Green Beans German Style

The tomatoes are in, the garden is growing, and the summer is approaching with the heat that makes everything urgent — water now, weed now, pick now, because summer in Kentucky waits for nobody and the garden is a clock that runs on sunlight and water and the stubborn belief that dirt will provide.

Made BLTs with the first grocery store tomatoes of the season, which is a compromise I make every year while waiting for the garden — a BLT with a store tomato is a BLT with a promise, a sandwich that says the real thing is coming, be patient. I am patient. I am many things but patient is one of them when it comes to tomatoes.

Drove to Evarts. Betty turned eighty-five last month and she looks it this year — thinner, slower, her hands uncertain in a way they never were before. She made soup beans for my visit, same as always, but the beans weren't as thick as usual, the cornbread slightly pale, and I ate three bowls and said it's perfect, Mama, because the beans were not the point, the making was the point, and at eighty-five the making is everything. She sat across the table and watched me eat and said you eat like your daddy. I said that's because you taught us both. She said I taught your daddy nothing, he came to me eating like that. I said then it's genetic. She said no, it's Harlan County. Harlan County men eat like the food might leave.

Betty’s soup beans were thinner than usual, and I ate three bowls anyway, because food made with love at eighty-five tastes like something you’d drive four hours for — which is exactly what I did. When I got home I needed to cook something slow and simple, something that asks you to tend it the way she always tended us. These green beans — long-cooked, soft, flavored through with bacon and onion — are the closest thing I had in my kitchen to that kind of patience and devotion.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 40 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb fresh or frozen green beans, trimmed and snapped
4 strips bacon, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp dried thyme (optional)

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until the fat renders and the bacon begins to crisp, about 5–6 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving the drippings in the pan.
Soften the onion. Add the diced onion to the drippings and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, about 6–8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute until fragrant.
Add the beans and liquid. Add the green beans to the pan. Pour in the chicken broth and apple cider vinegar. Sprinkle in the sugar, salt, pepper, and thyme if using. Stir to combine.
Simmer low and slow. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for 25–30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the beans are very tender and have absorbed most of the liquid. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Finish and serve. Return the crispy bacon to the pan, stir to combine, and serve warm. These are best eaten in a wide bowl with cornbread alongside.

Nutrition (per serving)

Green Beans German Style — The Beans Aren’t the Point, the Making Is