The other day I talked about what people ate from day to day during the Great Depression and this is one of the recipes that I have been able to uncover. I love green beans and they're really a cheap side dish whether you cook them frozen or canned and they are easily grown fresh in a garden (they're quite prolific actually). Right now we're in the midst of green bean season in Florida so we're getting some great beans out of Boynton Beach so I decided to give this recipe a try during Easter. I don't think my wife was too fond of them but I made a huge batch and ate them as lunch a number of days until they were gone. During the Depression this dish would have been a main meal using only a little bacon for the meat but yet turning out quite filling and not too bad nutritionally either. They benefit from sitting in the fridge for a day to mellow out the flavor a bit but are still good they day they are cooked.
Hard Times Green Beans
2lbs Fresh Green Beans, ends cut off and snapped in half
1/2lb Smoked Hog Jowl, skin removed and diced
1 Small Onion, diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Pepper
1C Vinegar
1T sugar
1C Chicken Stock
Water to cover
Heat a large pot and add hog jowl and fry until fat renders out and bacon is crisp. Add onion and saute until transparent then toss in garlic and stir 1 minute until fragrant. Add salt, pepper and vinegar and scrape bottom of pan to deglaze. Add beans and chicken stock then enough water to come just under the top of the beans. Stir well, cover and lower heat to simmer for 3 hours. Serve in a bowl with some fresh cornmeal muffins.
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| Each Serving, @8 per batch |
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This is how my mom cooked them, but she added some potatoes toward the end of the cooking time. Delicious!
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