Red Beans and Rice

I made my first ever batch and it's pretty good but it lacks that real Cajun flavor, despite the seasoning, and it won't cream up the way it's supposed to and maybe it's too smokey tasting from the sausage. I couldn't find Andouille so I used regular Chappell Hill sausage. Anyone ever successfully made this dish? Please give tips.

• I'm not too sure what to tell you about the seasoning, but the way you make it creamy is to smash 1/2 the beans.

• Or you just open up a box of me!

  http://www.pwrnewmedia.com/2010/zatarains00105/assets2/red_beans_and_rice_300.jpg

• 1. You used the wrong sausage. 2. You forgot to smash your beans.

• Zatarans is terrible and totally overseasoned and the salt will kill you. I've never tried making it but it's delicious when done right (not from that awful box)

• People now smash the beans to get the creamy texture, but in real red beans, you don't let the beans sit in the pantry and get old, you use them right away. You use a ham hock or bone, and some kind of grease, bacon or butter. Then slow cook the beans for several hours. You don't have to smash them if you do that.

• My family goes back generations in Louisiana and we have always used the potato masher on part of the beans. AND we use fresh beans, so R5 don't know nothing. We cook with a hock and then add the sausage near the end.

• My family does too, R6. People do it different ways and no reason to be a little bitch about it. I think OP can handle more than one opinion.

  R5

• Sounds like you're the little bitch, R5/7. You defined your own way as "real red beans" and denigrated others.

• My family's opinion. Quoting my great grandmother. No denigration intended. I smash my beans too because I don't want to use a bunch of grease. But older recipes use much more fat and that creams the beans without smashing. Restaurants do this too.

• I ony eat rice and beans if I'm poor. Other than that it's punishment food. Do you guys crave beans and rice? Is it the salt you are craving?

• Rice and beans can be a relatively healthy and delicious meal made for for little money when done well.

• Protein, R10. And it gets better the next day, & the next, etc -- so cook it when you've got time & then enjoy it daily thereafter with no effort. And it's filling, real comfort food -- & the sausage tastes great, so flavorful.

• Monday is Beans and Rice day. I make them and don't smash the beans, but I cook them quite a long time to get the consistency I want. You've got to get the right ratio of thyme, cayenne, which varies for each cook. I use cubed ham and a couple of ham hocks. I also like it with basmati rice instead of regular long grain. Don't for get the celery, chopped peppers and bay leaves, chopped garlic and onion too. I usually start this at about 9 in the morning and it's ready around noon to 1pm. I don't like any kind of sausage, so I leave that out. Sausage is just too greasy.

• Red beans and rice with cornbread on the side is delicious R10. It's like comfort food to me. Don't be such a snob and loosen up.

• And don't forget the Beano.

  Ina

• R14, I am not a snob! I've lived off of some crappy food in my day. What I'm thinking is that you must dress up beans and rice because it's so bland. So it's the sodium you're craving. I don't like bland food but I'm hesitant to eat overly salty...

• You dress it up with herbs plus onions, peppers, garlic. Salt is up to the individual I have to watch my salt intake because of high blood pressure and you can make the vegetarian version without sausage or meat.

• The distinguishing flavor in red beans and rice is the thyme, all the other ingredients are used in most other bean dishes.

• I can't think of red beans and rice without thinking about Cliff Cozzy's in San Francisco. The restaurant is long gone, but it was on Union St. The first time I had red beans and rice was at his restaurant in 1963. I'd give anything for him to be alive with his restaurant. I rare missed Mondays for lunch while he was in business. He and his cook were from NOLA. When he retired he returned to NO and I presume he must have died by now or he's well over 100.

• Here.

  http://www.bluerunnerfoods.com/BLR-recipes/RedBean-Rice_recipe.pdf

• What is bluerunner? I don't think we have that here.

• If you can get hands on three cans of Blue Runner New Orleans Style Creamy Red Beans, two cans of regular small red beans, some meat of your choice (browned), one diced onion, one bell pepper, and other spices to taste, people will be thinking you've been cooking your Red Beans and Rice all day the old fashioned way. This method was taught to me by a black woman from N.O. who now lives here in Houston. I've been "cheating" this way ever since and people rave over my Red Beans 'n' Rice.

• I'm in Houston R22. Where can I get these Blue Runner beans?

• Try Randalls. If not, try some other grocery stores. Plenty of N.O,. people in H'town and Blue Runner products are sold all over.

• What the cans look like.

  http://www.bluerunnerfoods.com/

• Here is my recipe!

  http://recoveredbaptist.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/red-beans-and-rice-vegan-optional/

  PPSM

• There is arsenic in rice.

• There are traces of cyanide in almonds. So I should never eat almonds?

  PPSM

• The ham hock is the best part!

• Uranium in brazil nuts!

• This thread is about Condi and her luvah, right?!

  http://www.afterellen.com/blog/scribegrrrl/condoleezas-closet

• Yes, R31. It is.

