Westfälische Dicke Bohnen mit Speck

Dicke Bohnen mit Speck belongs to Westphalia, especially the flat bean-and-bacon country around Münsterland, where a pot of broad beans can sit beside boiled potatoes on a weeknight and still look at home on Sunday. It is summer food when the fresh pods are full, but the larder is in it too: smoked bacon, rind, and a little flour to make the cooking liquor into sauce. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

The regions don't agree, of course. In Westphalia the beans often come with smoked Speck and Bohnenkraut, summer savory, the herb that makes the pot taste right. Further north you see cleaner bean dishes with less binding, and in the south the bean often moves toward vinegar, cream, or different herbs. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Das ist kein Bierzelt.

The deciding technique is this: cook the beans gently, then bind the liquor at the end. Flour in too early turns the pot heavy and makes the beans catch before they're tender; a hard boil bursts the skins and gives you grey mash. Let the bacon and rind season the water first, let the beans soften in that broth, then thicken only enough that the sauce coats a spoon. Nicht aus dem Glas. Beans, bacon, Bohnenkraut, patience.