How To Cook Southern Vegetables

It's that time again - the wonderful peas and beans that we associate with our grandmothers' home garden are here and they deserve to be cooked the good, old-fashioned way.

Prepare a cooking stock of chicken broth and some sort of pork – bacon, cured ham or fresh pork. (Just simmer the meat in the broth for about an hour, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper – I usually make this up in advance in large batches and freeze it in 1 cup containers for later use) Shell the beans and wash well to remove the sand. You will need enough stock to barely cover the beans – about 1 cup for 2 cups beans. Bring stock to boil, add a dried red pepper (if you like) and add beans. Return to boil, then reduce heat to simmer. After bubbling subsides, cover pot and simmer for about 35 minutes – until beans are soft inside, but not mushy. (If the liquid cooks down too much, you can add a little water.) When you test for doneness, add some salt and pepper if needed. Add a pat of butter to the pot before serving. Don’t throw the cooking liquid away – it is delicious eaten as a light soup or with cornbread.

This works for any kind of summer beans and beans. Butter beans are available in both white and speckled varieties and both are wonderful. They take a long time to shell and it takes about 2 lbs. in shell to get 4 cooked servings, but they are worth it for a special treat. Peas (purple hull, crowders, pink-eyes, black-eyes, white acre, zipper or field peas) are easier to shell and you get more volume for your time, but the taste is not quite as delicate. White butter beans, white acre peas and zipper peas make a clear, light greenish broth; speckled butter beans and the other peas make a darker, richer broth. Personal preferences differ – I like both – and I don’t add the butter pat to the varieties that make the dark broth. Be sure to try the zipper peas – they are easy to shell and close to butter beans in taste.

Most Farmers Markets will offer pre-shelled beans and peas – don’t be tempted – they are shelled by machine and retain a slightly “off” taste, sort of sour, that will not wash away – I think it is because there is a build up of residue in the machine that cleaning and sterilization will not remove. If I can’t get them in the shell, I use the excellent frozen ones available at most supermarkets.

BTW – you can freeze cooked beans and peas and simply reheat when needed – that way you never waste any of the labor it takes to cook them.