Fermented Yard-Long Beans

Since I left New York, I’ve been obsessed with figuring out how to replicate a certain hunan dish that I’d become accustomed to ordering once or twice a week from my favorite neighborhood Chinese restaurant in Hell’s kitchen. Until recently, I would go to great lengths to buy vacuum-packed sour long beans (ingredients: salt, beans), which are sometimes available in the refrigerated sections of Asian grocery stores, or fresh long beans, which I’d then pickle like