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Haricot Beans with Onions
Wash 1 pint of beans in two or three waters, pick out any discolored ones that there may be, and leave them to soak in plenty of cold water until the next day. Drain them, and boil them in fresh water until they are tender, but unbroken. Drain them once more, and put them on a dish in the oven to keep warm. Take 3 ounces of onions, which have been three-parts boiled and chopped small, fry these in 2 ounces of butter, and, whilst frying, mix with them the boiled beans. Stir them about with a fork, and moisten with a quarter of a pint of good brown gravy, rather highly seasoned. This is an excellent accompaniment to roast meat. Time, an hour and a half to boil the beans. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A straightforward dried-bean side dish from the era when "haricot" simply meant the dried white bean. Nothing here is unsafe; the only real variables are bean age and the gravy.
- What haricot beans arePlain dried white beans — navy, cannellini or the small flageolet type all work. A pint measured dry is roughly 2 cups (about 14 ounces) by US measure, or nearer 2.5 cups by the imperial pint this recipe would have used; expect somewhere around 5 to 6 cups cooked.
- SoakingOvernight in cold water is still the standard, and the volume should be generous since the beans roughly double. Discard the soaking water and boil in fresh, as directed.
- The stated time is a guide onlyAn hour and a half assumes beans of unknown age. Modern beans that are reasonably fresh may be tender in 45-60 minutes; very old stock can take two hours or refuse to soften at all. Judge by tasting, and keep the water at a bare simmer so the skins stay whole.
- SaltThe recipe never salts the cooking water and relies on the gravy. Salting the water partway through improves the beans considerably and does not prevent them softening, contrary to older advice.
- Onions three-parts boiled'Three-parts boiled' means about three-quarters cooked. The recipe boils the onions first and chops them afterwards; boil until nearly tender, chop small, then finish in the butter. This gets sweetness without browning — the colour comes from the gravy.
- Quantities in modern terms3 ounces onion is one small onion; 2 ounces butter is 4 tablespoons; a quarter pint of gravy is half a cup (British measure would make it slightly more, about 5 fl oz).
- Oven holdingThe recipe gives no temperature, only 'in the oven to keep warm'. A very low oven is all that is wanted; too hot and the beans will dry on the surface.
- The gravy'Good brown gravy, rather highly seasoned' means a well-flavoured brown gravy — pan drippings from the roast or a made brown sauce — seasoned more assertively than usual. A well-reduced beef stock with a knob of butter stirred in is the practical substitute.
"Haricot" arrived in English kitchens from French and by the nineteenth century covered the dried white beans that had come to Europe from the Americas, distinct from the older broad bean. Victorian and Edwardian household manuals treat them as the reliable winter vegetable: cheap, keeping indefinitely in a dry larder, and available when green vegetables were not. The framing here is entirely of its period — the dish exists to sit beside a roast joint and to be lifted by the drippings from it, rather than to stand on its own, and the instruction to pick out discoloured beans reflects a time when dried goods were sold loose from a sack rather than pre-cleaned.