Red Beans And Rice
 

Anybody got a good recipe?

I'm smoking some andouille sausage today that I have been making this week. Got some neckbones to smoke with it.

I love red beans and rice, but when I order it in a restaurant, it is usually too spicy. I have found that the andouille they use is already too hot, and makes the entire dish unbearable. (yes, i'm a woos)

I'd like to wind up at a medium spicy level. When my taste buds are blistered, they no longer work for me.

I believe there are better cooks here than google.

Ideas?

Dinny

Spicy is good. If too spicy drink cold beer.

Someone needs to reverse engineer Popeye's Chicken RB&R. I don't know if they're the real deal, but I love them.

I love Popeye's, but their beans are all mashed into a paste. The seasoning is near perfection.

Dinny

Here is my friend's recipe for RB&R. He is an up and coming cajun chef. He knows a thing or two about this style of food.


Red Beans and Rice
Prep Time: 20 min Inactive Prep Time: 0 min Cook Time: 2 hr 30 min Level:
Intermediate Serves:
8 servings Ingredients
1 pound dried red beans, rinsed and sorted over
3 tablespoons bacon grease
1/4 cup chopped tasso, or chopped ham
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Pinch cayenne
3 bay leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1/2 pound smoked sausage, split in half lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 pound smoked ham hocks
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
10 cups chicken stock, or water
4 cups cooked white rice
1/4 cup chopped green onions, garnish
Directions
Place the beans in a large bowl or pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and set aside.

In a large pot, heat the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add the tasso and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the onions, celery and bell peppers to the grease in the pot. Season with the salt, pepper, and cayenne, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add the bay leaves, parsley, thyme, sausage, and ham hocks, and cook, stirring, to brown the sausage and ham hocks, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and stock or water, stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and starting to thicken, about 2 hours. (Should the beans become too thick and dry, add more water, about 1/4 cup at a time.)

Remove from the heat and with the back of a heavy spoon, mash about 1/4 of the beans against the side of the pot. Continue to cook until the beans are tender and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and remove the bay leaves.

Serve over rice and garnish with green onions.

Call me a cheat, but I like the mix that Zattarans(sp?) puts out.

My dad makes awesome red beans and rice...but...I fear it is too late for me to get this recipe for you.

This recipe sounds like a good starting point, especially if you don't like things too spicy-- maybe cut back on the garlic.

Personally, I'd leave all the garlic, go heavier on the cayenne, and have a bottle of Frank's nearby.

Title: Popeye'S Red Beans And Rice
Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients

1 beans:
30 oz red kidney beans
1 1/2 ts white pepper
1/4 ts paprika
4 tb butter
1/4 ts garlic powder
1 rice:
1 1/2 c quick-cooking rice
1 1/2 c water
2 tb butter
1/2 ts garlic salt

Instructions

Pour the beans with their liquid into a large saucepan. Turn the
heat to medium. Add the pepper, paprika, butter and garlic powder.
When the beans begin to boil, use a fork to mash some of them against
the side of the pan. Stir the mixture constantly. In about 20
minutes, the beans will reach the consistency of refried beans.
Prepare the rice, using the 2 tbsp butter and and 1/2 tsp garlic salt
instead of following package

directions. To seve, pour 1/2 cup of beans into a bowl and scoop the
same amount of rice on top of the beans.

Recipe By : More Top Secret Recipes

_______________________-

3 (16 oz.) cans red beans - 2 cans with liquid, 1 can drained
1/2 to 3/4 lb. smoked ham hock
1 1/4 C. water
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1/4 C. + 1 T. lard
1/4 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
4 to 5 C. long grain rice, cooked and drained

Pour 2 cans of beans with their liquid into a 2-quart saucepan. Add smoked ham hock and water. Simmer over medium heat for 1 hour until the meat starts to loosen from the bone.

Remove from heat and cool until the hock is cool enough so the meat may be removed.

Place the meat, beans and liquid in a food processor. To the mixture add onion powder, garlic salt, red pepper, salt, and lard. Process for only 4 seconds. Beans should be chopped and liquid thick. Add the third can of beans that have been drained of their liquid. Process just for a second or two; you want these beans to remain almost whole.

Pour bean mixture back into to pan and cook slowly on low heat stirring often until ready to serve.

