Red Beans and Rice

By keenan

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry small red beans
• 1 1/2 to 2 lbs meaty ham shanks
• 4 cups water
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 teaspoons of Cajun or Creole seasoning (Tony Chachere's or Zatarains) or to taste*
• Tabasco sauce**
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cooked white rice (from about 3 cups raw rice)

Preparation

Step 1

with rice are a staple around here. My father found a recipe in our local grocery store (Raley's) circular for a Cajun red beans and rice using smoked pork shanks. Given my dad's love affair with all things pork, he couldn't wait to make it. Traditional Louisiana red beans and rice also uses Andouille sausage which we did not add, but you could if you wanted. There was plenty of flavor, and plenty of meat, with the smoked shanks.

If you have access to ham hocks and not shanks, you may want to make up the difference in meat (hocks have much less meat) with sausage. Just take 1/2 pound of Andouille sausage, slice, brown first before adding to the beans with the ham shanks. If you do not eat pork, you might try making this with smoked turkey sausage, in which case I would replace some of the water with chicken stock.

*If you don't have access to packaged seasoning, just skip it and add some thyme (fresh or dried), a bay leaf (in with the beans and shanks in step 2), and a little paprika

Place dried beans in a large bowl and cover them with cold water by a couple of inches. Let soak for 8 hours or overnight. (You can quick soak them by putting them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them, covering them by 2 inches, then letting them soak for two hours.) Drain.

Place beans, ham shanks, garlic, chopped onion, and water in a large (8-quart) pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover, simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender.

Remove ham shanks from the pot to a dish. Let cool slightly then shred the meat away from the bones. Return the meat back to the pot. Add the celery, bell peppers, Worcestershire and seasonings. Cover and cook for another hour or until the mixture gets thick. Season to taste with Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper.

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My mom frequently uses smoked turkey drumsticks instead of pork when she makes her beans (very similar to this). They're great over rice with some Tabasco or Trappey's pepper sauce--the combination of heat and vinegar gives them a great flavor.

Thanks, I've been craving red beans and rice. Haven't made it in a long time and this recipe looks even better than the one I used to have. You did make me miss the Raley's right down the street from my home in CA. NO Raley's here in Maryland.

As like Mindy's Mom, I've used smoked turkey wings or drumsticks as a substitute for Ham Hocks or Ham Shanks. You might try substituting the "15 bean soup" medley of beans instead of the small reds. It makes for different textures as the smaller beans thicken the dish. I'd throw the flavor pack away and follow your recipe.

I make mine with Andouille and pickled pork. Oh baby!

It's going to be one below zero for a high here in Chicago tomorrow, with wind chills of 30 below. This sounds like just what the doctor ordered! When I make red beans and rice, I also like a little sausage in it—andouille if I'm feeling authentic and low fat turkey if I'm feeling like behaving.

This is one of our favorite meals, and the one we can always count on our five year old eating. Can't wait to try this new variation!

Thanks so much for the vegetarian suggestions. Popeye's Red Beans & Rice is perhaps the fast food we miss the most since going meatless (don't miss the other stuff from any of the other places and now we have a great reason to avoid them all). My daughter was born loving beans with rice, surprising me years ago by finishing my serving at a basketball game we went to where I chose that for us instead of the standard dogs and other junk since it was the healthiest. She was eating some just a couple days ago saying something about rice being the best food in the entire world... I'm more the bean person but that's good because I make the best black beans to go with her rice which gives her a reason to eat more. Black beans and their gravy/stock are quite possibly the best food in the entire world to me...

I bought several varieties of heirloom beans but now I'm twisting myself in knots trying to figure out what I can make that's special enough (yet still yummy but relatively simple) for $6 per pound legumes hoping I can figure it out before they lose their magic qualities. Any ideas would be great... until then I'm pulling out the standard reds for this recipe and some Rajma for this week.

