Green bean casserole is a Thanksgiving staple for many, but what, exactly, is it supposed to taste like? The ingredients—canned green beans, canned cream of mushroom soup, and bagged fried onions—are all tasteless vehicles of texture. Together, they result in a dish that tastes like nothing at all. Yes, if there were ever a dish ripe for disruption, it is green bean casserole.
By adding layers of depth, bringing in some acid, and, most importantly, ditching all those cans, you can create a dish is exceptional on its own, and far more complimentary to poultry than any version of GBC I’ve ever tasted.
Ditch the package of fried onions and fry some shallots instead.
Crispy onions are mostly a texture thing. You can get the same texture with a better flavor profile with fried shallots. Making them is remarkably simple, as frying projects go, and can be done ahead of time. Use a mandolin or your ace knife skills to cut the shallots into thin slices, no more than ⅛-inch. (You'll need a cup’s worth of shallots to make an 8x8” casserole pan, so scale appropriately.)
In a medium-sized, high-sided skillet, add 1 and 1/2 inches of peanut or vegetable oil and turn it on high heat. After five minutes, throw one shallot in the oil, and if the oil bubbles up, it’s ready. (If not, test again in a minute.) Carefully add the shallots in, transferring them using a spider strainer or steel slotted spoon. Continue stirring the shallots in the oil, and do not stop for as long as it takes them to turn golden brown—about 10 minutes. When they start to turn, it happens quickly, so be prepared to pull them out and plop them onto a plate lined with paper towels to dry off.
Char your beans (two ways)
There’s much to be said for preservation, and there is nothing inherently wrong with canned or frozen green beans. The issue is that they’re already waterlogged. For this recipe, you want a bean with a little snap left in it, and to use them as a vehicle for more flavor. The way to do that is char, and you're going to cook the green beans two ways to get it. Just frying some beans in a skillet will result in a little char, while deep frying them will give you too much. Instead, you want to deep fry about a quarter of the beans, lightly pan fry the rest, and mix both batches together.
Let's deep fry first. Place a quarter of your fresh, trimmed green beans into the oil you used for your shallots. While you don’t have to stir them, you do need to move them around every 20 seconds or so. First, they’ll blister to a golden brown, and then they’ll turn a dark brown. As with the shallots, this happens quickly, so be ready with your spider strainer or tongs to fish them out and get them onto the paper towels with the shallots. Turn off the burner and carefully take the oil off the heat.
Meanwhile, grab a larger skillet, put it on high heat, and add two tablespoons of oil from the deep frying pan. Add half the remaining green beans, making sure each is making contact with the pan. Allow the beans to sizzle away, tossing every 45 seconds. They’ll quickly turn bright green, and get a nice char here and there. After five minutes, remove the beans from the pan and place them in your baking dish. Start frying the remaining beans. When they’re done, add them to the dish, then mix in the deep fried beans until evenly distributed.
Make a butter sauce (with a lot of butter)
Most people who dislike GBC do so because of the cream of mushroom soup, so don't use it. You don't need a heavy sauce, and the dish doesn't benefit from the mushrooms—at least, not the kind you'll find in that canned, tasteless muck. Instead, use the sauce as another opportunity to add flavor and depth.
A beurre blanc is a sauce with a little viscosity, and without cream or flour. It’s a wine reduction to which you add a criminal amount of butter, which causes it to thicken. To bring acid and sweetness to the party, you'll add some orange juice concentrate. (Do not try this with fresh squeezed oranges; it does not taste great. I will not be accepting followup questions at this time, thank you.)
Add another chopped raw shallot, wine, and orange juice concentrate to a saucepan and mix well. Allow to simmer until reduced by two-thirds, and then add your butter, still cold and cut into one-inch pieces. Stir with a whisk until the butter is melted, and then allow to simmer, stirring every twenty seconds or so, until the sauce has thickened—about three minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the saucepan.
Bring it together
Pour the sauce over the beans. You can complete your prep up until this point the day before, and cover with plastic wrap and place the fridge. Allow it to come to room temperature uncovered before putting it into a 375°F oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle the crispy shallots on top and serve.
Beurre blanc is a shockingly delicious sauce, and makes for a fantastic gravy for turkey, which will soak it right up. This green bean casserole still looks like green beans, but has real layers of distinctive flavors—the beans, which still have some bite, the char, and the deliciously rich sauce, with a brightness and acidity broken by the shallots, which have a mellow sharpness and a distinctive allium flavor.
The hater's green bean casserole recipe: Charred green beans in orange beurre blanc with crispy shallots
Ingredients
Five regular sized shallots
Three tablespoons of canned frozen orange juice concentrate, without pulp
1½ lbs of fresh green beans, cleaned, with ends trimmed
½ cup of white wine
1 cup of butter (two sticks)
3 cups of vegetable or peanut oil
Instructions
Cut four shallots into ⅛-inch slices. Heat oil in medium sized saute pan over high heat, adding shallots carefully once the oil is hot enough (you'll see bubbles when one shallot is added). Stir shallots constantly until they turn golden brown, about 10 minutes. Remove using a spider strainer or slotted spoon, and lay on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
Add ¼ of the green beans to the hot oil and allow to cook until golden brown, about eight minutes, moving around every 20 seconds or so. Once browned, remove the green beans from oil and allow to drain on paper towels. Turn off heat and remove pan from heat.
To a large skillet, add two tablespoons of the shallot oil and place over high heat. Add half the remaining green beans in a single layer and allow the beans to cook, moving them around every 45 seconds or so. After five minutes you should begin to see charred spots. Remove the beans and place them in your final baking dish. Continue frying the remaining green beans and add to your dish.
Add the deep fried green beans to the rest of the beans in the baking dish and mix them up so the fried beans are well distributed.
In a saucepan, add three tablespoons of orange juice concentrate, the wine, and the remaining shallot, finely chopped. Mix well and bring to a simmer over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Allow it to reduce by two thirds.
Add the butter, cut into one inch pieces, all at once, and use a whisk to stir until melted. Allow the sauce to simmer, still stirring, and cook for three minutes, until thickened. Turn off the heat.
Pour the sauce over the green beans and place in a 375°F oven for fifteen minutes. Sprinkle on the shallots before serving.