Been on a cajun cooking kick here lately and am loving it.

I've also learned to appreciate all of the subtle nuances in ingredients and techniques that make it so much better, like making roux etc.

Looking for authentic red beans & rice recipes as well as any techniques or specific product types anyone would care to share.

Thanks in advance.

+1

Anyone tried the pickled pork that is in the Alton Brown recipe?

I know one of the tricks is finding the right kind of red beans, though I'll be damned if I can remember what they are.

Camellia red kidney beans

I don't know how authentic they are, but the homesick Texan recipe is really good.

quote:

---

Camellia red kidney beans

---

Bingo.

Here's my method/recipe

1: Get a ham bone. You probably will have to order one in advance at a butcher or Honeybaked ham sells them. Smoked Ham hocks aren't the same thing. You can add a smoked ham hock as well, but, the ham bone will give you collagen that gives you the great silky mouthfeel. Plus you'll get bits of ham in the beans. If you've got ham laying around, by all means chop some up and add it too
2: Find some good andouille or use smoked sausage. grocery store andouille is garbage for the most part so either find a meat market or use smoked sausage. Actually I probably prefer smoked sausage anyway in red beans
3: The small red kidney beans are definitely the ones to use. This recipe is for a pound of beans. Soak overnight


Now on to cooking

Finely dice a medium onion, 2 celery stalks, and a green bell pepper in 1/4c vegetable oil until tender. Sometimes I'll add red bell pepper too. Add 5 or so cloves of chopped garlic and sautee a minute longer. Season with salt and pepper while cooking

Slice the andouille into 1/2" rings and add to the veggies. Sautee until the fat starts to render out.

Now add in the soaked and drained beans, ham bone, and enough water to cover by about an inch. Some people will tell you to add chicken stock. Don't listen to them......unless you have ham stock. I used to always use chicken stock until once I didn't have it. They came out better with a cleaner flavor. The ham bone and the veggies create their own stock.

Bring to a simmer and add a couple of bay leaves, black pepper, a pinch of thyme, and a little cayenne. Go easy on the seasonings for now.

Simmer for a couple of hours and add water as needed.

When the beans start to get tender stop adding water and adjust the seasonings to your liking. The beans will get creamy as the water evaporates.

Serve with plain long grain rice. 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, 1 tsp salt, and 1Tbls butter. Bring to a simmer in a sauce pan, cover and turn the heat down low and steam for 17 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave covered for 5 additional minutes. Remove lid and let sit for a couple of additional minutes and then fluff with a fork.

My go to recipe... http://www.food.com/recipe/crescent-city-red-beans-rice-crock-pot-373619

Not the proper method I'm sure... But it's easy and delicious.

Thanks all.

This is how I did it today, and had rave reviews from my family.
They're typically picky eaters, and this was a new one for them...they gobbled it up.

I'm by no means a professional cook and none of us in my family have a very sophisticated palette, so forgive my amateur ways here.

INGREDIENTS:

Meats and Misc-
2 lbs, red beans (HEB, small not kidneys)...bought some Camellia's Red Kidney's today to try next time.
1 lg ham bone, (leftover from Christmas Honeybaked ham, still had some ham on it)
1 lb, andouille sausage
1/2 cup, salt pork (1/2" cubed)
Jasmine white rice
Chicken stock to cover the load by a couple inches (water would work just fine also, some insist on it)
Olive oil, couple tsp (subst oil of your choice or lard)

Veg & Herbs-
1 cup, diced celery
1/2 cup diced white onion & 1/2 cup diced red onion (b/c I already had them chopped up)
1 cup, diced green bell pepper
3 fine chopped green onion/shallots
1/4 bunch (3 tbsp-ish), chopped parsley
1/4 bunch (3 tbsp-ish), chopped thyme
3 tbsp, chopped garlic

Seasonings-
1tsp (heaping), creole/cajun seasoning (fresh ground from HEB, not the stale jarred stuff. Love this)
1tsp, Old Bay
1 tsp, cayenne (I omitted this at family request)
1 tsp, kosher salt
1 tsp, black pepper
1 tsp, white pepper
3-4 bay leaves


RECIPE:

Soaked beans overnight

1. In a cast-iron dutch oven or heavy soup pot, brown the ham bone, andouille and cubed salt pork together on MED heat until browned and rendered a bit (about 6-8 mins).

