Red Beans & Rice
Both Cajun and Creole people of Louisiana claim bragging rights for creation of this simple but quintessentially New Orleans dish.
Red Beans & Rice probably had humble beginnings that came from the slave trade of the 17th and 18th Centuries when there was little meat to spare. But today, both the Cajun and Creole communities claim the dish as their own, and recipes vary accordingly.
Somewhere along the way of humans migrating from hunter-gatherers to agrarian civilizations, we figured out that beans and rice, when eaten together, form a completed chain of amino acids that constitute the same protein as is found in meat, poultry, seafood and dairy products. Beans and rice recipes exist in almost endless varieties in virtually every culture.
But Red Beans & Rice is distinctly from the bayous of southern Louisiana. Cajun versions are spicier and contain sausage or smoked pork, while Creole versions are slightly more refined with the addition of tomatoes, green bell peppers and onions.
Today, Red Beans & Rice is standard New Orleans fare available almost anywhere, any day and every great New Orleans chef has their own take on what is really a very simple dish. My version is an amalgamation of both Cajun, with smoked pork and sausage, and Creole, with green peppers and onions; it is less spicy than most Cajun versions.
The recipe below borrows an idea from one that was promoted on the Food Channel website by Valerie Bertinelli. Since she's an Italian from Delaware, I'm not too sure why she received a nod from the Food Channel to post a classically New Orleans dish, but she did inspire me by suggesting you use a smoked pork shank alongside andouille sausage. I was terribly enthusiastic to subsequently find a smoked pork shank at my neighborhood butcher shop while I was shopping for the andouille! Not only did the shank impart a wonderful smoky flavor to the dish, the meat became incredibly tender and literally fell away from the bone, providing an added dimension to the flavors and textures of the beans and andouille sausage.
If you cannot find a smoked pork shank, the aforementioned andouille sausage will carry the day - just add more than the recipe calls for. This recipe is more about the beans than the rice. Use whatever rice you like, but traditionally, New Orleanians use white, long grain rice.
Red Beans & Rice
Ingredients
- 1 lb bag dried small red beans
- 1 small smoked pork shank (about 3 pounds)
- 1 lb andouille sausage links, cut into 1/2 inch slices
- 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 large green bell pepper, finely diced
- 4 long celery stalks, finely diced
- 3 cups chicken stock (like, Swanson's or Kitchen Basics)
- 1 14.5 oz can chicken broth (like, Swanson's)
- 2 tbsp dried parsley
- 3 tbsp Creole seasonings (like Tony Chachere's or Zatarain's)
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp smoked salt (like, San Francisco Salt Company Alder Wood)
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp butter
- chopped green onions for garnish
- 1 cup cooked white rice per serving of red beans
Instructions
- Pre-heat your Crock Pot or slow cooker by filling with very hot tap water and setting on high for 30 minutes to an hour while you prepare the beans.
- Rinse the beans and sort through for any pebbles or debris. Put the beans in a large stock pot, cover with cold water by a couple of inches and bring the pot to a rolling boil over high heat for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the beans to sit covered for one hour. Drain thoroughly.
- In the same stock pot, melt the butter over medium high heat, and sauté the onions, green bell pepper and celery until the onions become translucent and begin to pick up a little caramel color, about 10 minutes. Then, add all remaining ingredients in the stock pot except the green onions and pork shank, and bring it to a simmer for 10 minutes.
- Put the smoked pork shank in a covered microwave-safe dish, and zap for 3 minutes.
- Drain the crock pot of the hot water, put the pork shank in the bottom and then transfer the beans from the stock pot to the crock pot. If you need more liquid, add additional chicken broth or water, filling the crock Pot to within an inch from the top.
- Cover and cook on high for 3 hours, then on low for an additional 6 hours.
- When done, the meat of the pork shank will have fallen away from the bone, or you can nudge it away gently with a serving spoon. You can also use your serving spoon to cut the pork meat into bite-sized pieces.
- Serve in a soup bowl with a cup or so of converted rice and top with the chopped green onions.
Notes
- If you're in high altitudes above 5,000 feet, during the initial start-up of the recipe, boil the beans for 4 minutes and allow to sit for 90 minutes.
