(ed. note: this is complete tinkering of the original posting on 6 December, 2016 to better address vegetarians and the finer points of roux making as well as a new video of my last batch)
After reading about my bean obsession and gallo pinto theories, a viewer from the Googlytubes asked for more specifics on New Orleans Red Beans & Rice (video link added below). The foundational flavours that permeate much of Southern Louisiana cooking come from the “Holy Trinity” of onion, celery, and bell pepper and are well documented. A bit over-hyped as a local epiphany in fact. Similar techniques like French mirepoix (carrots, onions, & celery) and Spanish sofrito (tomatoes, peppers, onion, & garlic) serve the same sort of purpose. And the Italians have a version. And the Portuguese. And the Chinese. And most any other food culture you care to name. Poor cooks everywhere learn this trick early on by using whatever is plentiful in the fields around them. I’ll let you dig deeper on the topic elsewhere if interested but the concept has followed convergent culinary evolution in so many cuisines for a reason. Start your dishes with a base of aromatic veg and it will be noticeably deeper in flavour every time.
Back to my southern roots, far too many youthful nights were spent in New Orleans bars where this food was so cheap it was literally given away from giant steaming sidewalk vats to attract in the drinking customers. Jambalaya is barely more than spicy rice that can be made with only a scant bit of sausage to feed a crowd. Gumbo is basically seafood soup made with the leftovers of the bayou. And you don’t get much cheaper than beans and rice which is where this recipe evolved. “Popeye’s Famous Fried Chicken” (& Biscuits) chain started in New Orleans by serving up all these peasant staples next to their fried chicken which has attained a cult following. Needless to say they’re making a fortune on the sides.
If there is any debate among the countless family interpretations of RB & R it surrounds the finished consistency of the beans and where to put the rice. Thick as porridge or almost a soup is really down to personal preference that you control with how much liquid you add to the simmering stockpot and time. I’m of the ‘rice on the side’ camp and go for a more saucy interpretation to ooze flavour through the whole bowl, rice and all. Some aficionados say you should add cooked rice to the pot at the end and stir for ten minutes before serving while others still cook the rice from raw in with all the other goodness. And never get into a fight about how to cut the sausage, diced, sliced, or otherwise, unless you’re ready to start a feud. The best part is that they’re all right. You can’t really screw this up even in giant batches.
Perhaps best of all it’s one of those dishes that suffers not in the least from the original if you decide to go vegetarian although there I use the trick of adobo – the sauce you see chipotle chiles packed in – to add the smoky character you’d normally get from the traditional andouille sausage. Another option would be to switch to smoked pimentón (paprika) from Spain which has become widely available. If nothing else you could resort to a scant few drops of liquid smoke but go sparingly there as it can overpower with just one shake too many. Or use them all if you really love smoke.
To keep things cheap, you know I’m going to tell you to cook beans from dry but I’ve found they need enough cooking time that they should be prepped separately and added later else the rest of your pot turns into indistinguishable mush. Along those lines, this is one place where hand cutting all your veg will preserve better texture so leave the food processor off for this one. Saving the bean cooking water to use later adds richness but in a pinch you can simply top up with water. For real depth of flavour, this is a good place to use up any stock of opportunity you have laying about. Your ARE making stock from your vegetable scraps, right?
While building that delicious base is critical, another technique adopted by Cajun and Creole* chefs can thicken AND flavour the pot and adds an interesting taste of New Orleans. I’m talking about a properly cooked roux. While the French would lay claim to its origins, cooks in Louisiana really have made it their own by raising the relatively simple cooking of flour and fat to an art form. Many modern day recipes call for a roux to be cooked a short amount of time to ‘remove the raw flour taste’, whatever that means, but down south they have an array of prescribed cooking times and proportions to yield everything from ‘peanut butter’ to ‘dark chocolate’ roux named mainly for the finished colours. This extra cooking step of course changes the overall flavour and thickening power so it’s a not process to be taken lightly if you want to approximate the flavours of kitchens in Thibodaux, New Iberia, and Opelousas – great cookery happens across the whole state, not just New Orleans.
