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From our Food Goddess, TaMara:
Since this is the weekly recipe exchange, when I settled on red beans and rice, I decided to go googling around the internet and see what everyone else thought red beans and rice should be. I stumbled across the photo above and knew I had to include it tonight. The recipe isn’t that much different from what I’ve been making for years. If it’s good enough for one of my favorite performers, it’s good enough for me.
I live within walking distance of a Lucille’s restaurant that I do not visit often enough. Mostly because it is open only for breakfast and lunch. A week or so ago, I realized I really wanted their Wash Day Lunch, but didn’t see how it would fit into my schedule that week. Then I remembered I had a big jar of Lucille’s spice in my cupboard. The solution seemed simple, I’d make a batch of red beans and rice, tonight’s featured recipe.
Of course, JeffreyW has his own take on this, with great photos to accompany his Red Beans and Rice with Pickle Pork (click here to see it, you know you want to).
For tonight’s featured recipe, I threw on my Zydeco cds and started chopping and sautéing. Set it to simmer all day and finished it off with some delicious buttermilk corn bread.
Red Beans and Rice
1 lb. Kidney Beans
1 tomato, diced
Water or vegetable broth
6 small Ham Hocks or one smoked Pork Butt, wash well and pat dry
1 tbsp (or more as desired) of Creole spice, I favor Lucille’s
1/2 lb. of bacon, cut into small pieces
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/4 green bell pepper, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced*
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
6 links andouille sausage
Saucepan or dutch oven, skillet
Preparation
Wash beans thoroughly, cover them with cold water and soak overnight. Pour water off, cover with fresh water and cook until tender. I use a pressure cooker, because at this altitude it’s the only way to get tender beans and it takes less than 30 minutes. Once tender, drain and add chopped tomato, Creole spice, ham hocks, a bit of water or vegetable broth and simmer on low.In skillet, cook bacon until slightly crisp, drain on a paper towel. Add to bean mixture.
Remove all but 2 tbsp of bacon fat from the skillet, add diced onions, bell pepper and carrot. Sauté on medium heat until tender, add garlic, cook additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add everything to the beans, turn to low and let simmer at least 3 hours, ham should be falling off the bone. I like the idea of simmering all day for the best flavor. Add more water or broth as needed to keep it from drying out.
About an hour before serving, I sliced the sausage in half lengthwise and browned on both sides in a skillet, I then added it to the bean mixture to simmer.
*carrot is optional, but I find it adds a nice sweetness to the dish.
Serve over rice with corn bread. Makes 6 good sized servings.
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RiceI used brown rice for this dish and loved the flavor with the spicy bean mixture.
2 cups brown rice, rinsed
2 cups water
Saucepan or pressure cookerAdd water and rice to pan, bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low and cook until all water is absorbed, about 45 minutes with traditional saucepan and 25 minutes with a pressure cooker.
Yutsano
My mom went to New Orleans for a conference, and while she was there she took a Creole cooking classm when she came home we had really good eats for a good six months after. She used salt pork in the red beans and rice and was told that it really should be pickled pork but that can be hard to come by.
Schlemizel
I have been making this with black beans. I add extra garlic and a chipotle & adobo plus I like extra broth so the beans are soupy.
Face
Whats the diff tween corn bread and corn pone?
PeakVT
I love red beans and rice. I’ve tried making it a few times but never got anything close to what I had in N’awlins.
Anyone have recommendations on a pressure cooker?
Yutsano
Oh and BHF? Cornbread recipe NAOW!! Kthxbai!
Schlemizel
Went downstairs Tuesday to get some green beans out of the freezer. discovered it was on the fritz. Most of the contents were thawed. The cooking marathon was on. Using what I already had on hand (was not going to make a market run as it was going to be a long enough night already).
Ended up with oven baked chicken in two ways. Southwestern Corn Chowder, Green peas in hamburger gravy, Fried Italian sausage with peppers & onions, a summer squash, eggplant and pepper lasagna and a vegetable coconut curry.
It was a long night but I now have lunches for a month!
MattR
@Yutsano: How about some peanut butter dog biscuits instead? It’s almost the same, right?
Schlemizel
@Face:
pone is an older version – no milk or eggs. I assume people don’t see it much any more because its not as tasty. I find it a bit unpleasant.
Jude
GOD DAMN IT PEOPLE. “Kidney beans” is not a synonym for “red beans.” There’s a huge difference. You should use small red beans, not kidney beans. Trust me, I’m an expert here.
danah gaz
Yum. I love red beans & rice. Thanks for the recipes.
I’ll post my fried chicken recipe because it’s the only new thing I’ve had the inclination to learn to cook lately, and is simple and awesome. I posted it once before, but not on a recipe thread and not sure if the board was mostly asleep. =)
Prep time: 20-25 minutes (mostly waiting, so it’s easy)
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Thawed Chicken – I prefer getting packs of drumsticks + thighs for this. (Whatever is fine)
Plenty of flour and salt and cooking oil with a high smoke point – I use canola oil.