2. Add the celery, onion & bell pepper to the pot and enough oil as needed just to coat the veggies. Stir a couple times to coat and cook the heap of goodness on MED/LO until the veggies are softened (about 8-10 minutes). Add the garlic, thyme and seasonings and cook another 3-4 minutes on MED/LO.

3. Add the pre-soaked beans and broth (or water) and bay leaves to the pot and run up to a hard boil for about a minute, then turn down to LO heat and simmer for 2-3 hours. Longer is better if the beans aren't breaking down too much.

4. After the long simmer, take a heavy spoon and smash about 1/4 of the beans against the side of the pot. This will thicken the base a bit and make it creamier. Simmer another hour or so.

**Make your rice during this time. I recently bought a rice steamer and it's pretty much awesome.

5. After second simmer, fish out bay leaves and ham bone. Scrape any remaining meat off the ham bone and for God's sake, put that meat back in the pot...it's incredible. Discard bay leaves and bone.

6. Ladle into bowl and top with a nice scoop of rice. Garnish with finely chopped parsley or green onion and your favorite louisiana hot sauce to taste.

7. Drink an ice-cold Shiner Bock or the beer of your choosing.

8. Profit.


LESSONS from a first timer:

-I bought some Carmellia's Red Kidney's this evening at HEB to try in my next batch. I've found out they are the go-to bean for authentic NOLA, RB&R. The small red beans I used just don't really seem noticeable in a dish that's supposed to feature the red bean. Soaking some now to add to my batch.

-Would probably add a batch of corn bread to go with this dish next time.

Enjoy!!

I use Treebeards recipe. Best ever.

Treebeards recipe looks good as well.
Thanks

quote:

---

I don't know how authentic they are, but the homesick Texan recipe is really good.

---

This is what I've used as a base recipe, then adjust to taste.

Made a modified version of alton's recipe tonight. Sister in law is a on a non-voluntary vegetarian diet. For the rest of us I seperate out some when done and tossed in a pound of smoked sausage. Next time I go full ham bone.

quote:

---

Treebeards recipe looks good as well.
Thanks

---

The only thing I change about Treebeards is I smash up probably 3-4 cups of the beans to make it thicker.

Love Popeyes red beans and rice. But then I went to to New Orleans for the first time. Wow. Sokath, his eyes opened.

red beans and rice, at tanagra

Shaka, when the red beans and rice fell.

Made the Alton Brown version with pickled pork. Not a fan. Smoked sausage was way better.

Fido's got it going on. Looks authentic.

That's basically what I did the first time with smoked sausage. Turned out way better than the 2nd attempt. We removed the pork and it's edible, just not as good. Live and learn and keep on chugging.

I am going to have to try that Treebeards recipe... Seems way too easy. No saut of veggies/sausage at all? Just boil everything?

If any of y'all have been to Belize, you've had Rice and Beans. I love that stuff.

quote:

---

I am going to have to try that Treebeards recipe... Seems way too easy. No saut of veggies/sausage at all? Just boil everything?

---

I slice my sausage and get cook it in a cast iron skillet so I get a bit of a crunchy element before I put it in the pot.

I know it's sacrilege but I go to Tiger Droppings just for the food section. The do a PDF of recipes and some are damn good.

I had the pleasure of meeting Paul Prudomme and his wife, K, and we discussed cooking. Paul liked Camelia red beans and would "finish" a cooked pot with a stick of butter right before serving. Mighty tasty.

HEB has a kit we make with almost everything you need except water and sausage. Almost every one of their stores carry these in the bean section.


https://www.heb.com/product-detail/h-e-b-cajun-style-red-beans/1516231