Serve over rice.

Quick coooking rice is devoid of B Vitamin complex. Subsitute that with authentic brown rice.

Sorry, missed where Stewie asked for Popeye's recipe, except with plenty of B Vitamin complex. ;)

Easiest recipe ever.
Boil some rice.
Add some Red Beans.
Cheddar Cheese on top.
Spice to your pleasure.
Done.

I think I should write a mans cookbook.

Thanks BL. The second one sounds good. The first one didn't seem spicy enough or fatty enough.

Best I've ever had:

RED BEANS AND RICE

The quintessential New Orleans dish, traditionally served on Mondays.
A lot of this is going to be trial-and-error, and it's going to take a little practice before you get it right. Me, I got good at it by making it once a week for over two years, and putting out an open invitation to my friends that there'd be red beans 'n rice at Chuck's place every Sunday (well, it was tough to cook on Mondays back then).
This dish holds a very special place in my heart. While I have many favorite dishes, and have had fabulous meals the likes of which come along very rarely ... this is tops. It's delicious, it's cheap, it's simple, and it makes me feel good. It's the number one comfort food in the world for me.
You'll probably want to fiddle with it each time you make it, and arrive at the exact, instinctual combinations of seasonings that you like. Feel free to alter this recipe to your taste, but don't stray too far.
You can make this dish completely vegetarian, and it's still really good; instructions are below.
This recipe is featured on pages 116-117 of the 2001 Frommer's Guide to New Orleans, for which I also wrote a bunch of restaurant reviews. Neato!

• 1 pound red kidney beans, dry
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 5 ribs celery, chopped
• As much garlic as you like, minced (I like lots, 5 or 6 cloves)
• 1 large smoked ham hock, 3/4 pound of Creole-style pickle meat (pickled pork), or 3/4 lb. smoked ham, diced, for seasoning
• 1 to 1-1/2 pounds mild or hot smoked sausage or andouille, sliced on the bias
• 1/2 to 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
• 1 or 2 bay leaves
• As many dashes Crystal hot sauce or Tabasco as you like, to taste
• A few dashes Worcestershire sauce
• Creole seasoning blend, to taste; OR,
o red pepper and black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Fresh Creole hot sausage or chaurice, links or patties, grilled or pan-fried, one link or patty per person (optional)
• Pickled onions (optional)
Soak the beans overnight, if possible. The next day, drain and put fresh water in the pot. (This helps reduce the, um, flatulence factor.) Bring the beans to a rolling boil. Make sure the beans are always covered by water, or they will discolor and get hard. Boil the beans for about 45 - 60 minutes, until the beans are tender but not falling apart. Drain.
While the beans are boiling, sauté the Trinity (onions, celery, bell pepper) until the onions turn translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 2 more minutes, stirring occasionally. After the beans are boiled and drained, add the sautéed vegetables to the beans, then add the ham hock (or ham or pickle meat), smoked sausage, seasonings, and just enough water to cover.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a low simmer. Cook for 2 hours at least, preferably 3, until the whole thing gets nice and creamy. Adjust seasonings as you go along. Stir occasionally, making sure that it doesn't burn and/or stick to the bottom of the pot. (If the beans are old -- say, older than six months to a year -- they won't get creamy. Make sure the beans are reasonably fresh. If it's still not getting creamy, take 1 or 2 cups of beans out and mash them, then return them to the pot and stir.)
If you can ... let the beans cool, stick them in the fridge, and reheat and serve for dinner the next day. They'll taste a LOT better. When you do this, you'll need to add a little water to get them to the right consistency.
Serve generous ladles-ful over hot white long-grain rice, with good French bread and good beer. I also love to serve grilled or broiled fresh Creole hot sausage or chaurice on the side. Do not serve with a canned-beet salad, like my Mom always used to do. (Sorry, Mom ... try something interesting with fresh beets and we'll talk. :^)
I like serving a few small pickled onions with my red beans -- I chop them up and mix them in with the beans. It's great! Why does it taste so good? As my sister's friend (and dyed-in-the-wool New Orleanian) Cherie Valenti would say ... "It's da vineguh!"
YIELD: 8 servings


Vegetarian Version
Follow the same instructions as for the regular version above, except:
Omit the ham hock (or ham or pickle meat), and the smoked sausage.
Add 2 tablespoons vegetable oil along with the seasonings.
Add 1 teaspoon (or enough as you like, to taste) of liquid smoke seasoning. The vegetable oil helps replace the fat you get from the sausage, and the liquid smoke flavoring helps replace the smokiness you get from the smoked sausage and smoked ham hock. Be very careful with liquid smoke, though ... a little goes a long way and it's really easy to overdo it.





