New Normal Cooking - Red Beans & Rice
Red Beans & Rice
for my Dad
Through popular request and honestly so I never forget, here is how I make my red bean and rice. This is not completely traditional and I don’t care. I grew up in New Orleans and this was eaten seemingly every Monday. Yeah, a Monday thing. Go google it if you want to know why.
I like veggies in my beans. I like to take my time cooking. If you know me at all, I love watching the coals cook through a 9 hour pulled pork in the garden. Reminds me, there was another request. Whatever, I was asked for my method of making beans and instead of just putting it into an email and forgetting about it I thought why not use my own platform here. Sure, it might not have much relevancy to the other topics I cover here but you know what? I don’t care. Also those who know me and have eaten my food will also know I don’t follow recipes. That is why I don’t bake; I cook. Let’s get to the goodness of this meal.
I buy dried kidney beans, not cans. Do what you want. I use pork. You don’t? That’s fine with me. Find an alternative. Other than the beans and some spices there is one thing you must do; marry the cajun trinity. The trinity for the uninitiated is onion, green bell peppers and celery. You’ll see that cousin garlic joins in later in the party. You may or may not use a bit of tomato paste during the ceremony. I do and I don’t. Like I said there ain’t a recipe. I follow the mise en place method. That means getting all your fixings together before you start cooking. When you line up all the goods you will know when you have reached the end of the recipe.
This recipe is for 1 pound or 500 grams of dried kidney beans. Again, I go heavy on the veggies but you could easily go with half amounts if that isn’t you thing. I soak the beans overnight in cold water. I will pour off that water before I begin cooking.
But perhaps first the ingredients.
500g dried kidney beans
White rice, as much as you like to eat
600g smoked pork sausage - chop it up into large or smaller pieces. I like them pretty small as they will get that great crust during the frying. (I can get Cabanosi here easily. If you have andouille then cool. Turkey works as well)
2 green bell peppers - chopped
2 onions - chopped
5 celery stalks - chopped thinly
4 garlic cloves
400ml chicken boullion
1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
2 bay leaves (Lorbeerblätter)
Salt, pepper and whatever cajun spices you might be into (I’ll be adding Crystal or Tabasco later when serving for my heat)
Water, cooking oil
Now let’s get cooking!
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Soak beans overnight or at least 6 hours. If shorter then you will need more heat to get them to the right consistency. When done, the beans will be pretty mushy but not completely. This is where the recipe doesn’t help. You will watch and check on your beans throughout the cook but not too often. But let’s get the rest ready.
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This will all be done in a single pot. It needs to be pretty large if you are cooking 500g/1lb of beans. Add a little bit of your favorite cooking oil, not much and then on a medium-high heat throw in your meat. You want this to brown on all sides. Get yourself a spoon or what ever you like to cook with and don’t let the meat burn. A good crust (maillard effect) will turn that sausage into crispy pieces folks will fight over. Once you get the meat to the point you want it, take it out and put aside for the moment. There will be burnt on pieces in the pot and that’s perfect. If there is too much oil left over you can remove all you want. I leave it all in there.
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Add the onions now to the pot where the sausage was. We are going to really get the onions cooking well also at a medium-high heat. Stiring here is important as we don’t want them too dark.
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Now let’s get this wedding going! Add the chopped celery and bell peppers to the onions. Give it a good stir and let them sizzle for 10 to 15 minutes. Still a pretty high heat but keep them in motion.
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When they are just beginning to soften crush your garlic into the pot. Here, turn down the heat to medium. Garlic doesn’t need too much heat but let this family get to know each other. By this point you should be having smells coming out of the pot screaming WOW. Also, all that burnt on pieces from the meat should also be loosing up and joining the wedding party. Honestly, this is, for me, the most important phase of the whole cook. Spending time on getting your trinity pls cousin to become what I call Cajun voodoo is worth it. Sometimes I will work with lower heats to just let them spend more time together.
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If you want to add the tomato paste this is the time. Mix it well with the pretty dry veggies now. Careful that the temp is not high as the tomato will stick quickly.
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Add your broth. You can always just use water if your want. I use powdered vegitable broth sometimes if I don’t have anything else. All cool here. But with the liquids now in the pot your trinity is not setting. Stir it around good, getting all the goodies which might still be stuck to the bottom of the pot loose. We are almost done now.
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Add beans (you already discarded the water) and the browned sausage. It is the family reunion at this point. You will also add water till the beans are covered by about an inch (2cm or so). since the beans are already pre-soaked you will not have to add any more water going forward. Stir up the mixture well and turn the heat up high.
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Boil the mixture now for 10 minutes. Yup, boil. Seems kidneys are poisonous if you don’t and we don’t want any family killings going on here. BUT only for 10 minutes.
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Drop the heat to a simmer and put the lid on the pot. This might be 3/10 (simmer) on your stovetop. Honestly, everything is just about cooked at this point but the beans and they need time. I don’t rush this part.
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After 20 minutes, I add the spices (salt, pepper, bay leaves, cajuns stuff - just careful with the salt if your meat was very salty).
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It may take 2-3 hours for this simmer to cook the beans to your desired taste. Stir every 30-45 minutes. It should be a simmer, I might even turn the heat down to 2/10 (low simmer). Just blub blub blub. After 90 minutes or 2 hours I will try a bean. Often I will be really close to done by now. This test will tell you whether to cut the heat off and let sit or add another 30 minutes. It is up to you.
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If it is done earlier than you thought, just cut the stove off and let it sit. Beans sitting in all that goodness only get better. Sometimes I will do the mash thing. I will take a big serving spoon and mash some beans on the side of the pot. Then stir it all together will make some of that silkyness spred across the pot. Again, it is up to you.
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Cook some rice. I will not take you there here. Cook rice however you want. I don’t care.
Plate up! I put the beans in the bowl first then followed by a spoonful of rice on top (picture above). Add your favorite hot sauce if you are so disposed.
That was my method or recipe if you want for making red beans & rice. You can’t go wrong if you get the trinity together and happy. Now, go make yourself a dish if you have made it this far.
Bon appetit!
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