Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Red Beans and Rice

(Any real life coonass, Cay-John, or Boudreaux <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> that cares to give further advice here, I would LOVE to hear from you. Thanks in advance.)

1 Lb Red Beans-dry

1.5 Lbs Smoked Ham and Sausage cut in 1/4" cubes. Sausage may be just be sliced in to discs. (Andouille Sausage preferred, but any smoked sausage will do, and you may use all ham or all sausage if you prefer)

1 Large Onion, Chopped

1 Large Bell Pepper, Chopped

2-3 Stalks of Celery, Chopped

2 Tbs Fresh Parsley, Chopped

3-4 Cloves Garlic, Chopped

Salt to taste

1 tsp Cayenne Pepper (or to taste)

1 tsp dried Thyme

3-4 Bay Leaves

4-5 cans Chicken Broth

2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Rinse, sort, and soak beans overnight. Over Med. Heat sautee the meat in Olive Oil in a large iron pot for about 5-6 minutes. Remove meat leaving fat. Sautee onions, peppers, celery, parsley, and garlic for about 5-6 minutes. Return meat with thyme, bay leaves, cayenne, salt, and beans. Cover ingredients with chicken broth. Cover pot and boil very gently for about 2-2.5 hours, stirring occassionally, and adding broth if needed to keep covered. Serve over steamed rice. Garnish with fresh parsley, and have some good garlic toast along side, and some cold beer. Hot sauce comes in handy here too.

Looks about right to me. When you chop up the celery include a few celery leaves in there too. Also when you are stiring up your beans mash a few so the whole mess is thicker when you put it over the rice.
That's the way we like it anyway.

BCR

Thanks for the tip on celery leaves. I have done that mashing up method with my black eyes. This recipie turns out pretty thick if you let it cook down good. I do like some mashed up and will try that with the red beans. Thanks again.

Looks good and ditto on what BCR said. I use a little stick blender just before service to mash some of the beans. If you let them cook down then they are all the same consistancy. Its nice to have the contrast in texture. I would leave out the garlic until the last 30 seconds to one minute of sautee time. A LeCreuset dutch oven is perfect for cooking your beans. I might also add a Tablespoon of Real good sweet or hot paprika because I love that smokey garlic hint. mmmmmmm
Now bring on the mudd bugs and beer. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

No coonass, and I don't have any suggestions. I DO have my own recipe though. I got this from, of all places, a t-shirt in an old crafts store in Joplin, Missouri.

2 lbs. good quality sausage. I like either Owens or RB Rice's.

2 cans Red Beans. I like either Bush's or Best Choice. Wal-Mart's brand, Great Value is also okay.

� cup of minute-type rice. I DON'T like Minute Rice brand. I usually use Uncle Ben's.



Garlic, cumin, seasoned salt, black pepper, cayenne, chili powder, onion (either chopped up or dried).

Brown sausage in a dutch oven. I like to do this outdoors on my Weber and over good quality charcoal or Mesquite. Mesquite is best. You can make it inside on the stove though and it's still excellent. Blend all the spices in as you brown your sausage. Y'all will just have to use your common sense on how much of each 'cause I don't keep any quantities. I just do it by instinct every time.

Have your rice boiling as you're doing this.

When the sausage is brown, blend in the beans and then the rice. Put it on low heat and cover it, checking it periodically so it don't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. If you need it hotter, use some Tabasco after it hits the table. Make it pretty bland and then hot it up with the Tabasco and that way everybody likes it. I like it sweet and so use ketchup heavily in mine. My wife doesn't like ketchup in it though, so I don't put the ketchup in the main dish. If she did, I would. The last step of combining it all and letting it set awhile, probably 15 minutes, at least, is very important. The mixture needs to blend awhile to be at its best. I've tried it without doing this or letting it set long enough and it just doesn't taste as good. This stuff is like chili and will get better with subsequent servings.

My take on a classic. Enjoy.

Reads right to me. Don't forget the cornbread! And a DECENT beer. Try the Belgian Blue Moon Ale (brewed in the US) if you get a chance.