Chef Joost
Aardappelgratin
A French name, a Dutch potato, and a Sunday table: aardappelgratin is what happens when a frugal kitchen borrows richness and behaves as if it had always belonged.
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Sperziebonen met Spek (Dutch Green Beans with Bacon)
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Sperziebonen carries asparagus in its name, yet lands on the weeknight table as green beans snapped by hand, bacon rendered slowly, and mustard sharp enough to wake the whole pan.
Side Dishes
Dutch
Weeknight
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
15 min
Active Time
20 min cook•35 min total
Yield4 servings
The sound of this dish is not the pan. It is the snap. In my grandmother's kitchen the beans came from a paper bag or from someone's garden, and the children were given the serious work: sit at the table, pinch off the tips, break each pod in two. A knife made them tidy. Fingers made them ours.
But let me tell you a secret. The name sperzieboon is a little fossil: a shortening of aspergieboon, asparagus bean, a reminder that young green pods were once treated like asparagus, eaten whole rather than shelled from their pods. That is why I don't cut them. You hear the freshness when the bean breaks, and you see the line where it gives. If it bends like string, cook something else. The calendar is speaking.
Sperziebonen met spek belongs to the Dutch summer table, not because it is grand, but because it knows exactly what it is: beans cooked just past crisp, spek, cured pork belly or bacon, rendered until its fat can carry onion, and a spoon of mustard to keep the sweetness honest. Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Boil the beans in salted water, finish them in the bacon pan, and stop before the beans go army-green and apologetic. A dish without its story is half a meal; this one tells you how a frugal kitchen made the garden taste like supper.
The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, reached the Low Countries after the Columbian exchange and was established in Dutch kitchen gardens by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, where household cookbooks list groene boonen, green beans, among summer vegetables. The modern name sperzieboon is generally traced to aspergieboon, asparagus bean, because the young pods were eaten whole and dressed much like asparagus instead of being shelled. Adding spek, cured pork belly, reflects a Dutch household habit: a small piece of pork fat made a pan of garden vegetables filling enough for the ordinary meal.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh green beans (sperziebonen)
Quantity
600g
tips pinched off and snapped in two by hand
smoked bacon or spek
Quantity
150g
diced into small lardons
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
butter (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
coarse Dutch mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
preferably Zaanse mustard
apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
reserved bean cooking water
Quantity
2 tablespoons
salt
Quantity
to taste
black pepper
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
nutmeg (optional)
Quantity
small grating
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh green beans (sperziebonen)tips pinched off and snapped in two by hand | 600g |
| smoked bacon or spekdiced into small lardons | 150g |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| butter (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| coarse Dutch mustardpreferably Zaanse mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar | 1 teaspoon |
| reserved bean cooking water | 2 tablespoons |
| salt | to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| nutmeg (optional) | small grating |
Equipment Needed
- •Large saucepan, 3-liter or larger
- •Heavy skillet, 26cm or larger
- •Colander
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Snap the beans
Rinse the beans, then pinch off the stem ends by hand and snap each pod in two. Leave very small beans whole. If a bean folds rather than snaps, it is tired; save it for soup or let it go. The snap tells you water is still inside the pod, which is why the bean will taste green rather than papery.
Do not line them up and slice them with a knife. The rough snapped ends are not carelessness; they are the old household method, and they catch the bacon fat and mustard better. - 2
Render the spek
Put the diced bacon or spek into a cold heavy skillet and set it over medium-low heat. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the fat has run clear and the bacon is crisp at the edges. Scoop the bacon onto a plate and leave the fat in the pan. If your bacon is lean and the pan looks dry, add the butter.
- 3
Boil the beans
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a lively boil. Add the snapped beans and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until they are just past crisp: still green, bending slightly, with no raw squeak under the tooth. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking water, then drain the beans. Do not rinse them; that salty film helps the pan finish do its work.
- 4
Soften the onion
Return the skillet with the bacon fat to medium heat and add the onion. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until soft and translucent, not brown. Stir in the mustard, vinegar, and reserved bean water. It should look glossy and loose enough to coat the beans, not like a sauce trying to become soup.
- 5
Finish together
Add the drained beans and the crisp bacon back to the skillet. Toss for 2 to 3 minutes, until the beans are coated with onion, mustard, and bacon fat. Grind over black pepper, add a small grating of nutmeg if you like, and taste before salting; spek has already been speaking. Serve at once in a shallow bowl or straight from the pan at the table.
Chef Tips
- •The best beans for this are summer beans, July through September in the Netherlands, thin enough to snap cleanly. In winter, frozen whole green beans are more honest than tired imported pods; cook them straight from frozen and finish them in the bacon pan.
- •Use smoked bacon with real fat on it, not dry cubes that behave like pencil erasers. The fat is the carrier for the onion and mustard, and without it the dish loses its Dutch backbone.
- •The mustard should sharpen, not shout. Zaanse mustard is excellent here because it has grain and bite without turning the beans sour.
- •For a pork-free table, brown the butter deeply, cook the onion in it, and finish with toasted breadcrumbs for salt and crunch. It is no longer sperziebonen met spek, but accommodation is part of the Dutch kitchen too.
- •Do not overcook the beans into collapse. The Dutch table is patient, yes, but a green bean still deserves to stand up for itself.
Advance Preparation
- •The beans can be rinsed, tipped, and snapped up to 1 day ahead; keep them covered in the refrigerator with a barely damp cloth.
- •The bacon and onion can be cooked up to 4 hours ahead. Rewarm gently, then add the mustard, vinegar, beans, and reserved cooking water when serving.
- •Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated. Reheat in a skillet with a spoonful of water, not in a microwave, so the beans do not turn limp and grey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 210g)
Calories
245 calories
Total Fat
18 g
Saturated Fat
7 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
8 g
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