Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery: The "All About It" Books

Drain them well in a colander; dish, and serve with them separately a tureen of parsley and butter. Boiled bacon should always accompany this vegetable, but the beans should be cooked separately. It is usually served with the beans laid round, and the parsley and butter in a tureen. Beans also make an excellent garnish to a ham, and when used for this purpose, if very old, should have their skins removed. _Time._—Very young beans, 15 minutes; when a moderate size, 20 to 25 minutes, or longer. _Average cost_, unshelled, 6_d._ per peck. _Sufficient._—Allow one peck for 6 or 7 persons. _Seasonable_ in July and August. BEANS, Broad, à la Poulette. _Ingredients._—2 pints of broad beans, ½ pint of stock or broth, a small bunch of savoury herbs, including parsley, a small lump of sugar, the yolk of 1 egg, ¼ pint of cream, pepper and salt to taste. _Mode._—Procure some young and freshly-gathered beans, and shell sufficient to make 2 pints; boil them, as in the preceding recipe, until nearly done; then drain them and put them into a stewpan with the stock, finely-minced herbs, and sugar. Stew the beans until perfectly tender, and the liquor has dried away a little; then beat up the yolk of an egg with the cream, add this to the beans, let the whole get thoroughly hot, and when on the point of simmering, serve. Should the beans be very large, the skin should be removed previously to boiling them. _Time._—10 minutes to boil the beans, 15 minutes to stew them in the stock. _Average cost_, unshelled, 6_d._ per peck. _Seasonable_ in July and August. BEANS, Boiled French. _Ingredients._—To each ½ gallon of water allow 1 heaped tablespoonful of salt, a very small piece of soda. _Mode._—This vegetable should always be eaten young, as when allowed to grow too long it tastes stringy and tough when cooked. Cut off the heads and tails, and a thin strip on each side of the beans to remove the strings; then divide each bean into 4 or 6 pieces, according to size, cutting them lengthways in