P
American
Leather Britches
Green beans (preferably mature, full-sized beans — not the slender haricots verts of French cooking but the substantial, slightly tough green beans of a garden in full production) strung on a heavy thread by piercing each bean with a darning needle, hung in long garlands from ceiling hooks, porch rafters, or drying racks until completely dry (2-3 weeks in warm, dry air). The dried beans are pale, shrunken, and brittle. To cook: soak in water overnight, then simmer with a smoked ham hock or salt pork for 2-3 hours until tender. The rehydrated beans have a concentrated, almost mushroom-like depth of flavour and a pleasantly chewy texture.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For drying
<UNKNOWN>
mature full-sized green beans (greasy beans, October beans, or half-runner beans preferred)
not slender haricots verts; beans must be fully formed and slightly tough
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
heavy thread
sufficient length to form long garlands
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
darning needle
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For cooking
1
smoked ham hock or salt pork
Your own market
enough to cover
cold water
for soaking overnight, then for simmering
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Pierce each mature green bean through its widest point with the darning needle and thread it onto the heavy thread, leaving a small gap between each bean so that air circulates freely around every one. Tie the completed garlands to ceiling hooks, porch rafters, or a drying rack in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated place — a covered porch in late summer is the traditional location. Hang for 2–3 weeks. The beans are ready when they are pale, shrunken to a fraction of their fresh size, and completely brittle with no flex or give. Any residual moisture will cause mould in storage.
2
Remove the dried beans from the string and place them in a large bowl. Cover generously with cold water and soak overnight. The beans will swell to roughly twice their dried size by morning. Drain.
3
Place the soaked, drained beans in a pot with the smoked ham hock or salt pork and cover with fresh cold water. Bring to a gentle simmer. This is where the dish lives or dies: maintain a low, steady simmer — not a rolling boil — for 2–3 hours, adding water as needed to keep the beans submerged, until the beans are fully tender with a pleasantly chewy, almost meaty texture and the broth is deeply flavoured with smoke and concentrated green-bean savour. The pork provides the flavour that elevates the rehydrated beans from merely interesting to extraordinary; do not rush this stage.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Appalachian heirloom varieties — greasy beans, October beans, or half-runner beans — dried on the string in late-summer open air on a covered porch; smoked ham hock from a heritage breed.
02
Estate — Any mature, full-sized garden green bean, home-grown and fully formed; air-dried by the traditional string method; good-quality smoked ham hock from a butcher.
03
Market — Mature green beans from a farmers' market (not haricots verts); dried by string or in a food dehydrator (8–12 hours); supermarket smoked ham hock or salt pork.
04
House — Green beans dried in a domestic dehydrator; commercially available salt pork. The flavour is functionally sound though the romance of the hanging garland is absent.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Dried beans are completely brittle — they snap rather than bend, and feel light and desiccated with no give whatsoever.
◇Sight. After the overnight soak, beans have swollen visibly to roughly twice their dried size and have regained a plump, though wrinkled, form.
◇Smell. After an hour of simmering, the pot smells of smoke and concentrated green-bean savour — a depth no fresh bean releases.
◇Touch. A bean pressed between finger and thumb yields fully — tender throughout, with a slight chew — signalling the simmer is complete.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the simmer: too short and the beans remain tough; too fierce and the broth turns cloudy and the pork seizes — only a long, gentle, unhurried simmer with the smoked pork extracts the concentrated, smoky depth that no fresh green bean can match.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
Woodford Reserve Distillery · Kentucky Bourbon Country
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Whisky
From British Columbia
Nothing from British Columbia holds against this yet.
Without alcohol
No pour without alcohol holds against this yet.
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year