Hot take: people keep overcooking their green beans into mush

My grandma from Charleston always said to blanch them for exactly 90 seconds in boiling water, then straight into an ice bath. They stay bright green and have a perfect snap. I see so many recipes calling for 10+ minutes of boiling and it's a crime. What's your family's method for keeping veggies crisp?

3 comments

3 Comments

averysullivan1mo ago

Wait you think 10 minutes is just "softer style"? That's not cooking, that's erasing them from existence. My grandma would have a heart attack hearing someone defend turning fresh green beans into gray sludge. There's a huge difference between tender-crisp and complete mush, and one of those is a failed science experiment.

terryb1129d ago

Honestly, just steam them for 4 minutes max then hit them with a pat of butter and some salt. That's it. If you need to cook them longer than that you're either using old beans from the back of the fridge or you're trying to turn them into a green bean casserole which is a whole different thing. My rule is if they don't still have a little crunch when you bite into them, you've gone too far.

spencer_chen61mo ago

It's just green beans, not a federal case. Some folks grew up with them soft and that's how they like them. The texture is a personal choice, not a cooking crime. Your grandma's method sounds fine, but it's not the only right way. A lot of recipes aim for that softer style because it's familiar and comforting to many people. Getting worked up over how someone else cooks their vegetables seems like a waste of good energy.