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Smothered Country-Style Green Beans

Source of Recipe

From "The Southerner's Cookbook" by the editors of Garden & Gun


Recipe Introduction

"Chef Kevin Callaghan, of Acme Food and Beverage Co., in Carrboro, North Carolina, remembers always seeing a banged-up can of bacon fat in his grandmother's refrigerator. 'Right by the opened jars of jams and pickles,' he says. And her green beans, enriched with that fat, were always on his family's Thanksgiving table. 'We had the beans, Senator Russell's Sweet Potato Casserole, turkey, stuffing, and sliced canned cranberry sauce.' Today the chef serves these green beans in his restaurant during the holiday, often getting help snapping the beans from his daughters. Then, into the pot they go, where their crisp vegetal freshness will be transformed into something almost meaty. 'Sometimes during other seasons,' he says, 'I forget how good fresh green beans cooked to hell and back can taste.'"

List of Ingredients

â—¦ ½ cup bacon grease
â—¦ 2 cups thinly sliced shallots or sweet onions
â—¦ Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
â—¦ 3 pounds green beans, strings removed, snapped into 1 ½-inch pieces and well rinsed
â—¦ 1 quart chicken stock


Recipe

Melt the bacon grease in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the shallots, stirring to coat. Cook until almost translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the beans and stock, making sure that the stock covers the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the stock is almost completely evaporated, about 2 hours.

Add salt and lots of pepper to taste and serve hot.

Serves 10