Memes Old-fashioned Butter Beans

• 6 cups water, plus more if needed
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into lardons (see below); 1 ounce fatback; or 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 cups freshly shelled butter beans (about 3 pounds unshelled) or frozen butter beans, not thawed
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (optional)

1. Bring the water and bacon to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.
2. Add the butter beans and season with salt and pepper.
3. Decrease the heat to low and simmer until the beans are tender, 30 to 45 minutes, less for frozen beans.
4. Add the butter and taste and adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper.
5. Spoon into shallow bowls with a little of the rich broth and serve immediately.
6. Fat is the reason bacon tastes so goodit has long veins of fat running parallel to the rind and fat is also the problem.
7. Along with the salt and carcinogenic smoke from the cure, it is enough to make the folks at the American Heart Association have, well, a heart attack.
8. For those occasions when you do go whole hog, make sure you are getting your moneys worth.
9. Buy premium quality bacon with a good balance of meat, salt, and smoke.
10. A match stick size piece of bacon is called a lardon, though strictly speaking, a lardon is a long strip of fat sewn into lean meat, with a larding needle (lardoire), to keep the meat moist and flavorful during cooking.

water, bacon, butter beans, salt, unsalted butter

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/meme-s-old-fashioned-butter-beans-380396 (may not work)