1
mine, I cook them a few hours. If
soaked, they'll cook quicker. Wash and
cut seasonings. Brown or saute
seasonings to taste, including the ones you enjoy and leaving out the ones you
may not like. If using smoke sausage,
you may brown it with the seasonings.
Pour
seasonings into pot with beans. Add
meat. Let come to a boil and then simmer
until done. I recommend cooking at least
two hours. A ham bone provides the best
flavoring in my opinion.
You
may turn the fire to low and let the beans simmer or just keep warm after two
hours. You can also cook using a crock
pot, but you should put them on very early in the morning and let them slow
cook all day. If cooking on the top of a
stove, you will need to continually add water to them as it cooks out until
they are nearly done. Then, let them
cook down so the gravy is thick and red.
Boil
rice about thirty minutes before serving time.
Let two cups of rice, four cups of water and 1 Tbsp. of butter come to a
boil, turn to low and let the water cook out of the rice.
Comment: This recipe was sent to me by one of the Author's I write reviews for. I had never tried Red Beans & Rice but it did sound pretty good so I gave it a try. I followed her recipe pretty much to the letter but did leave out the Cayenne and parsley. I'm really glad I didn't add the cayenne because I ended up with enough heat form the Cajun seasoning. I also used brown rice boiling bags instead of cooking the long cook type. For my meat I used smoked sausage since that was what I had on hand. Anyway, this dish is simply delicious! I served it with slaw giving me a simple yet tasty meal. It fed 6 easily with just a little left over.
B.
J. Robinson, Author of River Oaks Plantation:
Historically - in New Orleans, red beans and rice were always served on
Mondays because Monday was wash day and the dish could simmer for hours. When I grew up with a mom who cooked Red
Beans and Rice and later a mother-in-law who is the one who taught me to cook
them. She is also the one who gave me
the recipe at the end of my book for the cornbread dressing. So as you can see, I was reared on them and
reared my children on them actually using both my mother and mother-in-law's
recipes. They both cook the same way
with one exception. My Mom didn't add
the bay leaf, whereas my mother-in-law did.
