How to Make New Orleans-style Red Beans and Rice

Red beans and rice have been a New Orleans staple for hundreds of years.

As far as food's concerned, you almost cannot get any more New Orleans than red beans and rice. From sidewalk diners to upscale restaurants, this quintessential dish can be found on just about every menu in New Orleans. Although traditionally served on Mondays (in the "old days" Mondays were considered laundry days and the starch from boiled rice was used to iron clothes), this New Orleans staple is delicious and filling on any day of the week.

Things You'll Need

• 2-lb bag of red kidney beans
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 celery stalks
• 6 cloves garlic
• 4 ham hocks
• 2 lbs. smoked sausage
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 large soup pot
• 1 medium-sized sauce pan
• 1 packet of Zatarain's red beans base (optional)
• 1 capful of Zatarain's liquid crab boil (the brown liquid, not the reddish colored one).

Instructions

Make New Orleans-style Red Beans and Rice

1. Fill large soup pot full of water and empty dry beans into it. Let the beans soak in the water over night. Drain old water the next morning, and fill pot of beans with approximately eight cups of water.

2. Chop onion, celery, bell pepper and garlic into a fine mix and then add to the pot, along with the thyme and the crab boil. If you're using the red bean base, you can add it at this time. Bring the vegetable, bean and water mix to a hard boil on high heat for approximately 30 minutes. Lower heat to low and cover.

3. Check the water to bean ratio occasionally over the next hour of cooking on medium heat. It is important to keep water level about a half-inch to an inch above the beans throughout the entire cooking process.

4. After an hour of cooking on medium heat, add ham hocks. The use of ham hocks replaces the need to add salt while cooking the red beans. Next, cut smoked sausage into small pieces and add it to the pot, stirring as you add. It's likely you'll want to add another cup or two of water at this point. Cover and let cook on medium heat for another hour, or until the bean mixture begins to take on a creamy texture.

5. In the separate saucepan, boil and cook two cups of white long grain rice. Once rice is cooked , strain in colander and set on the side. Dish out rice into plate or bowl. Cover generously with red beans.

Tips & Warnings

• When soaking the red beans over night, a tablespoon of baking soda should be added. This helps cut down on the methane when you cook the beans later, thus reducing flatulence.

• Also, many red bean recipes call for andouille sausage. This does not make the dish any more "authentic". Regular old smoked sausage, like Hillshire Farms, works just as well, if not better.

References

• Crab Boil