For many cultures around the world, salt pork is a beloved ingredient that adds a unique savory flavor to many indigenous dishes. And in Louisiana, it’s a favorite in everything from red beans and black eye peas to cassoulet. But what exactly is salt pork? And what does it bring to the table?

What is Salt Pork?

Salt pork refers to heavily salted slabs of pork belly, pork shoulder, or other fatty cuts. The meat is rubbed with salt or submerged in a salt brine, which preserves the meat and infuses it with concentrated flavor.

The History of Salt Pork

The use of salt pork traces back to Europe in the Middle Ages, when salting and curing meats was an essential preservation technique. The practice spread around the globe as Europeans explored and colonized other continents. In the Caribbean, West Africa, and the United States, salt pork became a culinary tradition in New England dishes like Boston baked beans and clam chowder, and in the South, in staple dishes like beans, peas, and greens.

How to Use Salt Pork

Imparting flavor and fat into bean and blackeye pea dishes, salt pork adds body and a silky texture to stewed and slow-simmering favorites, thickening and enriching the cooking liquid. Traditional southern dishes like BBQ Beans and Field Peas with Snap Beans feature salt pork for its signature flavor.

The Difference Between Salt Pork and Bacon

Salt pork and bacon are both made from pork belly, salted to cure the meat, and available in slabs or sliced. But unlike bacon, salt pork is not smoked and contains substantially more fat. It also costs less! And since it has more fat, the collagen that’s released from salt pork during cooking melts into beans and other slowly simmered dishes, giving them amazing richness and texture. Salt pork can be used as one large piece, cut into cubes, or diced, depending on the recipe.

The Difference Between Salt Pork and Pickled Pork

Another common question is, what’s the difference between salt pork and pickled pork? While both salt pork and pickled pork are favorites in slow-cooked dishes like beans, pickled pork is cured with salt and then brined in vinegar, spices, and seasonings, providing a tangy flavor in addition to the saltiness. Salt pork is cured with just salt, and no other seasonings are involved.

Here’s what home cooks say when asked about the secret to their red beans:

“Sometimes cook with pickle and salt pork, or mild smoke sausage, also some people use bacon.”- Roxanne F.

“Salt pork!”- Wade L.

“I use the trinity, salt pork, smoked or regular turkey necks, Tony’s, and that’s about all. I will try the crab boil.”- Saja M.

“I’ve been cooking Camellia red beans for 55 years. I use onion, garlic, bacon fat and salt pork. If I can’t get salt pork, I use pickle meat. I taste the beans before I add salt.”- Eunette B.

When a plate of red beans and rice with French bread comes to the table, a debate can sometimes arise about the correct way to eat it.

Should the French bread be used as a scoop, a way to soak up the last bits, or as a separate accompaniment slathered with butter? Then again, why make a choice?

Just like the debate over who makes the best red beans and rice, the debate over how to eat the French bread is ongoing. But no matter the preferred eating style, all agree that the French bread has to be from Leidenheimer Baking Company.

French Bread in New Orleans

Leidenheimer’s was founded 1896 by George Leidenheimer, when New Orleans was teeming with bakeries. About a decade beforehand, the City Directory listed 150 bakeries.

Leidenheimer immigrated years earlier from Deidesheim, Germany. He opened the bakery on Dryades Street and in 1904, moved it to the corner of Simon Bolivar Avenue in Central City, where it remains today.

At first, Leidenheimer made the heavy, dense breads he was more familiar with from Germany; however, around 1905, the bakery segued to making French bread, in addition to other types of breads popular during that time period.

How much did a loaf of French bread cost? At the turn of the century, it was somewhere in the neighborhood of a nickel per loaf.

The Proof is In the Water

What gives Leidenheimer’s French bread its flaky, thin crust and fluffy interior is a combination of interesting influences, but the Mississippi River’s hard water plays a big role.

Other factors include the fermentation process and the weather.

“We naturally ferment our dough, allowing it to age and develop flavor and its unique crumb characteristics,” says bakery Director of Operations and fifth-generation owner William Whann.

“Our bake time varies based on the ambient temperature. We have to put a considerably harder bake on our products during the hotter months because the New Orleans humidity will soften the bread’s signature crust,” he added.