• PPSM, you should eat all the almonds you possibly can, and then eat a whole bunch more.

  all%20of%20DL

• Love and smooches, R33!

  PPSM

• OP: quick and easy. In a Dutch oven, cook diced celery, bell pepper, and onion in a little oil until vegetables are soft. Maybe half a cup of each or a little more. Exact proportions aren't important. Add 3 cans of red beans (or white beans) with liquid. Simmer. If you don't have a ham hock, cook a few slices of bacon till crispy and crumble them in. While it simmers slowly, chop a couple of green onions and a handful of flat-leaf parsley, and chunk up a pound of sausage. After about half an hour, when the mixture is coming together, add the parsley, green onions and sausage. It will get thick very quickly. Mush up some beans with the back of a spoon to give it a creamy texture. Toward the very end, add a small palmful of Creole seasoning, let absorb, taste, and repeat until it's spicy/salty enough. (You shouldn't need to add any salt by itself -- the meat will provide the salt.) Serve over white or brown rice with Louisiana hot sauce on the side. -- OP, what did you use for seasoning? The flavor has as much to do with the slow-cooked vegetables as it does the spices. It may be better tomorrow - it often improves as it sits overnight. And you can freeze the leftover beans. Try it again. By the second or third try you should have it down. However you do it, it will be better than Zatarain's mix!

  Louisiana%20Louie

• She just doesn't getit.

• [quote]I ony eat rice and beans if I'm poor. Other than that it's punishment food. Do you guys crave beans and rice? Is it the salt you are craving? Bitch, please. Red beans are one of the most healthy foods out there, and if you're a vegetarian or vegan (which I'm admittedly not), they're one of the few natural sources of large amounts of protein. And no, you don't need to dump a ton of salt in red beans & rice; there are literally hundreds of ways to spice it up minus the sodium. Hell, I'll even eat a bowl of red beans alone seasoned only with Tabasco. As for the "real" beans vs. canned debate, I think it's stupid, personally, and can barely tell a difference in taste, particularly since most red beans recipes involve heavy seasoning and/or sausage -- and the whole process of soaking beans is way too much of a pain in the ass to merit the effort.

• Yes, R37. It's true. Dumping a bag of beans into a bowl and covering them with water is a huge pain in the ass. It is complicated, confusing, time consuming, and energy draining. I don't know why people bother. Oh, maybe because dried beans are far far cheaper, canned beans instantly turn to mush before absorbing any flavoring, and canned beans are loaded with preservatives in the canning process. It's no contest. Dried beans are better.

  The%20Schoolmarm

• There's a Popeye's drive-thru near me, and please nodoby tell me any nutritional information about their red beans and rice! It's not the best, of course, but it IS fast.

• Best dried beans, linked. Site has recipes too. Go Camellia!

  http://camelliabrand.com/

• I wonder how Mama June prepares her red beans and rice when slops her hogs.

• Made some today - soaked the red beans overnight. Onion, g pepper, garlic, celery, dried sage, dried parsley, dried thyme, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, andouille sausage. Very creamy but not a lot of flavor.

• Here's Louis Armstrong's favorite recipe for his all-time favorite food, red beans and rice.

  http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2011/08/04/138991954/red-beans-and-ricely-yours-the-culinary-habits-of-louis-armstrong

• As a vegetarian I have tried a few pretty good vegetarian versions of red beans and rice but am wondering if anyone has any they can share. I read that the Cajuns are largely Catholic and that during Lent they have to find ways of making their food largely without meat and before Vatican II, if they had red beans and rice on Friday (which, being a Monday dish, they probably wouldn't have) then it had to be meatless. I have read that there are some very good Lenten recipes (meatless) for red beans and rice as well as other New Orleans foods.

  anon

• Daniel Boulud has an awesome red beans recipe in his Braise cookbook. He uses a roux = that's the key.

• Try slow cooking the red beans.

• This is a fabulous recipe for red beans. I've made it several times; as the poster upthread mentioned, you have to make sure your beans aren't old, and you also need to soak them overnight. If you soak them in cold water with some baking soda in it, and rinse them off and boil them in stock, it cuts down on the gas factor. Either way, it results in an extremely authentic recipe. Or you can just go to Popeye's, which has really good red beans and rice. Vegetarians need to buy a bottle of liquid smoke and experiment - probably with the addition of more vegetables.

  http://www.gumbopages.com/food/red-beans.html

• [quote]Try slow cooking the red beans. Red beans are poisonous and when you slow cook them you increase the poison. You need to rapidly boil the red beans in 100ºC for 10 to 15 minutes to detoxify them. You can get very ill fast if not done correctly. They have been known to kill cows.

• My family makes them the same way as [5] and has for generations. But like most dishes, there are 100 ways to make it. This is just one.

• Food is poisonous!

• OP uses Old Bay or some other kind of Yankee "seasoning."