A freezer bag – although you can dredge in a pie dish
A large cast iron skillet + either a lid large enough for it, or use aluminum foil. If you don’t have cast iron, you can use a large skillet but it may stick a little.
A large bowl.
Plenty of Ice.
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1. Take a large bowl (like a salad mixing bowl), pour about 1 cup of salt in it, and a tray worth of ice in it – mix
2. Throw the chicken in the bowl – let sit for 20 minutes or more
3. In a ziplock bag or pie dish, for ever 4-6 pieces of chicken combine this:
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp garlic (to taste)
whatever else you like (I put some onion salt and some johnnys in mine)
shake it up.
Meanwhile, when the chicken is almost done soaking, fill the skillet with about an inch or so of oil. When the pan is loaded with chicken it should submerge about 1/2 of the chicken or a little more. – Preheat this oil on medium high (my knobs go to nine, I put it on 7) If the oil is not hot enough the breading will not stick!
Finally, take each chicken piece, dredge it, or shake it in the container of breading. Then place it in the pan, in a single layer.
Let it cook until you can start to see the submerged part of the chicken turn brown/tan. If some of the chicken seems like it’s already kinda golden brown, go ahead and flip it, but avoid that if you can.
Reduce heat to med-low (I set mine stove to 4), cover and cook for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the cover, set stove to med-high again and turn the chicken and cook until golden brown. It will look a lot like deep fried chicken (KFC, Popeyes or whatever) so you are going for that.
Drain on some paper towels (I use egg trays for this)
YUM!
No marination necessary. No buttermilk needed. It tastes friggin awesome, and is easy.
MikeJ
@Face: You tell me whar a man gits his corn pone, en I’ll tell you what his ‘pinions is.
rikyrah
ooh lawd..
there is nothing better than red beans, cooked slow, with hamhocks…and that red bean gravy gets nice and thick..pour it over that white rice….add in some chow-chow and some diced fresh red tomatoes with salt…
it’s a meal unto itself.
yum
Maude
@Jude:
I knew that, but only because I’ve seen the cans.
Yutsano
@MattR: Do I haz to have puppeh to make? :)
danah gaz
@danah gaz: oops in the bowl you need to put water in with the salt and ice.
/facepalm
Yutsano
@danah gaz: Sounds like a cold brine. NOM!!
lamh35
@Yutsano: @Yutsano: true most people use pickled pork tips & D&D Sausage. when I make red beans, I use season pack in NOLA season pack is green peppers, onions, & celery. in NOLA u will use Carnation brand red beans or it’s not right.
first u soak the beans overnight to “de-gas” them. the next day u add parsley,salt, pepper & whatever seasoning u like (I use Tony C’s Cajun seasoning). whole boiling, I saute the season pack along with the smoked sausage (in my hood, we also use Patton hot sausage along with other stuff ), boil the pickled pork (to tenderize ’em & to take some. of the salt off ’em) & then add them to the boiling beans. you want the beans to be fairly soft, so u may need to. add water to the beans, meat, seasoning mixture so that the beans will soften up. so u basically then let the mix boil and water evaporate until the beans start to become creamy. now, I have one aunt who adds butter to the beans once water boils down (gives u that Popeyes beans taste. that’s the “secret ingredients to Popeyes beans they basically add butter). I have another aunt who takes a bowl of the partially softened beans smashes ’em up & add them back to the pot to help the beans “cream” more.
once the water is down, and the beans are soft, but not. mushy (you’ll know when they are perfect when u look at them). Once the beans have “creamed” & softened to ur liking, u put beans on rice & ur good to go.
here in DFW I can’t always find the hot sausage or pickled pig tips I like in NOLA, but even with just Hillshire Farm smoked sausage, red beans is one of the easiest NOLA dishes to mak.
jo6pac
Thank you everyone I can almost smell the food.
MattR
@Yutsano: You can use them to lure a puppeh to you
Joseph Nobles
XKCD officially has way too much time on his hands.
danah gaz
@Yutsano: it is. and it is NOMy
=) (although you really should cook the chicken before you NOM)
I felt the recipe fitting, because I always used to eat fried chicken and red beans and rice together.
Now I will master them both and I shall RULE THE WORLD! WOOHOO! Or maybe not, because seriously, who needs that kind of responsibility? =)
psycholinguist
@Jude: That is correct, red beans and kidneys are two different animals. If you can find Camellia brand dry beans, you are getting the traditional bean used down this way. Another source, if you are not in the south, is a Mexican grocery – they will have the small red beans. Make sure they are not to old! old dry beans will never, ever get tender.
The thing that appears to be missing here is the roux. The roux thickens the beans, and adds that sweet, nutty depth of flavor. You can follow this recipe with a little bit more of the fat in your pot, and sprinkle on some flour when you add the veggies, and let it cook with them while they brown. That will do the thickening and add some of that flavor. Or, you can do it New Orleans style and make a dark roux and then cook your veggies in it. I really need to make this tomorrow.