But even with the introduction of technology, the bakery still harkens to its roots.

“While we have incorporated the use of automation to increase output,” says Whann, “human touch will always play an important role in our products. Every po-boy loaf produced at Leidenheimer is still hand-stretched to its signature 32-inch length.”

Po-boy bread in New Orleans is often referred to as French bread and vice versa, but they started out differently.

While French bread had been available in some variation since the city was founded in 1718, po-boy bread was introduced to New Orleanians in 1929. The first po-boys — sandwiches that can be filled with an infinite amount of combinations — were credited to Martin Brother’s Grocery which made them during a streetcar strike. The brothers, who had been streetcar conductors, decided to help out and created a loaf of bread for the “poor boys” to eat or share with their families.

Originally, a typical French bread was a family loaf roughly 16-inches long. It was fatter in the middle at around 4- to 5-inches wide, with narrow, pointed ends. Notes Whann, po-boy bread was developed as a long loaf uniform in width – because when making sandwiches, restaurants were having to throw away the unusable ends.

In the past, New Orleanians may have used the ends of the French bread as a makeshift bowl for their red beans and rice. According to a Southern Foodways 2006 interview with Joe Darensberg, whose family worked at the bakery for generations, “My dad said, ‘We put red beans in the ends of the French bread …” (Perhaps the ends worked well as a large scoop!)

Leidenheimer Today and Beyond

Today, Leidenheimer customers can order different sizes of its French/po-boy bread depending on their needs. The company is the largest producer of French bread in New Orleans.

The bakery also makes pistolettes with the same formula that range in size from 4 inches to 12 inches and is the largest producer of muffuletta bread in the country.

“We bake and deliver tens of thousands of loaves daily to both local and national customers,” says Whann.

“In addition to supporting the needs of our incredibly loyal, local customers, we have had the unique opportunity in recent years to connect with restaurants and chefs all over the country through social media, which has been an incredible experience to see how people are using the product across the States,” says Whann.

Working with Whann in the bakery business is his father, Sandy Whann, president; aunt Katherine Whann, office manager; and sister Katie Whann, marketing and social. Mitch Abide has been the longtime plant manager.

While some may argue cornbread is a go-to accompaniment to red beans and rice, for many, only a slice of Leidenheimer’s French bread will do.

leidenheimer.com/; on Instagram; 504.525.1575.

Pantry Red Beans & Rice

This simplified recipe makes tasty red beans by relying solely on pantry staples and spices, and it comes together quickly in the Instant Pot.

Dump & Go: Slow Cooker Red Beans & Rice

This recipe lets your slow cooker do the work, with no hands-on attention required and no soaking. Just dump everything in, set it, and forget it.

Easy Instant Pot Red Beans & Rice

Yes, you can sauté the trinity in oil first before adding the rest of the ingredients, but you can also just dump everything in and cook on high pressure.

Instant Pot New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice

Fast, easy, and delicious in every way — this Instant Pot recipe deserves to be made year round.

Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

With this versatile recipe, some steps can be made ahead or skipped altogether. It’s a great slow cooker recipe to keep in your back pocket.

Stovetop Creole Red Beans

Our Red Bean Flavor Infusion is a tried-and-true blend of authentic Creole spices and vegetables, and it’s a great way to quickly and easily season a pot red beans to perfection.

While many swear by Andouille sausage, and others opt for ham hocks or tasso, there are many overlooked smoky, meaty ingredients that impart deep flavor to a pot of beans. From pig tails, rib tips, and pork necks, to smoked turkey necks and turkey legs, these under-used seasoning meats — with their skin, tendons, ligaments, collagen, and fat — infuse flavor, body, and incredible richness into a pot of beans.

Eating “nose-to-tail” is a philosophy that encourages using all parts of an animal, so as not to waste anything. And since Cajuns in particular and Southerners, in general, are known for being resourceful, thrifty, and not letting anything go to waste – delicious pieces and parts that might otherwise be ignored or thrown out are often used to perfectly season red beans and increase nutrition.

Red Beans with Smoked Turkey Legs

Game Meats

With a similar spirit of thrift and resourcefulness, hunters use game meats in as many different homemade dishes as possible – including when seasoning big pots of beans. From venison and rabbit to duck and more, there are many game meats that offer wonderful complexity to beans. Recipes like Rabbit and Cannellini Stew and K-Paul’s Famous Butter Beans ‘That Make You Crazy’ feature the best of game meat flavor.

