Posted on 07/07/2012 11:06:20 PM PDT by nickcarraway
To the rest of the country, red beans and rice is a New Orleans tradition. In New Orleans, it is a Monday tradition.
Growing up in Louisiana, I remember seeing Monday specials for red beans and hearing people say they wanted the dish solely because it was Monday. Red beans on Monday was a generally accepted fact. It wasn’t until recently that I stopped and thought, “Why Monday?”
The answer came out in the wash.
Before washing machines, women in New Orleans would do laundry by hand — using a crank and wringer, sometimes boiling the clothes. And on laundry day, they needed to prepare a dinner that didn’t need a lot of TLC. Thus the tradition of making red beans on washday, Monday. My aunt once described the facility of cooking the soft, spicy beans by explaining that they cook themselves when left on a simmer.
I know this practice may sound like a myth. But, in my 20 some interviews with Ninth Ward residents, the majority has recalled making, eating or smelling red beans on a Monday — without a question prompting them.
Former Ninth Warders Joan Lee, her husband Jefferson Lee and sister Jane Miceli spilled the beans on the custom, whimsically describing the aroma of red beans drifting through the old neighborhood on Mondays.
Feeling inspired to whip up this New Orleans staple? I previously posted my family’s recipe here on my cooking and lore blog, The Old Country Blog.
Yes! A staple at our house. Sometimes I add smoked sausage.
Nice tagline :-)
I’ve added everything from smoked sausage (we call it Louisiana sausage here) to shrimp to lean ground beef. We like the black bean and rice also. :-)
I cook a batch of beans pretty much every week. Usually with sausage, pork neck bones or ham hocks. I also throw in a chopped onion, some garlic, celery, okra, and cajun seasoning. Then I’ll make some corn bread in a cast iron skillet (spiked with chopped jalepenos, shredded sharp cheddar, and chopped onion) and of course some rice. Collard or mustard greens on the side, glass of buttermilk to drink. Somehow I never get tired of it. It’s amazing how well you can eat for very little money if you’re willing to put forth a little effort. I feel like an absolute king when I eat this meal.
Thank you.
Has anyone visited the Old Country Blog listed? Maybe I’m the weird one out of step, but these people have the movie Independence Day on a loop. The worst movie probably ever made next to Water Boy.
xcuse me again, Folks, but has anyone checked out the website that’s being posted. I’m not mocking the little girl, but something’s a bit out of whack here.
Sorry, but if y’all want a bean and rice recipe try Emeril’s...
Look it up.
You must be very young to not remember it.
RB cooked with smoked chopped smoked tasso and smoked hocs. Fresh green onion sausage on the side, and not IN the beans. One meal last for a few days, in more than one way.)
a lot of msg in that package.
He is a god. I ate fantastic ham salad at his restaurant.
I do my Red Beans in a pressure cooker. Emeril Lagasse’s recipe is excellent, although I use a picnic ham instead of the sausage and a jalapeño pepper instead of the cayenne pepper. You can put the dry beans (without soaking them) in a pressure cooker with the other ingredients, lock the lid on the pressure cooker, set at 15 lbs pressure and cook for 25 minutes when up to pressure. Turn off heat and allow to sit 10 minutes, then reduce pressure. The ham will fall off the bone.
I have never eaten at BBB, but I intend to fix that problem before the summer is over. John Currence’s other restaurants are wonderful!
Red beans and rice is a staple food around our house. I make up a pot every week or so, no matter where we are living at the time. Like the poster above, I usually make up greens and cornbread to go with it. My son was raised on red beans and rice and he tells me that it is still his favorite meal.
The only thing I question is needing a recipe. My grandma and my aunt taught me to make red beans and rice and I’ve just always made it that way. Never needed no recipe. The ingredients may vary a bit depending on where we are living and what is available; but, once it is finished, it is red beans and rice and tastes like it.
That is so true. When I lived in Hawaii it was impossible to find good sausage and good quality beans. Fortunately, I had friends in Mississippi who mailed me boxes of Camellia brand beans. They were developed and are grown in Louisiana expressly for red beans and rice. I was stuck using Hillshire Farms sausage which is a shadow of real Southern style sausage, but with a little doctoring, the beans were good!!
This is the good stuff!! Made in Alabama, it is AWESOME sausage.
I love your idea. I have a pressure cooker that I enjoy using. Will do this today. Piggly Wiggley has the ham hock to soak the beans in.
BTW how can you set your pressure cooker to 15lbs? Mine is not that precise and why should it be? You have I think a couple settings, but I don’t recall that they actually have the lbs per sq inch.
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