Ash Can
When I was a flat-broke college student I swore by bean/rice/corn/pasta concoctions, sometimes augmented by whatever cheap cuts of meat were on sale at the grocery store. I’d make stews and soups on the weekends, and freeze it in small containers (such as yogurt and cottage cheese containers) for the rest of the week. Nowadays, even though (praise Allah) we can afford slightly pricier groceries, I don’t care — I still love my bean-based concoctions, and I still usually make it a point to go easy on the red meat for meals, because it’s healthier. And my wonderful garage-sale crock pot makes bean recipes all the easier.
Yutsano
@MattR:Uh-oh. Sounds like Dawg food. :)
jl
I too love red beans and rice. I’ll check it out next time I need a pot of beans.
MattR
@Yutsano: You may need to add some sugar to get them sweetened to a Dawg’s taste.
Dennis SGMM
I’m the only one in my family who likes this kind of food. Can the leftovers be frozen?
Catpause
Add some liquid smoke to that pot!
TaMara (BHF)
@Yutsano: I am ashamed to tell you that I use a box mix and add buttermilk instead of milk. It’s just easier and foolproof. But I think the cast iron skillet really takes it over the top. /hangs head, slinks away.
danah gaz
@psycholinguist: “Another source, if you are not in the south, is a Mexican grocery”
w00t!
Thank you. I live in NW washington state. So the NW of the NW of the NW. =)
Luckily I can’t throw a brick without hitting a mexican grocery store. I try not to throw bricks because I don’t want to make them mad. =/
TaMara (BHF)
@Jude: You are of course correct, but I really, really love red kidney beans, so I almost always use them. Black beans are my second fave. And then navy bean with bacon soup. Yum.
Yutsano
@TaMara (BHF): If you’re feeling ambitious, you can always try these. Plus he has a good basic buttermilk cornbread recipe snuck in there. :)
BethanyAnne
I’m vegetarian, or pretty close to it, so I don’t add the meat. Instead, I add a big lot of pickled jalapenos early. Most of the heat seems to break down? I’m not sure how it works, really, but I know they don’t get too hot, but somehow I get more of a robust, umami flavor. Which is what you normally get from the pork. Another trick I’ve used is to caramelize tomato paste first, and add it to the base.
Yutsano
@BethanyAnne: Heat will break down after a long cooking time, specifically the capsaicin molecule that your tongue just can’t quite process correctly. But it takes awhile for significant dissipation.
BethanyAnne
@Yutsano: Yeah, I normally cook mine all day in a slow cooker, so it has time. A quarter cup of jalapenos isn’t as good as pork, but it’s really good if pork isn’t an option :)
Chris
This is the best resource for Nawlins cooking on the internet, in my humble opinion.
http://gumbopages.com/recipe-page.html
Also, cooking your beans with a smoked ham hock, then trimming, shredding, and adding some of that ham in when its finished, is a good idea
Chris
http://gumbopages.com/recipe-page.html
raven
If you haven’t tried Camellia beans do so.. I make red beans and rice and black-eyed peas weekly. I use smoked turkey necks and turkey andouille from Trader Joe’s.
Thlayli
@Yutsano:
Alton Brown did a show on this dish, which included instructions for pickling your own.
jeffreyw
@Yutsano: @Thlayli:
Ahem…
Elizabelle
Now what about that Bisma Rex and Swiss Kriss?
An antacid and herbal laxative, respectively. NPR did a blogpost on Louie Armstrong’s eating and “dieting” habits.
They still sell Swiss Kriss at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens, NY.
Elizabelle
@danah gaz:
Such excellent recipes, lore and links. Thank you to all. Bookmarked this blogpost.
Definitely trying danah’s chicken. With its ice brine bath. Hmmm.
MonkeyBoy
I hadn’t realized how much meat there was (often more meat than beans) in official or “restaurant” versions of red beans and rice. (restaurant versions of dishes often cater to people who think meat = value and the more meat the better. I once had a version of jambalaya in which rice appeared as a minor seasoning to the meat)
More traditional version of legume dishes often use a proportion of 1 smoked ham hock per pound of dried legume. For this case you want the hock and not smoked neck bones or smoked turkey because the hock (with its skin and cartilage) will contribute much more gelatin which gives an unctuous mouth-feel.
Also, many recipes give very long cooking times. In these cases the meat will be “tried out” and all that will remain is insoluble fibers with no taste. While not traditional, for long cooking cases I prefer to first make a stock from the meat and strain away the insoluble bits such as bones, celery fibers, etc. Ham hock stock can seem nasty by itself but adds wonders to legume dishes.
ET
@PeakVT: I wonder if it is the beans. The beans most locals used are Camillia and they are different than the red beans sold by groceries in other places.
I have gumbo down – now I need to get working my Red Beans & Rice.
raven
@ET: Hell yes it is!