So why not get creative with your next batch of beans? Try lesser-known pig tails or turkey necks for seasoning meat, or turn to a game meat favorite like venison. Your taste buds (and your wallet) with thank you.

Another Southern Tradition

When it comes enjoying a big steaming bowl of creamy red beans and rice, there are those who subscribe to the “more is more” philosophy. For example, in addition to the smoked sausage or ham hock or pickled pork that adds meaty flavor to red beans, many enjoy the additional meaty southern tradition of fried chicken alongside their beans. There’s just something about the creaminess of the beans combined with the crunchiness of the fried chicken that makes it a winning taste sensation.

A Favorite Combination at Restaurants and More

In fact, fried chicken is probably the most common treat paired with red beans and rice at favorite eateries, with the ubiquitous combo found at chains like Popeyes, as well as at mom and pop restaurants in New Orleans like Café Reconcile, Dunbar’s, and Willie Mae’s Scotch House. Interestingly, though it’s not on the public-facing menu, fried chicken and red beans & rice is one of the most popular secret suppers served to staff at upscale Galatoire’s. And according to Chef Anthony Scanio of Delmonico, “Of course, red beans and rice are a staple at New Orleans get-togethers; surely, fried chicken…is more than likely to be part of the pot luck.” Even Lolis Eric Elie, a New Orleans master storyteller, journalist, documentary filmmaker, and cookbook author, declares, “I love red beans and fried chicken as a combination.”

Finally, when asked “What’s the secret to your red beans?”, one loyal fan put it this way:

“Pickled meat, garlic, bay leaf, onions, and let them simmer on top of the stove! Serve over rice with a little hot sauce, fried chicken, and fresh French bread!”
Daphine J.

Red bean lovers are nothing if not opinionated about the ingredients they must have on hand to make their beloved red beans. But what about the mandatory accompaniments to a bowl of red beans and rice – such as the bread used to sop up all that goodness? Some insist on squares of homemade cornbread with their red beans and rice, while others prefer a light, airy, and crusty French bread made by local New Orleans’ purveyors such as Leidenheimer’s or Reising’s. And still others are happy with either or both on their plate.

When it comes to New Orleans restaurants, Joey K’s serves their red beans and rice with a basket of sliced French bread and butter, while Willie Mae’s serves their red beans with cornbread muffins. No matter your personal preference, all we know is that the tradition of breaking bread with family and friends is one that we can all get behind.

Try our favorite Buttermilk Cornbread recipe:

And read what red bean fans have to say about the issue:

“Lots of love, and killer cornbread on the side!!!”
– Bobby S.

“Serve over rice with a little hot sauce, fried Chicken, and fresh French bread!”
– Daphine J.

Smoked sausage is a bedrock red beans essential, and many folks wouldn’t make a pot of red beans without it. But while there’s always the popular Andouille, another local favorite is green onion smoked sausage. Flecked with bits of freshly chopped green onions, this variety of sausage offers a little bit of color and a whole lot of flavor to a pot of red beans. And it’s available from Louisiana brands like Manda and Richard’s.

Just as with other varieties of smoked sausage, most fans slice and brown green onion smoked sausage in a few glugs of oil, leaving the perfect amount of fat in the pot for cooking the trinity and infusing those aromatic vegetables with smoky green onion flavor. The texture, aroma and taste of green onion smoked sausage is a natural addition to a pot of creamy red beans, and a personal preference for many.

Check out quotes from fans who love making their red beans with green onion smoked sausage:

“Camellias..lots of onions..bay leaf..fry ground green onion sausage Patton’s Sausage and Smoked Cajun Sausage drain S&P cook slowly mash 2 cups creamy.”
Bonnie M.

“Some good smoked green onion sausages, smoked Tasso, smoked ham hocks, onion, Bell pepper, Tony’s seasoning. Slow cook for hours!!!!! I forgot.. GARLIC!!!”
Tonya M.

“Tasso, smoked green onion sausage, onions, little bell pepper, garlic. Chicken broth. Cook on high then turn down. I cook all day. Thick and creamy.”
Janet B.