* Distinctly different groups of immigrants (Canadian Cajuns originally from my neck of the woods here in the Maritimes and Afro-Caribbean Creoles from warmer points east) that employed the local fare in similar yet unique ways. One way to start an argument is to lump them together.
While the beans in the pot aren’t all that spicy themselves, there’s not a table in Louisiana that doesn’t have a bottle of Tabasco or “Louisiana Hot” sauce parked in the middle to pepper it up as you see fit bowl by bowl. Pickled okra, collard greens, and cornbread optional.
Red Beans & Rice – New Orleans Style with Vegetarian Options
Note: If appropriate sausage isn’t available, this is a perfect place to put that leftover ham bone to good use during the simmer (see video). Ever popular too are ham hocks, smoked or ‘pickled’ versions, for the duration of the boil. Vegetarians don’t fret – you can leave out meat altogether and simply increase the amounts of the other vegetables proportionally. In that case the adobo sauce becomes less optional and more necessary to add smoky flavour. You can also switch to smoked paprika. In all cases it will be delicious.
300 g dry red beans (reserve the cooking water – see below)
2 – 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, depending on sausage used
225 g cured sausage, diced as you see fit (andouille or similar preferred, see note above)
3 – 6 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
2 large ribs celery, washed well & diced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, cleaned & diced
1 – 3 fresh chiles, any variety or heat level, minced (optional)
2 tablespoons adobo sauce (optional for vegetarians, from a tin of smoked chipotle peppers)
100 ml diced tinned tomatoes (not usually a full tin)
400 ml tomato juice (liquid from tinned tomatoes is perfectly fine)
2 tablespoons paprika (any variety)
2 teaspoons sea salt + more to taste
For the roux:
35 g (1/4 cup) flour
70 ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil
For serving:
300 g long grain white rice, cooked in your preferred method
Tabasco or similar Louisiana style hot sauce
Yield: Serves 4 to 6 sober – fewer after a long and hungry Mardi Gras night
Soak the beans overnight in four times their volume of cold water. Drain and recover with fresh water to double their soaked volume. Add two teaspoons salt and simmer at a gentle boil until just short of tender, about thirty minutes. Drain completely reserving the bean cooking water and set aside. (This can be done as much as two days in advance if kept in the refrigerator.)
In a heavy Dutch oven over medium high heat, add two tablespoons oil to warm. If using sausage, sauté until fragrant and rendered slightly, about five minutes. Add the garlic, celery, onion, bell pepper, & chiles adjusting the oil as necessary depending on the sausage used. Cook until very slightly softened stirring often, about four minutes longer.
Add the tomatoes, tomato juice, par-cooked beans, 400 ml of the reserved bean cooking liquid, and enough water to cover. For the vegetarian no-sausage option toss in the adobo at this point. Simmer on a very low boil for an additional 30-45 minutes testing the beans for your desired finished texture. Small additions of water may be needed depending on your pot and heat source but the pot will not thicken much at this stage. New Orleans locals want it cooked nearly to bean mush at this point it seems. I prefer at least some intact bean texture as I was taught elsewhere in Louisiana.
As the beans cook, prepare the roux by combining the flour and oil over low heat and whisking constantly until a peanut butter colour is achieved. Be patient but persistent in your whisking to avoid scorching which would require a complete restart. This should take anywhere from 7-12 minutes depending on your heat and pan. Raise the heat above low with extreme caution and diligence. Also be aware that cooking roux will burn the heck out of anything it touches, cook’s hands included, so use a deep pan and long-handled whisk. You have been warned.
When the beans have reached your desired texture, add three quarters of the roux and stir gently to combine. After a minute adjust to desired thickness with remaining roux in small increments.
Cook the rice as you prefer before serving in warmed bowls under, over, or mixed with the red beans as you see fit. Resist the urge to whistle Dixie.
