Paul Newman Loved This Lima Bean Thanksgiving Side Dish — But There's A Catch To Making It

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Paul Newman was not only a famous actor, but a deep lover of food, even promoting top-notch restaurants he favored. Besides selling his own salad dressings which are still popular today, Newman put out a cookbook appropriately called "Newman's Own Cookbook" in 1998, in which he shared recipes from other celebrities as well as from his own family and staff. One such recipe was a dish that makes a perfect addition to any Thanksgiving meal. In his book, he gushes about the ham hocks and lima beans made by his housekeeper, Caroline Murphy.

Making this dish is fairly straightforward, so long as you get good-quality smoked (or unsmoked) ham hocks from your local butcher. It only requires three ingredients, with the other two being 40 ounces of frozen lima beans and black pepper. You simply cook the smoked ham hocks until tender in a large pot of water, typically two hours. Then you add the lima beans and cook until they are also tender before adding ground black pepper. The salt from the hocks should be sufficient to where you don't need to add any extra. If this sounds a little too simple, keep in mind that Newman wrote about the dish, saying, "Here's the recipe for my housekeeper's ham hocks and lima beans, which I would kill for."

You can add other spices or broth to the mix if you want to elevate it, but it's a pretty basic recipe. While all this seems straightforward, there's a trick to getting it right, and it's an important one. You absolutely must prepare the lima beans properly, because otherwise they can be toxic.

Lima beans, often called butter beans, might be a canned staple you have in your pantry right now. However, this recipe calls for frozen ones. The fact that they are generally frozen raw or blanched is why they are a safety concern. By nature, lima beans contain a toxin called linamarin, which is cyanogenic. This means they can release cyanide if crushed or chewed when raw. They are nutrient-rich, but because of the linamarin, they can cause illness or even death if eaten in large enough quantities uncooked. Canned lima beans have already been prepared, so they don't have this same issue, in case you want to use them instead.

Luckily, it's not too hard to get rid of the linamarin yourself. While you can steam the beans or cook them over heat, the most effective way is to soak the beans in water for 24 hours before cooking. This breaks down the enzyme responsible for releasing cyanide. After this preparation step, boil them for at least 10 minutes. That should reduce the linamarin levels to the point where they are no longer toxic to humans. If you want to be extra safe, or if you are using lima beans from outside the United States, you can boil them for 30 minutes instead. Even though this is one treat Paul Newman might kill for, you should make sure the side dish doesn't try to kill you right back.