Red Bean Essentials: Pickled Pork

Southerners love the richness that seasoning meats like pickled pork add to pot of red beans. Before refrigeration, preserving foods was a challenge, and every culture developed some version of pickling or preserving in a salty brine or vinegar. Herbs and spices, such as mustard seed, garlic, cinnamon or cloves, were often added. Pickled pork, a.k.a. pickle meat, was born of this process, providing seasoning while also preserving shelf life. And because it adds such unique flavor, the practice of including pickled pork is still beloved today – whether you’re cooking red beans or other iconic Southern dishes like butter beans or stewed vegetables.

Pickled pork is rendered supremely tender from its brine and can be relied upon to break down and saturate the other ingredients in the pot with its delicious flavors. So when you cook with it, you’ll want to hold off on adding salt before tasting the cooked beans — because the salt released from the pickle meat should be plenty to season the pot. It also adds a tang or vinegary taste that many fans love.

At most Louisiana grocery stores, pickled pork is readily available in hunks, smaller chunks, or slices from brands such as Richard’s and Savoie’s — both of which call themselves “Cajun” — and Vaucresson’s, which claims Creole as its heritage. No matter the brand, the aromatics and spices used in the brining process are all about the same. If pickle meat is unavailable where you are, you can buy it online, or easily make it yourself with a pork shoulder roast and seasonings.

Check out our recipe for Pickled Pork.

Try a few Red Beans & Rice recipes that feature pickled pork:

New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice

Barry Begault’s Slow Cooker Family Red Beans

See how some cooks use it alongside other ingredients to get the best-tasting red beans around:

“Andouille, diced pickled pork, garlic, Tony’s, and a really good blend of other seasonings.”
Liz X.

“Bacon grease-sauté onions-pickled pork, Tasso, little roux, ham base, low and slow till they cream, green onion tops at the end!”
Jimmy Y.

“Pickled meat, garlic, bay leaf, onions and let them simmer on top of the stove! Serve over rice with a little hot sauce, fried chicken, and fresh French bread!”
Daphine J.

“Soak and rinse them. Put them in the crockpot with some onions, garlic, celery, boiled pickled meat, kitchen bouquet, and brown gravy powder.”
Adia H.

“I use hickory smoked bacon! The grease from the bacon will make the beans creamy and flavorful!! But I can’t forget the smoke sausage, pickled meat, and ham hocks!!!”
David H.

When it comes to cooking homemade red beans a little more quickly and with less hands-on time involved, buying pre-chopped trinity is one way to go. But, if you’re looking to save time shopping and chopping, or maybe you don’t have the produce on hand that you need at the moment – a dehydrated seasoning base like Zydeco Chop Chop can replace the trinity. That’s why it’s great to have in your back pocket and as a staple in your spice cabinet.

Zydeco Chop Chop and other similar seasoning blends are made up of a combination of dehydrated vegetables including onion, red and green bell pepper, celery, green onion and parsley flakes. So in essence, you’re getting the trinity in dehydrated form, already blended and ready to help you cook up a pot of red beans that’s full of flavor. Zydeco Chop Chop is gluten-free with no salt added, easy to store, and stays fresh for up to 3 years.

Some home cooks like to rehydrate the dehydrated seasoning blend quickly before adding it to the pot by mixing it with water or oil, and using it to replace fresh vegetables. Others like to generously sprinkle it right from the container into the pot, throughout the cooking process. And then there are fans who like to use both fresh vegetables and Zydeco Chop Chop together, to give their red beans a little somethin’ extra. There’s just no wrong way to use it.

Try these red beans & rice recipes featuring Zydeco Chop Chop:

Zydeco Chop Chop Red Beans & Rice

This stovetop recipe uses Zydeco Chop Chop to replace the trinity.

Pantry Red Beans & Rice

This faster Instant Pot recipe relies solely on pantry staples you already have on hand.

An Old Tradition

Like so many delicious Southern culinary traditions, the use of ham hocks came about as a result of hard times. While the wealthy viewed knobby, gelatinous ham hocks as undesirable, laborers in the fields and cities gladly used the marrow-rich bones to flavor and enhance beans, greens and broths. Hocks were, and still are, cured with salt and smoked — serving to enhance flavor while preserving shelf life. And the beloved practice of including a ham hock in a pot of simmering red beans is a must for many today.

