issue here. In fact, if you get stuck with genuinely old beans, they can be made presentable with this recipe. Onions are briefly sautéed in oil, then cooked further with beans until both are slightly browned. Meanwhile, tomatoes are stewed and added at the end.

This is inspired by a recipe from Richard Olney (Simple French Food). He is a perfectionist on green bean selection and believes that only the tender baby beans are interesting. The larger, more mature beans, such as those found in our supermarkets, exhibit neither "exemplary tenderness nor delicacy of flavor." Nevertheless with "a bit of pampering (they may) be transformed into good, wholesome, and sympathetic nourishment."

This is a fine accompaniment to roasts. It also can provide a base for a one-dish meal.

Serves 6

Steamed beans work well enough, but because of the extended cooking, the more uniform texture from boiling in a quantity of water, as described above, is preferred here.

Heat the butter in the saucepan. Cook onions about 5 minutes, until softened and transparent.

(Yes, we are entering a Mark Twain Trap at this point. The onions will be cooked further, and should not become too brown by the end. Only then will we will know whether we stopped them too soon or too late. Good luck.)

For the stewed tomatoes

Place butter in the second saucepan. Add the tomatoes, oregano, and pinch of salt. Stew the tomatoes, stirring, 10 or 15 minutes. Stop when tomatoes get thick but significant moisture remains.

When onions are done, add the beans to them, and salt to taste. Turn the flame up and cook perhaps 15 minutes, tossing regularly. If you are lucky, both beans and onions will be lightly browned.

Add the tomatoes, half the parsley, and pepper to taste. Toss together and cook for five minutes.

Add remaining parsley and serve.

Variations

Omit the tomatoes.

With or without them, Richard Olney suggests adding chopped bacon, pre-cooked white beans, or sautéed potatoes.

Instead of tomatoes, try mushrooms, cooked ham, or diced boiled potatoes. Add all and you have a one dish meal.