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And FWIW I lived in New Orleans for a tad over 3 years and I know my Cajun/Creole pretty well.

This looks like what I'm seeking.

I'm smoking some neckbones for the hamhock. I've got lots of andouille, so I will make several attempts with this and other recipes 'til I get it right.

There will be a certain air about me....

Dinny

Go buy some Blue Runner Beans.

A couple of tips.

Don't drown your beans. When you add the water, only cover them by about two inches. As they cook, you can always add a little more if needed. This will create a sort of "gravy" that you won't get with a pot full of water.

Also, if you like that creamy consistency, take a couple cups of beans out towards the end and mash them a bit with a fork, then return them to the pot.

Whatever recipe you choose, those two things will help the end result.

Damn, that's sounding good now. I probably have a bag of red beans in the house.....

I've had a blast this week making sausage.

Made ~9lbs. breakfast sausage and ~6lbs. andouille.

I'll never buy store-bought sausage again.

mmmmmm.... SAGE!!!!!

Dinny

Yep, you've got to be patient and let the bean break down. They are actually best if cooked and cooled then reheated.

Not a problem on the time.

I don't want quick, want tasty.

I'm all tasted up for a Dixie.

Dinny

Awesome. Where are you living these days?

Since you're too far away to share the sausage how about you share the process/recipe?

Springville.

You in Nawlins now, or local?

I'd love to sample some of your home brew.

Dinny

I'm still local. I'll give you a shout next time I brew.

I use a very large pork loin roast (tender'na muthas luv) at a 2 to 1 ratio of boneless country style ribs (fat and flava).

Then I use these recipes as suggestions, not necessarily directions.

Breakfast Sausage

4 feet small hog or sheep casing
2 1/4 pounds lean pork butt, cut into one-inch cubes
3/4 pound pork fat, cut into one-inch cubes
3 teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt
3/4 teaspoon finely ground white or black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
1/4 teaspoon dried summer savory
3/4 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper


Andouille

step 1 Gather Ingredients
5 pounds of nice shoulder pork and diced it into 1/2 inch cubes.
3 tablespoon Kosher Salt
3 teaspoons Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Pink Salt(Curing Salt)
2 teaspoons Fresh Minced Thyme
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
1/8 teaspoon Allspice
3/4 teaspoon Dry Mustard
3/4 cup chopped Onion
1/4 cup chopped Shallot
1 tablespoon Minced Garlic
10 Feet or so of washed hog casings
Couple poundsof Applewood Chips
Smoker and Whole Wood Charcoal


step 2 Cube the Pork and Combine the Spices, Vegetables and Herbs
Cube the Pork Shoulder into 1/2 inch cubes and combine all of the pork and the herbs, vegetables, spices, salt into a non-reactive container and refrigerate for 8-10 hours or overnight.


step 3 Grind the Pork, Emulsify the Meat and Chill for the next Step
1) Create a ice water bath for your steel bowl and using a larger grinding disk, chop all of the meat into the chilled bowl (be careful, do not let the meat fat smear or get warm!).

2) Place 1/2 the ground meat into the KitchenAid bowl and using the paddle, mix for 2 minutes to emulsify and bind the meat and distribute the spices, etc.

3) Repeat the step above for other 1/2 of the meat and place back into the non-reactive container and move the ground meat back into the refrigerator for another 4 hours.


step 4 Stuff the Sausage in the Casings
1) Place your sausage stuffing attachment onto the KitchenAid and work the casing onto the tube (hint place a little bit of water into the opening of the casing before you slide it on the tube and it will slide on easier) and slowly stuff the sausage keeping excess air out of the sausage.

2) Tie off your sausages the non-reactive container and move the ground meat back into the refridgerator for another 4 hours.


step 5 Smoke the Sausages
1) Prepare Applewood chips by placing them into water.