Inexpensive, Collagen-Rich, Meaty Flavor

Over the years, Southerners have come to a universal appreciation for the rich, porky flavor that ham hocks impart at a thrifty cost. In fact, cooking red beans with a ham hock truly offers multiple advantages. First off, ham hocks are collagen-rich, so when slow cooked with beans and liquid, the collagen and fat slowly dissolve, adding a silky texture along with rich, smoky flavor. Ham hocks also add a wonderful saltiness, so be sure to wait till your beans have finished cooking before adjusting salt to taste. Usually sold in pairs that are pre-weighed and wrapped near your grocery’s butcher case, ham hocks are inexpensive, allowing you to add meaty flavor to your beans for less. And finally, at the end of cooking, you’ll want to remove the ham hock, pull it apart, chop up the tasty little pockets of meat by the bone, and add that meat back to your red beans – because those wonderfully tasty bits will make your red beans even more delicious.

Here are some of our favorite red bean recipes that feature ham hocks:

Emily’s Red Beans and Rice

New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice

And check out quotes from those who wouldn’t think of cooking red beans without them:

“Smoked ham hocks and sausage, bell peppers, onions and garlic! Oh yeah!”
Aimee M.

“Boil the smoked ham hocks first to make a smoky broth, and use that broth for the beans.”
Southern L.

“A Chisesi ham hock and a healthy dose of Tabasco.”
Randy S.

“Soak overnight. Salt, garlic and a great big smoked ham hock. Bring to good boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are soft texture.”
Kathy F.

When it comes to adding smoky flavor, richness, and delicious fat to the base of your red beans, many cooks say there’s nothing better than bacon. A popular method involves chopping and cooking bacon in a cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over low-to-medium heat until the fat has slowly melted out of the meat, and the bacon becomes crisp.

A Little Goes A Long Way

The flavor that even a small amount of bacon imparts to red beans is noteworthy, so a little can go a long way. Which is why many people use bacon grease as a base, cooking the trinity in it until translucent, and then adding beans, stock and any other meats they may be using.

The Magic of Bacon Grease and Crispy Bacon

Many Southern cooks are so enamored with bacon grease that they’ll often cook a whole pound of bacon just to store the resulting grease, using it later to add a rich smokiness to red beans as well as other favorite dishes, such as greens and cornbread. If you’re making a big batch to store it, be sure to let the bacon grease cool first, then pour it through a strainer and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Of course, the resulting crisp bacon is a treat and full of flavor as well. Many leave it in the bottom of the pot along with the bacon grease to add even more meatiness to their red beans, while others remove it and drain it, adding it back to the pot when the beans have finished cooking – or crumbling it atop individual servings.

Keep in mind that bacon is cured and salty, so when using it in your red beans, be careful not to over-salt the pot. You can always add salt at the end of cooking, tasting and adding more if needed.

Here are some of our favorite red beans & rice recipes that feature bacon:

Camellia’s Classic Small Red Beans and Rice

Devin’s Feed the Krewe Red Beans

Devin’s “Feed the Krewe” Red Beans

At the base of many Cajun and Creole favorites is a simple foundation of gently sautéed vegetables. In fact, it’s step one in rustic, family-style recipes for gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya, and of course, red beans and rice.

The three essential vegetables in this foundation are onions, celery and green bell pepper, and because Louisiana is predominantly Catholic, the Holy Trinity, or the Trinity for short, took hold as its moniker. In fact, Chef Paul Prudhomme was the celebrity chef who popularized not only Cajun cuisine, but the use of the Trinity as well. Now, from home cooks to chefs, everyone agrees that deliciousness flows from this universal starter, providing a savory base for other ingredients to build upon.

The ratio is traditionally three parts onions to two parts celery to one part bell pepper, but some prefer equal amounts of each, and others take a shortcut by using a container of pre-chopped Trinity readily available in grocery stores. For those who cook red beans religiously every week, chopping the Trinity and sautéing it in butter, oil, or fat leftover from browning sausage or seasoning meat, creates an aroma and basis that practically ensures red bean success.

