Red Beans and Rice

Monday means Red Beans!

Camellia Brand ® Red Beans with the large red rose on the cellophane bag was always my mother’s choice.  These are the creamiest red beans out there! No wonder it has been in business over 100 years.

Red Beans and Rice is one of the most popular New Orleans dishes; and serving it on Mondays became a tradition. But my grandmother cooked it on Saturday when she was cleaning the house. Cooking fresh beans takes a couple hours to achieve that tender creaminess. 

Supplies

• Heavy gauge pot

Ingredients

• 1 pound kidney beans
• 2 large onions
• 1 cup green onion chopped
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• ½ tsp thyme
• ½ tsp creole seasoning
• 1 tsp celery salt
• ¼ cup bacon grease (Crisco® if no bacon grease)
• 1 tbs ham/pork base (Better Than Boullion®) + 8 ounces water
• ¼ cup parsley
• Pickled Meat, Salt pork (pickled meat) or ham hocks
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Hot sauce (optional)

Preparation

Night before cooking:

Rinse beans well and discard unwanted beans and / or foreign bodies. Soak in about 6 cups cold water or enough to cover beans with 2 inches of water.

Cooking day:

In ~3 quart pot boil salt pork for _______ minutes and discard the water.

Rinse beans and cover with 2 inches water and cook for about an hour.  Add onions, garlic, creole seasoning, thyme, bacon grease, ham base and parsley.  Stir occasionally to scrape build up on the bottom and the sides of the pot.

After one hour add another cup of water when water level goes down. More water may need to be added and allowed to cook down depending on the tenderness of the beans. Use an immersion blender to cream the beans.

Cook about another hour or one to two hours until tender. Use immersion blender to cream some of the beans. (Or press beans against the side of the pot.)

Serve over hot white rice with smoked sausage along French Bread or cornbread.

Hot sauce is also on the table available to be added to the personal dish.

Pairing

Smoked sausage is the usual protein to have with red beans and rice, with fried chicken as another favorite. It goes without saying that French bread and butter is on the table as well.

Lagniappe

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Enjoy Keeping It Creole!