Oh yum. One of my favorites. I use thyme and bay leaf in addition to the cajun seasoning- it gets me the closest to the beans that I have eaten in New Orleans. I LOVE Joe's Hot Stuff cajun seasoning (which I buy in mass quantity when I am in New Orleans). And as for hot sauce? Gotta be either Crystal or Louisiana!

I make a veg version with onions, ginger, bay leaves, cumin powder and chopped cilantro. It makes a very satisfying dinner. But they do give me a lot of bloating and gas (if you know what I mean!LOL!) I do soak the dry beans overnight and pressure cook them and then simmer with the condiments. Do you have any tips?

Make sure you discard the soaking liquid, that will help with the gas. And there's always

A ham bone is why they invented Red Beans and Rice! Waste not, want not!! Throw the ham bone in there and let it cook until the meat falls off the bone. Delish!! Plus, I never make Red Beans and Rice without Andouille! It just ain't right ;-)

When I was in college I used to make the Zateran's boxed dinners all the time and loved them. I hadn't thought about making rice and beans in a long time. I'll have to give this recipe a try.

Is there a way you can recommend to cook the beans, so, they are not so gassy? I know you can add Epazote in the last 15 mins of cooking, but it can add a bit of turpentine like taste.

Just make sure you discard the soaking liquid. I've heard epazote does help, but that would give the dish a decided Mexican flavor, fine if that's what you want. ~Elise

Alton Brown added some pickled pork, I guess its traditional. I haven't tried it myself:

Good, good recipe, Elise. Pretty much the way my South Louisiana-reared Dad used to make them. He liked salt pork for his seasoning; cut it into lardons and then simmered it in a bit of water first to get rid of some of the saltiness. As for the bacon rice krispies someone noticed in your rail, I don't know about them, but I found a site that sells baconnaise, bacon flavored mayonnaise...a real product. Truly. And bacon salt. Unbelievable. Oh, as for the gassiness. I think if you get lots of fiber (and I do mean lots) in your diet, beans won't backfire on you. Gotta eat 'em more often than once or twice a month, though.

Just as a note: To make them a little creamier you can add a small hunk of lard. You can quickly boil your beans and let them sit for a faster soak rather than pouring boiling water over them. You can also crock pot them all day for a creamy effect without having to soak them. When we pre-soak we use the liquor as part of the water needed. We sometimes get lazy and use Blue Runner canned beans; I'm not sure you can find those everywhere. I'm a New Orleans transplant and red beans remind me of home. We use many sorts of meat. The easiest is plain smoked sausage. Red beans are commonly cooked on Monday, either because it is laundry day and there is not much time to cook or you have blown your pay check by the time Monday rolls around and you can't afford any thing else, (all depends on who you ask.)

I also like to grab a potato masher and mash a little bit of the beans, it makes it a bit thicker.

Heat drippings in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. When drippings are hot, add onions, bell pepper and garlic. Sauté until vegetables are wilted. Add rinsed beans, ham hock, salt, black pepper, cayenne, marjoram, bay leaves, sugar, beer and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer until beans are soft and juice has thickened, about 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more water, if necessary. Discard bay leaves.

Prick sausage with a fork. Heat oil in a heavy 12-inch skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add sausage; cook, turning often, until browned, 10 to 15 minutes.

To serve, spoon rice on each plate; ladle beans with liquid over top. Place a sausage on each plate. Sprinkle with green onions and parsley.

YAY! We wanted to make Red Beans & Rice (actually we did make it) not long ago and stopped by Simply Recipes to see what you had in store for us. Alas, you did not have a recipe at that time...

Here is the best kept secret that I recently discovered this year for minimizing digestion problems associated with eating beans. (BLOATING, etc....) When soaking beans add a tsp. of ground ginger to the soak water. Drain and rinse before cooking. When I cook any bean recipe, I add a couple pieces of crystallized ginger, cut in small pieces to the recipe, we have not had a problem with the effects from eating beans since, and it does not change the flavor in any way.

