Second, Monday was customarily laundry day in New Orleans households. Red beans & rice was a great way to extend the value of the ham by using the hambone and leftover scraps of ham in the next night's meal. There are two reasons red beans & rice became a Monday tradition.įirst, families in 19th-century New Orleans would often have a ham as part of their more elaborate Sunday dinners. People will (and do) eat red beans & rice any and every day in New Orleans, but certainly more of it gets eaten on Mondays than any other day of the week. Is it true you only eat red beans & rice on Mondays? No one can say exactly when the dish we now know as New Orleans-style red beans & rice took hold, but by the turn of the 19th century Creole cookbooks described preparations virtually identical to the way people make red beans & rice today. You'll find bean and rice dishes everywhere you look, from the rajma chawal of India, to the Congolese loso na madesu, to the Brazilian feijoada, to the daily lunches of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, to the countless arroz con frijoles variations across Mexico, Central America and South America.Īs to the dish's advent in New Orleans, the two leading theories are that red kidney beans arrived 1) with West African slaves or 2) with refugees who'd fled the Haitian Revolution in the 1790s. Of course, cultures around the world have relied on beans and rice as an inexpensive form of nutritious sustenance for centuries. There are theories and guesses, but no single story. Well, if anyone tells you a neatly plotted tale about the origin of red beans & rice, be skeptical. There were the Spanish colonists in New Orleans who tried to recreate their beloved paella using local ingredients and, in so doing, gave the world jambalaya. There was the card-playing earl who put bread around his meat to prevent greasy fingers and greasy playing cards and thus invented the sandwich. Some great dishes have great stories, whether they're true or not. Serve over hot rice with salad and French bread (or Zatarain's Cheddar Jalapeño Cornbread). When you're happy with the consistency, taste and add more salt, cayenne and black pepper as needed. For a thicker consistency, use the back of your spoon to mash some of the beans against the side of the pot and stir to incorporate. Maintain the low simmer for about two hours, checking water level (there should always be liquid covering beans) and adding more if needed, until beans are tender and water has transformed into a creamy sauce. If the boil picks up in intensity, reduce heat further. This is the point in the recipe when you would transfer to your slow cooker, and cook for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low, checking the water level to make sure the beans on top don't dry out.)īring to a boil, then reduce flame to low and cover the pot. (Note: Red beans & rice is a wonderful slow cooker dish. Stir in the garlic and sauté a minute longer.Īdd drained beans, stir to combine and pour in enough water to cover the bean-sausage-vegetable mixture by a half-inch or so (6-8 cups of water).Īdd a teaspoon of salt, a half-teaspoon of black pepper, a pinch of cayenne pepper, a pinch of dried thyme and one bay leaf. Brown the sausage.Īdd the onion, celery and bell pepper and sauté until translucent. Heat a couple tablespoons of butter, oil or bacon fat in a medium to large stockpot or Dutch oven. (If you'd like to skip all the chopping, try Zatarain's Red Bean Seasoning Mix.) Slice a pound of smoked sausage into half-inch rounds.Ĭhop one large yellow onion, four ribs of celery and one small green bell pepper. Soak the beans in water for a few hours or overnight. Start with a pound of dry red kidney beans (to yield about six servings). While gumbo, jambalaya and poboys duke it out for the title of "the heart of New Orleans cuisine," red beans & rice is the soul, and it's uncontested. For many families, it's dinner once a week. You find it at parties, festivals and sporting events. It's served in school cafeterias from kindergarten through 12th grade. You can order it everywhere from fine restaurants to neighborhood joints. If you grew up around here, you grew up on red beans & rice. It's comfort food, rich with tradition and nostalgia. Garnish with green onions and serve over hot rice.Red beans & rice: It's kind of a big dealĪ meal of beans and rice might sound boring, but in New Orleans red beans & rice is something you get excited about. Add several shakes of Tabasco sauce and cook on high for 15 more minutes. Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.Īfter cooking, use a wooden spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the slow cooker. Start-to-finish: 8 hours, 20 minutes (20 minutes active)Ģ-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (on international foods aisle) Slow cooker red beans and rice with Cajun Conecuh Sausage Ingredients
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