Broad beans (Vicia faba, also
called fava beans, horse beans, field beans) are one of the most ancient plants
cultivated by humans. For millennia, across Europe, North Africa, and the
Mediterranean region, various cultivars were a staple food for the poor as well
as an important fodder crop for farm animals.
In olden times, the beans were commonly dried and used in potages and,
when ground t meal, to eke out other forms of flour to make bread.
Beans of all types have a great affinity for bacon and ham, and broad
beans are no exception. One of the most enduring and popular ways to serve
broad beans is in a mix with diced bacon – a dish sometimes known as ‘Blanks
and Prizes.’ The name is explained in A
Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs, and
Ancient Customs, from the Fourteenth Century (1855) by James Orchard
Halliwell:
BLANKS-AND-PRIZES. Beans with boiled bacon chopped up and mixed together;
the vegetable being termed a blank,
and the meat a prize. Salop.
There are of course many ways of preparing broad beans for the table, and
these are nicely summarized in The Art of Preparing Vegetables for the Table, by Sutton & Sons (London, 1888):
Broad Beans.
As a
rule Broad Beans are admirably served with bacon on most tables, but it is a
common fault that they are too old and require the digestion of an ostrich to
do justice to them. In any case it is a great point to serve Beans with Parsley
butter, for the harmony of flavours is then complete; without good butter
containing plenty of Parsley, boiled Beans are but a coarse dish.
But the
cookery of Broad Beans is not yet disposed of. We will begin with some nice
young Beans quite fresh gathered, green, tender and handsome. Probably it will
not occur to many to cook them in the pods, but it may be done with advantage,
and if served with a smothering of well-made Parsley butter, the dish will be
pronounced excellent.
Full-grown
Beans must be shelled and have about twenty minutes hard boiling. They should
never be boiled with the bacon for a good table, but there is nothing so
suitable to eat with them as bacon or ham.
Old
Beans should be well cooked, and being strained off should be thrown on to a
clean cloth and have the skins removed. They are then to be put into a stewpan
with some white sauce and an abundance of Parsley chopped fine and stirred
round occasionally until they have become thoroughly hotted. Or, if time
permit, mash them with a fork, dust them with flour, throw in a liberal
quantity of minced Parsley and a lump of butter, and moisten with sufficient
stock to keep them from burning: stir them about until they are well hotted,
allowing time for. the flour to thicken, and then serve.
I have a
selection of other ideas for broad beans for you too, from a variety of
sources:
Broad Bean Salad.
Take a dish of cold Boiled beans,
remove the skins, and place in a salad bowl with
some thin slices of lean, ham or
tongue. If you have some lettuce, add it to the beans and ham. Sprinkle a
little chopped parsley over all, then add the dressing, which should be made
thus: Beat a raw egg, add to it a little dry mustard, pepper, and (gradually) three
large tablespoonfuls of salad oil. Work all thoroughly together, add a teaspoonful
of tarragon vinegar, and another of common vinegar.
The Clarence River Advocate (NSW) 1
March 1907
Beans and Tomatoes.
Put 1 pint of cooked broad beans
into a greased casserole, and cover with sliced tomatoes, and a teaspoonful of
finely chopped spring onions. Season and pour over ½ a pint of white sauce to
which the yolk of an egg and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley have been
added. Cook in a moderate oven or over low heat, with the lid on the casserole,
for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve in the casserole.
The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld) 24 July 1929
A
Channel Islands Recipe.
In the Channel Islands the dried beans are the foundation of a very
favourite dish. The soaked beans are placed in a large earthenware jar, with a
fitting lid, called a bean pot, and a piece of bacon or salt pork is put in the
middle of them. Seasonings are added and enough stock to moisten, and the beans
are cooked a very long time in a slow oven. Very often the cottage folk take
their jars of beans to the bake-house to be cooked.
Chronicle (Adelaide, SA) 19 September 1929
Broad
Bean Soup.
Boil about two pounds of beans till tender, then remove all the skin
carefully, or they will spoil the colour of the soup. Warm the beans in a
little stock, and then pass through a fine sieve, and return to the saucepan.
If required, add more stock to thin the soup to the desired consistency, and
season it with pepper and salt and a little chopped onion, Boil, stirring
meanwhile, and serve with a dusting of parsley strewn over the tureen.
The stock used in this recipe should be well flavoured with the usual
soup vegetables, and be carefully freed from fat.
The Northern Miner (Charters Towers, Qld.) 16 May 1898
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