-add green onions (whites only) and simmer

-add 1 pack andouille sausage ( I use Richards)

once sausage is brown add ham hock and fill pot half way up

-add 1 pack of red beans. cook for about 3 hours (depending on how creamy you want it)

-about 15 minutues before serving add green onion tops

-add tabasco as needed

Hi Elise! Great recipe. Beans and rice are an important staple in our house. We sometimes use Bob's Red Mill 13 bean soup mix. It is a really good mix. I also add some chopped fresh garlic and a can of fire roasted tomatoes. If we are going to add meat, we LOVE to add Emeril's chicken and apple sausage. It adds a nice sweetness to the spicy of the beans. We also like ours over brown rice.

I don't know what I did wrong, but my children will never eat red beans and rice after I "stunk up the house". I soaked the beans overnight (24 hours). I did add a couple more cups of water, because the ham hocks (2 lbs) were nowhere near being in the water. After a couple of hours of cooking though, the kids (upstairs) were holding their noses. I'm clueless on what went wrong.

Did you cook the beans in the soaking liquid? Or did you remember to drain the beans, before adding back more water for cooking? If you soaked the beans that long and then cooked the beans in the soaking water, then that might be the problem. Should always drain the beans from the soaking liquid before cooking. If that's not it then I'm afraid I have no idea what might have caused the stinkyness. ~Elise

Posted by: Daddy Disbarred from the Kitchen on January 21, 2009 9:13 AM

In Mexico, I couldn't get bell pepper at the local market! I had to use a variety that was spicy but not like fire. It was also in Mexico that I learned to roast plum tomatoes on the griddle, puree them, and add to the beans to give them a boost since I had no pork and could not bring myself to use chicken.

I do make meatless red beans sometimes. Red beans should not be a "tomato-y" dish, so you have to be careful, but I do add diced Contadina tomatoes in lieu of pork. I just drain them first--in fact I press them to get as much of the juice out as I can.

Cajun culture has always been one to take what comes and adapt it. Like the Borg! We absorb other influences and are changed by them. My family has "absorbed" Venezualan by marriage. Now we add a little cumin to our red beans. Try it.

We made this but did not care for it. It was easy to make and we had a ton of left overs. Not one of our favorites.

It's way less stressful to do the final "long" cooking is in the oven, about 350 degrees, covered. No need to worry about sticking or boil overs. Of course, this is more inviting prospect in the winter.

I see most of the comments were posted in January when the recipe first appeared but since I live in Cali, I eat beans and rice year round. I am excited to try this red beans and rice recipe because previous attempts have left me quite disappointed in the flavor. My mom's solution to taking out the gassiness in beans is adding a pinch of baking soda. I have never experienced gas in all of my years of eating her beans or cooking my own. Thanks for all the great recipes and suggestions.

Sure, it won't be the same, but it should still be good. Use a pound of kielbasa, cut up the sausage and brown it first. Then add to the beans in step 2. ~Elise

I made this tonite in addition to the dinner I fixed so that I would have food to eat for the rest of the weekend. This is delicious and very budget friendly. I used salted pork because it is what I had on hand. I removed the pork pieces and took all the fat off after simmering for 1 hour. Thanks for the great recipe.

Thank you for this recipe! I made a pot for a crawfish boil we hosted and the beans were a hit! I used ham hocks and andouille because I couldn't find shanks and it turned out great.

I made tonight and it is fantastic... Dinner for tomorrow.. I did add in an extra tsp of Tony C seasoning, 2 tsp of beef bouillon, 2 packages of cilantro y tomato seasoning.. FANTASTIC for my FIRST BEAN DISH I COOKED MYSELF!!!! yep the 1st one that came out great

Try add some tomato sauce to the recipe.It does wonders for my red beans and rice recipe I learned from my Mom. Use extra ham shanks too! Yum-mo!

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