2) Prepare your smoker and smoke the sausage for 3 hours to an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Be careful not to get the smoke too hot or the casings will burst!

3) Remove from the smoker and let them cool.



My hands still smell like onions. But it's a good kinda onions.

Dinny

Awesome thread. I too have been using brown rice in everything. It's even good in fried rice recipes. It's different but good.

...didn't miss her.

I like brown rice for most everything.

But in red beans and rice, I prefer the standard Uncle Ben's converted. Can't get the white off it.

Dinny

I would like to get involved or help or just get in the way when you brew your next batch. I've long wanted to brew my own, and would like some pointers/practice before I start buying the wrong stuff.

Dinny

LMAO

It took me a minute, but I finally got that.

No problem. You'll have to drink while you help. I hope that's not a deal killer.:evil:

I've been on a rice kick lately. Uncle Ben's whole grain brown rice, FTW.

Not with red beans...that's blasphemy. Long grain white rice in a rice steamer is the only way to go for cajun/creole.

I couldn't agree with you more, Nas. I have an electric steamer that I use for fish, seafood and vegetables, and I discovered that there is no better way to prepare rice.

Dinny

Thats some good stuff, I use that all the time. That or I buy a large side at popeyes and take it home. Though there are some great recipies on here so i may try one of those.

Those both sound great Dinny. I make sausage at Christmas but that's it. I need to put my grinder to use more often.

It's funny, but I used to buy pre-ground beef and pork and mix them for the sausage I make. That was before I bought a grinder. The recipes I got from my grandfather always said to be sure to grind beef and pork together and I never knew why, until I did it. It's something about the consistency, or the fat dispersion, or... I don't know what. It definitely makes a difference.

All looks good. I cook a lot of beans, here are a few tips that might be useful.

Buy fresh dry beans. Dry beans 'keep forever' but they don't improve with age. Old beans are 'tougher' than this years crop. *(any brand of dry beans will do, but if you can find Camellia brand red beans...buy 'em)

Do not add salt to the beans until they're almost done cooking. Too much salt during the cooking time can toughen the beans skins. Don't know why, just noted that it happens. If you're using salted meats or broths to cook with, this becomes more important.

As noted, mashing a cup or 2 of beans with some juice and returning to the pot will make for a creamy finished dish. But wait until you're about ready to serve the beans - these creamy beans are more likely to burn.

IF you DO burn the beans - do not stir, you'll just mix the burnt-flavor. Pour them into another pan asap and pay more attention next time.

When the beans are done, pour 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil in s small skillet over medium heat. Add 5 or 6 minced cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of cumin seed and/or mustard seed, stir until you can really smell the garlic and then stir the oil and aromatics into the beans. This tip is the typical 'tempering' of Indian bean and lentil dahl/dals, but it works a charm on American beans, too.

Everybody has their favorite rice for this dish - my NOLA inlaws always swore by Riceland extra-long grain white. They'd saute' the rice in canola or olive oil - like rice-a-roni - before they added the water and boiled it. That works well for me.

FWIW, I use the Kitchen-Aid for grinding and mixing.

I have a 5lb. vertical sausage stuffer, the Kitchen-Aid stuffer gets bad reviews, so I never got one.

Kitchen-Aid makes awesome tools.

Dinny

Mahatma has a really good packaged mix of RB&R. it reminds me of the RB&R from Red Beans' Bayou Grill.

Are you referring to a food processor? If so, what size?

Thanks for posting the sausage recipes. I've been meaning to try that for years but never got around to it. Doesn't look too difficult if you have the time.

I had some leftover chicken fajitas and some leftover brown rice in the refrigerator. Two eggs, some soy sauce and a few chopped vegetables later it was chicken fried rice. Pretty damn good.

Don't forget the sesame oil. Mmm... good.

I think Dinny was talking about the meat grinding attachment that's an option on the KitchenAid mixer.

Yup.

The grinding attachment works perfect for me. I have only done about 15lbs for a batch, so it works fine. I think more than that would require some more horsepower. The motor gets pretty warm.

The Kitchen-Aid processor has too high RPM. A facefull of carrots is one thing, a facefull of pork loin would be another.

Dinny

Yep, I put a few drops in the eggs before I beat them. A subtle yet fantastic difference.

So you're talking about a big mixer with the bowl, like the type for making dough?

