Stalky cooked green beans?

[bjr]

I'm a bachalor tryin' not to starve to death because I don't know how to cook. The elderly neighbor gave me some nice lookin' green beans and some red potatoes and some onions. I added a smoked ham hock to make veggy soup/stew/whatever. This got boiled until potatoes were kinda tender. It was probably two day before I got around to cooking so maybe that's the start of my problems. The Problem: The green beans were stalky, I mean there were tough stringy stalk like pieces I couldn't chew up. I cut both ends off and on the longer beans cut in two pieces. How come the green beans had tough stuff in them? What did I do wrong? bjr

 

[MMagis]

They were problably larger beans, as most green beans these days are "stringless" when picked earlier. Rather than cut the ends, snap them off and pull the strings off at the same time.

 

[Chuck52]

If the beans didn't so much "snap", but more like "tore", they were probably too far along. Did they have big beans in them? I was gone for a week at the end of June when my beans came in and by the time I picked them they were almost too mature to use as snap beans. We ate them anyway, but we cooked them pretty long. They were still kinda tough, but they probably did a good job of cleaning out the old gut! Nest time you may want to cook the beans a bit first aand then put the potatoes in the pot, since the beans, even if fairly tender need a little more time to cook than the potatoes.

Chuck

 

[Stimw]

If you want the best veggies you will ever eat invest in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers cook faster and they steam not boil the veggies leaving more flavor in them. I cook 2lbs of frozen mixed veggies for 10 minutes and they are soft and tender when done.
Use the instructions with cooker as a guideline and then ajust the time to suite your taste. Some like veggies still crispy but I like them well done.

 

[mmann]

You may have gotten beans that need to be "strung", such as White Half Runners. Many people don't like to fool with these types of beans because they are difficult to prepare.
You need to peel the "string" from the edge of the bean pod before you break or snap the bean. This can be done by cutting nearly all the way through when cutting the tip of the bean and then pullling it the rest of the way which will take the string off with it. You will have to do this from both ends for each side. Or you can cut each end off then pull at the string with your thumb or finger nail and pull it from one end to the other -again from both sides.
You see what I mean about being difficult to prepare. But, often these types of beans have a very good flavor.

 

[jinman]

I suspect, as Chuck said, that you didn't "string" your string beans. Snap one end off and pull the string along with it. When cooking them for a stew, cook the beans until they are half-done before adding potatoes. Beans just take longer to cook.

Also, green beans are most often served on-the-side unless they are shelled or dry. I love green beans and new potatoes, but I always start the beans first. If I was going to add ham, I'd wait until the beans and potatoes were almost done and then cube the ham and add it. Smoked ham is already cooked and all you want is some of it's juices to mix with the veggies for flavor, about 1/2 hour of simmering is all you need.

Oh yes... My favorite green bean is snapped Kentucky Wonders. Yum!

 

[Bird]

Green beans were almost a staple in my family. And I like all the different varieties. My Dad used to just plant pinto beans and when picked young and green they make good green beans. The Kentucky Wonders are certainly very good eating, but the one I had a slight preference for and planted in my garden was the Blue Lake beans.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

I put water in a large saucepan, cut up a half a pound of bacon and cook for at least a half hour. Sounds like your beans needed destringed and then broken up. Even fresh tender beans I will let boil for an hour sometimes two and add enough water during cooking so they can keep doing so. Only add water once or twice. Only at the end do I add potatoes. These are delicious, I also season with salt and pepper at the beginning of the cooking time.

 

[polo1665]

Green beans were almost a staple in my family. And I like all the different varieties. My Dad used to just plant pinto beans and when picked young and green they make good green beans. The Kentucky Wonders are certainly very good eating, but the one I had a slight preference for and planted in my garden was the Blue Lake beans.

We blanched and froze about 10 lbs of Blue Lake beans a few days ago and ate some last night along side a pork tenderloin made on the grill. Mighty tasty

Mark