Green Bean Casserole

I know it's hard to believe that there can even BE multiple recipes for something so utterly basic as Green Bean Casserole, but here are four. And I even omitted one I found from ATK because it was described as a "lighter" version and I don't do light. Anyway the first three all use two lbs of fresh green beans which are first blanched. This is great for me because I happen to grow my own green beans which I blanch and freeze in one lb bags, so I'm all set.

This first recipe is from Serious Eats. It is by far the most intense, fully homemade, but they say you can take the "homemade" part as far as you want - for example instead of canned fried onions they recommend fried shallots, and either making them yourselves or buying them online (although if you make them yourselves the flavored oil is useful). This is a pdf, click below for the recipe and the Serious Eats writeup:

Serious Eats Ultimate Green Bean Casserole

It's useful to read their full article:

Serious Eats Article on ultimate homemade Green Bean Casserole

This next one is from America's Test Kitchen - not the one I mentioned above that is supposedly a "lighter" version.

ATK Green Bean Casserole

And this is from the New York Times. This one is a non-starter for me because it doesn't include mushrooms at all, claiming "without the mushrooms the green beans can fully shine". That's stupid - if I want shiny green beans I'll just eat green beans by themselves (which in fact I do all the time). Casseroles are all about bringing together disparate ingredients so that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

New York Times Green Bean Casserole

COMPARISONS OF THESE FIRST THREE VERSIONS

Like I said up front, it's hard to believe there can be different versions of something so basic but there are. Here's some of the more significant differences:

• The NYT uses 2 cups of cream, the others use 1-1/2
• The ATK uses 1-1/2 cups chicken broth, the others use 2 cups.
• The Serious Eats recipe really is quite intense.
• The traditional version of green bean casserole (below) uses canned fried onions, some of which are mixed into the casserole and the rest used in the topping. All of these also use fried onions (shallots in the case of Serious Eats). However, only the Serious Eats version uses them both mixed in and for topping, the other two only use them in the topping. I personally like having some of them mixed in.
• The ATK recipe uses 1 lb of mushrooms and the Serious Eats uses 1-1/2 lbs. However, as I already said, NYT doesn't even include mushrooms which I repeat is stupid. I'm including it in case I want to combine these recipes into a whole.

Finally, here it is - the original, traditional and incredibly ubiquitous Green Bean Casserole using Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup and French's Fried Onions. And the simple reality is, it's really pretty good.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole

Ingredients

1 can Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. soy sauce
Dash pepper
1 bag (16 to 20 oz.) frozen green beans
OR 2 pkg. (9 oz. each) frozen green beans
OR 2 cans (about 16 oz. each) green beans
OR 1 1/2 lb. fresh green beans
1 1/3 cups French's French fried onions

Instructions

1. Mix soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in 1 1/2-qt. casserole. Bake at 350°F. for 25 min. or until hot.

2. Stir, sprinkle with remaining onions. Bake 5 min.

Comment - I used 16oz bag frozen french-style green beans. I microwave them to thaw them and drain out as much liquid as possible.