Red Beans and Rice w/Andouille


 
K Kruger

K Kruger

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
I based my recipe on the red beans and rice I had served to me at Buddy Holmes Soul Food, in New Orleans, back in the late 70s. Holmes used a bit sweeter wine than I do. Your choice.


Red Beans and Rice with Andouille

1 lb dry small red beans, picked over

1 bottle cheap Riesling (get a cheap one from Calif)


Place the beans in a large bowl, add 3 cups of the wine. If necessary, add water to cover by one inch. Allow to soak overnight. Reserve the remaining wine.



2 med onions, chopped finely or diced

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch scallions, white parts thinly sliced, the remainder reserved

2 smoked ham hocks

1 teaspoon dry thyme

2 bay leaves

1 pound andouille sausage, quartered lengthwise then casing removed, then sliced crosswise into quarter-inch slices

salt and white pepper to taste


Cornbread, for serving

A good hot sauce, preferably from Louisiana (I like Pepperdoux's here), for serving

Hot cooked rice, for serving



Soak the beans overnight, as noted. Drain well then add to a large bean pot or Dutch oven. Add 2 quarts water to cover, the onion, celery, bell peppers and scallions slices, the garlic, thyme and bay leaves, the ham hocks and the sausage.

Bring to a boil then reduce the heat. Partially cover. Simmer a couple or three hours. Add a little of the reserved wine and an equal amount of water, as needed, to keep the solids in the pot just covered with liquid. Taste the broth and add salt and white pepper.

Continue cooking till the beans are fully tender.

Remove the ham hocks and cool; reserve for another use if desired*, or discard. Remove the bay leaves and discard.

Stir well then remove about 2 cups of the pot's contents to a small bowl. Purée well with a handblender. (Alternatively, remove 2 cups to a blender or processor and purée.) Stir the purée into the pot.

Adjust seasoning.

Slice the reserved scallion greens thinly.

Serve over hot rice with the scallion greens sprinkled on top, with cornbread and hot sauce on the side.



Kevin



* I remove the skin from the hocks, trim out the nuggets of meat and mince the meat finely. This I add to my cornbread batter.
 
When I fix red beans & rice, I like to cook the andouille into the mix as well.....
But when I was in New Orleans this last summer, I had this dish at two places & both served the sausage on the side.....
Anybody from New Orleans with an opinion on the technique of this dish?
I think cooking the sausage with the beans adds more flavor, but apparently there is a tradition to having it on the side.
Just wondering....thanks.
 
I eat much more often at Cajun places rather than Creole in La but it's frequently cooked and served with both, i.e., the andouille is cooked in the beans (either cut small as I do above, or cut into rounds) and a section of an andouille link is split and grilled or pan fried and served alongside or on top of the beans.

In many places where I eat it (mostly Cajun country: Opelousas, Houma, Breaux Bridge, Lafayette, Port Barre, Grosse Tete), 'red beans and rice' is red beans with the andouille cooked in, but 'red beans and rice with sausage' means you get that - plus the additional grilled or fried sausage.
 
james- Yes, it's one of the few times I want white rice, specifically American, and preferably from La or Ark. The rice I used yesterday was a 'regular' long grain from Calif. Perfectly suitable.
 
DO is in the oven to slow cook. Brought to a boil going to temp the oven down to where it's simmering very slowly and walk away for a few hours.

Minor note at this point is that I could have just dumped the whole bottle of wine in. Don't think whats left from the bottle would have mattered. At least tasting the beans before they went into the mix. I'm using small red kidneys so maybe they take more water than the traditional Southern pinks. Hey, it was in the pantry so decided to use them. Didn't want to use a pound of the pink beans I like to keep for Santa Maria style pink beans.

Granddaughter was born this morning so need to go to the hospital and take a look see
wsmsmile8gm.gif


Thanks for the tips Kevin, we'll see if I even get to the corn bread and rice
icon_smile.gif
 
Great balance in this recipe. Next time I'll get some southern reds but small red beans (kidneys) were excellent.

We just had a bowl of the beans and corn bread as we were running in and out, will have some with rice today.

Flavor was great, didn't need to touch anything really. I did tweak a little instead of doing the puree step (I'll do that next time).

I separated a quart of liquid from the cook at the end, made a roux with some butter and flour (browned a bit) and used that to thicken. I liked the texture of the meat pulled from the hocks and everything else so figured I would try this first. Made it easier as we were running about.

I'll puree a bit of it today and blend that back in just to see how it changes things with the rice.

Great recipe - definitely on the standards list now.
 
Good. I'm glad you liked it.

Small red beans are not the same as kidneys. They are a bit smoother in texture, not quite as mealy. Try them.
 
More than like it
icon_smile.gif
Had a chance today to do it right. I took bit of the bean mix and pureed per the recipe and blended it back in then reheated on low heat to bring it up slow. I took some of the reserved Andoulie and just carmelized it a bit in a pan to heat it through. Made some rice and chopped up the greens I saved from yesterday.

One "word" wow.

The balance is just spot on. There's nothing I would change.

I do like the idea of using it as I did yesterday a little looser as a thick soup.

Completing the recipe as posted requires no change unless you want to IMHO.

