This method is the way I first learned to make beans from my Mamaw years ago. I dice bacon, fry it in the pay, throw the fresh beans in, deglaze the pan with Chicken Stock and small amount of water (add enough to come up about 1/4 of beans.) Add the seasonings to taste, cover and simmer/steam for approx. 2 hours. Check the seasonings again and serve. This is everyone's favorite way to eat fresh beans. The flavor is excellent. Great Recipe! Thanks for sharing.

Needed more salt, but otherwise fantastic.

These beans were very tasty (very similar to the the beans I learned how to make from my granny and mama). My comments: 1) The original poster must have had a saltier ham hock than the ones I get - as other posters have mentioned, I do add more salt. 2) I always use minced, fresh onion rather than onion powder. 3) I never use lard, bacon grease is the way to go. If you don't have a ham hock, you can really just use bacon grease alone. 4) For the reviewers who didn't care for the taste/texture of the beans - these are not haricots vert and are not intended to be crisp. These are southern-style green beans (as indicated by the name of the recipe) and if you like 'em, you like 'em - if you don't, you don't. Some people enjoy both kinds(like me). 5) And finally, if you want to get truly southern, serve these beans with real southern cornbread (NOT the sweet kind), cooked in a cast iron skillet. Don't discard the soup (the pot likker, as my granny would say) and don't discard the ham hock until you've picked the meat off of it and scattered it in the beans. You can also throw some small new potatoes on top of the beans for the last half hour or so.

Good down home green beans. I did make some changes, I substituted season salt for the salt. I increased my seasonings, but similar to other reviewers I felt that keeping the seasonings at the suggested measurement wasn't enough, since the water diluted it. I added minced onions, garlic, and slabbed bacon. I also used cooking oil instead of lard and decreased it to 1 tsp, since my bacon made enough fat.

So delicious and so very easy. I made in a crock pot and would never do it any other way, as it's incredibly easy!

Very tasty! I added a little chopped up onion.

I didn't have ham hock so I didn't use that. I used a little over a tablespoon of bacon grease. I really loved these.

Very tasty, however I cut down on the cooking time b/c i do not like mushy veggies. Great flavor.

Good recipe, didn't add the lard or the garlic though, I have to admit. Cooked the beans with some new potatoes added later in the cooking process. Yummy!

Didn't care for this recipe at all. The ham hock flavor was too strong - I couldn't taste anything else. Also, the beans were way too mushy for my taste.