Big Ma's Green Beans

Lily Cora Smith Shannon (aka "Big Ma" or "Mama Shannon")

This recipe comes from the days when people cooked with fatback, and when they would drain their bacon grease from the frying pan into a jar to use the flavored grease for using in various recipes.

On one hand, people who ate this stuff are all dead. On the other hand, they all died of old age.

I think this is a recipe Big Ma used later in life. As a child, I don't remember her using canned green beans.

4 ounces of fatback

4 ounces of cooked bacon or hamhock

2 tablespoons of bacon grease

1/4 teaspoon of brown sugar

1 1/2 cup water

1 28 ounce can of cut green beans

Salt and pepper

• Combine the fatback, ham, bacon grease, brown sugar, and water in a pan and bring to a boil.
• Drain the juice from the canned green beans.
• Discard the juice and add the beans to the boiling stock pot.
• Return the pot to a slow boil for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.