I did a buttermilk corn bread yesterday cause it was quick. It didn't have the hock meat or cracklins in it but it's a favorite one and worked well.

Thanks again - the "red beans and rice with sausage today was fantastic". Next time I'll get more diligent and use the southern reds, but have to say the little red kidneys were pretty good.

Only thing I will add with the last of it now is the hot sauce. I like things "hot" but wanted to taste it plain first. Got my favorite pepper sauce/s at the ready for the rest of it
icon_smile.gif
 
This looks great Kevin! One quick question, not sure that this makes a difference or not....when making red beans and rice, I've cooked the beans in one pot, then in the dutch oven rendered the sausage and cooked the vegetables/garlic in the sausage fat, then added the cooked/cooking beans and liquid into the dutch oven. I noticed you didn't saute the vegetables before adding everything together. Would that make a difference either way? Thanks for the recipe.
 
I would not cook the beans separately. I'm looking to infuse flavor into the beans.

I don't sauté the sausage to render the fat. Its flavors permeate the mixture when all are included together for cooking.

While in most things I do I sauté or at least sweat the aromatics first I don't here - simply to cut the time. One certainly could. I think the relative volume of aromatics to the rest of the ingredients (as well as the sausage flavor being already full) is not substantial enough to make it a must-do thing.

For caramelized meat flavors, split a piece of sausage and sauté, then serve with the beans.

In typical red bean formulations - those that are served at numerous restaurants in Louisiana, neither aromatics (except for garlic) nor spice blend seasoning (like Tony Chachere's - how I can't stand that stuff! - or the like) are used. Just thyme and bay. The flavor comes from the meat/bone, sausage and garlic additions to the pot - period. (This was Buster Holmes version as well - the wine soak, meat and sausage and garlic with thyme and bay, but no other vegs nor seasoning.) I find this lacking so I add the minced vegs.
 
The recipe does work as is, I had similar questions but figured the andouille was the primary note, second was the smoked hocks. The beans get a nice, subtle infusion with the wine soak which is very nice.

The aromatics are a second/third in the levels of flavor. I don't think that a saute would have changed or improved in any significant way. They were noticeable and totally infused though. The longish cook gives them plenty of time to do their magic.

I think I have maybe a cup of the recipe left, made two complete platings today for Marianne and I as a nice full lunch before going out to shovel snow.

I'll second that the split and carmelized sausage on the side completes the whole deal. I just split it and weighted it in a pan while I was warming up the other components. It totally seals the whole thing having that on the plate with the corn bread, rice, scallion greens and a bit of favorite hot sauce.

I can't say enough how much I and others that have had the complete plating enjoyed this.

Only thing I might try with them next time as a tweak is maybe fresh thyme and fresh bay just to see if it brightens things up a tad, but that's just meddling IMHO and not required IE, not a "fix" but a personal tweak just to see what it bumps.

I had a third hock that I cooked along the way towards the end and used it today as I ran out of sausage for the side. It was stored with the leftover. I just pulled it and there was enough meat to complete two platings.

This recipe as left overs is one that just gets better.

My daughter and Son In Law loved the beans, cornbread that I left with them. I was not finished per say. They ate it as a thick bean soup just with the cornbread and are asking for the recipe. It's very good that way on its own thickened with the browned roux.
 
Something I realized in reading your comments is that I've never shared my recipe before - though I've cooked it many, many times. I featured it peridically on a menu at a Miami Beach restaurant I exec-cheffed back in, oh, 1987, and another MB restaurant in, probably, '89. But I've not shared the recipe before with anyone, least of all people who, you know, actually cook, so your comments are appreciated.

I have made it with fresh thyme and fresh bay, one or the other or both. As both herbs dry rather well the difference using fresh is what you'd expect: there but not remarkable. In restaurants I cooked with both dry but garnished with a fresh thyme sprig, a worthwhile touch, imo.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">In many places where I eat it (mostly Cajun country: Opelousas, Houma, Breaux Bridge, Lafayette, Port Barre, Grosse Tete), 'red beans and rice' is red beans with the andouille cooked in, but 'red beans and rice with sausage' means you get that - plus the additional grilled or fried sausage. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Kevin, would you mind sharing some of your favorite places to eat in this area? I may find myself in that part of the country later this year & would appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks
 
Tim--

Off the top of my head (if you go let me know and i can dig up others): King's in Port Barre on Hwy 190 about 5 or 6 miles east of I-49; The Boudin Shop, Exit 115 off of I-10 in Breaux Bridge (just north of the exit, next to Landry's); Wayne Jacob's on 5th St (the 700 block) in LaPlace. Wayne Jacob's is a smokehouse and restaurant. They make their own andouille. Unlike most places their andouille is not cured so it's different. Quite good. Wayne Jacob's should not be confused with Jacob's on Airline, also in LaPlace. (They sell cured andouille - it's good - along with tasso, etc. Get some Pepperdoux hot sauce if you go as it's not available out of the area (Wayne Jacob's should have it if you go down there).

Kev--

Freezes pretty well. Vac-packing is best but if you go the container route, press a piece of plastic wrap down on yop of the beans before placing the lid on and freezing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top