I don't have one but I gave one to my mom for Christmas a couple of years back. One of those and a meat grinder attachment?

Thanks to KcMizzou, I've had Baby Got Back going through my head this afternoon.

Yup. Kitchen-Aid stand mixer with the grinding attachment.

If I had it to do over, I'd get the next model up from the standard. It has a higher horsepower motor. Worth the extra coin if you grind alot of meat.

The standard does fine. The motor doesn't get too hot, but it does get warm.

Dinny

What is the shelf life of 5 pounds of andouille?

If you want a good deal on a KitchenAid this is their outlet site. They're factory serviced, but I would have no problem buying one.

http://www.shopkitchenaid.com/produc...AND&HDR=outlet

I vacuum seal and freeze in approx. 1lb packages. Same with breakfast sausage.

Vacuum seal is your friend.

Dinny

At the risk of hijacking my own thread, I'm surprised there has been no arguing about quarterbacks.

The closest I have seen is luv and her baby got back.

Dinny

I now smell like applewood smoke.

Not complaining, it beats the hell out of wet dog.

Dinny

Tyler Thigpen could never have been a sausage maker. He doesn't have a strong enough arm to turn the grinder.

Au contraire, mon frere, though the steamer is a pretty close second, this thing is done in less than half the time, perfect every time.

http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/...eville-rc2.jpg

Excellent point.

I should have added "at my disposal."

Or perhaps "available to me."

(or some such)

Dinny

Okay.

My best and only effort.

Dinny

And this is a 13/64ths wrench.

Dinny

This has turned into a real sausage fest (in a good way).

Those look mighty good, Dinny.

I've got an old fashioned hand-crank meat grinder that I need to put to good use.

Thanks, cd.

They smell better than they look. The whole house is permeated. Makes me want a beer, but must drive my girl to work afterwhile.

Can't wait to get my RB&R going.

Dinny

Those look good enough to eat. Getting a consistent fill of the casing is tricky. Use lots of vegetable oil on the "filler" tube before you put on the casing and put vegetable oil on your hands to let it slide. It's definitely a "feel" thing to make it right.

BTW, freeze leftover casings no matter what you're told. They last forever and do not break after freezing.

I will just ask my mom or my sister to make some beans and rice. THen tell them, throw in some carne asada. Damn it. Now i am hungry.

I only had a couple of casings left over after the andouille and breakfast sausage, so I just pitched 'em.

The casings are kind of hard to find here in Springville. I got some I think at a Harter House store in a small package. Turned out to be just the right amount.

Would like to find some sheep casings and make my own frankfurters. Nobody knows what they put in hotdogs you get from the store.

Up next, Bratwurst, if I can find some veal.

Dinny.

I'm not much in to red heads, but I'd make an exception for your Avatar Girl.

Know thy butcher. They can get any casing you want.

I don't think they have those in Springville.

Dinny

Dinny, If Harter House can't get you the casings you want, there is a butcher shop in downtown Republic that I've heard has just about anything you need.

There you go. Someone on CP knows someone or something to get what you need. This place is awesome.

Thanks, MM.

I am planning a trip to Harter House to find some veal for the bratwurst project. I'll need some more hog casings for that. If I can find some sheep casings, I'll do some frankfurters next.

Any idea what the name of the butcher shop in Republic is?

Dinny

I'm still trying to learn how to find stuff local here in Springville. I am like a blind man w/o a stick or a dog down here. I play by sense of smell.

Dinny

Go to Jazz... Bob Gretz says it the best...

Quite a few Dollar General's around town sale a red beans and rice package that is really good for those without the cooking gene...

i was reading to see who was gonna make the SIr Mixalot connection... +1 for MUron Brandon!!

Mmmm. Andouille with red beans and rice. Sounds like you're doing mardis gras. I've never been able to duplicate what I've had in NO.

We just got back from mardis gras in Deadwood. We built a float and threw 4000 strings of beads in their 5 block parade. I advise anyone that has a chance to throw beads in a mardis gras parade to do so. It was too much fun.

I was born before the old school was invented, so I confess I don't get it.

Care to enlighten me, oh young one?

I have heard Baby Got Back, but I stopped listening after "I like big butts and I cannot lie."

Provided I am even barking up the right tree.

Dinny