A Riff on Speckbohnen – The Signature German Bean Dish

We had some amazing brats from Carek’s Meats in Roslyn, WA to do up for dinner, and I wanted a bean side with a German twist, so I did some digging around.

Speckbohnen is a signature German bean dish, almost always done with green beans – yet everything I found said the fundamentals of the dish could be done with any bean – so off I went.

I’d cooked our weekly pound of Rancho Gordo beans earlier in the day – These were Good Mother Stallards, a venerable southeastern U.S. variety with fantastic taste and firm texture – they became the base of this dish. Any firm, meaty bean will do great.

While there’s leeway in how you prepare Speckbohnen, one thing isn’t up for debate, and that’s Bohnenkraut, AKA Summer Savory – it’s the thing for authentic German-style beans. While it may not be in your spice cabinet, it deserves to be – it’s a delightfully peppery herb, with notes of marjoram, thyme, and mint, and it’s fabulous with beans.

Here’s what I did up, and it was stunningly good – try it, tweak it, and make it yours!

Urban’s Speckbohnen

2 Cups Cooked Beans

½ Cup Sweet Onion

2 slices thick cut, smoked Bacon

1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter

1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Grainy Mustard

1 teaspoon Savory

¼ teaspoon Sea Salt

6-8 Twists Black Pepper

Peel, skin and dice onion.
Cut bacon into roughly 1/4” squares.

In a heavy skillet over medium heat, cook the bacon lardons until crispy. Spoon them out onto paper toweling, and reserve about a tablespoon of bacon fat in the skillet.

Return skillet to heat, add butter and melt.

Add onion and sauté until they start to turn translucent, about 2 minutes.

Add the beans and stir with a spoon to bet them well coated.

Add vinegar and mustard and stir to thoroughly incorporate.

Add savory and bacon and stir to thoroughly incorporate.

Season with salt and pepper and taste.

Serve hot, with maybe a hunk of good bread, ‘cause you’ll want all that sauce…