The heat from sautéing breaks down the flavorful vegetables, releasing their trapped liquids onto the hot surface of the skillet or dutch oven. An intense flavor develops as the water evaporates, leaving behind residual sugars that caramelize the vegetables until a desirable richness is achieved. Similar to the idea behind French mirepoix and Spanish & Latin American sofrito, the Holy Trinity supports and improves the dishes it’s used in, and red beans and rice is no exception.

A delicious fat for your red beans

Fat is a key component in making red beans creamy and flavorful. And if you love cooking red beans, you probably have a favorite kind of fat that adds the dimension, flavor and creaminess you can’t live without. For many, it’s butter — with its rich, creamy dairy flavor, it feels good in your mouth and makes other flavors taste better, too.

Butter acts as a creamy flavor carrier

Real butter is made from milk fat and has a delicious, smooth texture. Interestingly, it has a melting temperature of 98.6° F, which happens to be the temperature inside your mouth. And it works well as a flavor carrier for spices and other ingredients; for example, when you begin the process of making red beans by sautéing the trinity in butter, all the flavor from the onions, celery and bell pepper will be carried by the butter into the rest of the dish – complementing and enhancing the flavor of the beans.

Another way to experience the creamy mouth-feel of butter in your red beans is to add it at the very end of the bean cooking process, as a finisher. By adding butter at this point, you’re increasing the buttery flavor and ensuring wonderful creaminess, right before serving the beans. In fact, red beans & rice fans have spoken when it comes to their secret ingredients, and quite a few swear by the addition of butter – throughout the cooking process, as well as at the end. The exact amount varies from cook to cook, but when in doubt, you can’t go wrong by adding a little more. Like they say, everything tastes better with butter.

Try one of our favorite red bean recipes that features butter. These fans love it:

“The woman who taught me to make red beans when I lived in New Orleans added a whole stick of butter…delish!”
Karen K.

“I use a little file and a little butter.” Harvey H.

“A stick of butter….and making a roux first.”
James S.

“Garlic and butter.” Patrick S.

“A ham hock from heavenly ham or one of those ham stores
and half stick butter per pound!”
Maria C.

“A stick or 2 of butter.”
Michael B.

“Add about a tablespoon of butter just before serving.”
Ruth H.

Not your standard smoked sausage

Andouille sausage is a classic, go-to ingredient for many red bean lovers and one they wouldn’t dream of forgoing when simmering their favorite Monday meal. Chewy and meaty, Andouille is made with chunks of lean pork shoulder spiced with garlic, salt, black pepper, and cayenne and then slow-smoked over pecan wood fires. With all that flavor packed in, it adds deep, smoky flavor and a hit of heat to the pot that regular sausage just can’t replicate. Born from German ingenuity in south Louisiana, Andouille is a delicious contribution from a sausage-making immigrant group that over centuries has had a big impact on Cajun culture and its culinary traditions.

The ultimate in smoky flavor, flavorful fat & richness

Many red bean fans slice and brown their Andouille sausage in a few glugs of oil, before adding the trinity — making sure that the smoky flavor infuses those aromatic vegetables (and every ingredient added thereafter) with flavorful fat and richness. The texture of Adouille is unusually hearty, the aroma is similar to bacon (mmmm), and many claim it’s their secret ingredient and the perfect complement to creamy red beans. Try this Easy Stovetop Red Beans & Rice recipe featuring Andouille sausage, and see if you agree. And read on to see how some fans rely on it as a red bean essential.

“Andouille and smoked Tasso and or ham. In the slow cooker. All day.”
Try H.

“Andouille, diced pickled pork, garlic, Tony’s, and a really good blend of other seasonings.”
Liz X.

“Andouille sausage, garlic, Tony’s, onions and mash some of dem beans to thicken it up. Slow cook.”
John M.

What would a plate of New Orleans red beans and rice be without hot sauce?

That divine mixture of chili peppers, salt and liquid is a taste we just can’t live without! The pungent chili heat and tart vinegar profile of many Louisiana-style hot sauces add piquant flavor and contrast to thick, creamy red beans, and most people in New Orleans don’t eat red beans and rice without it. Do you add hot sauce when you’re cooking beans? Some chefs say the vinegar in hot sauce can prevent the softening of beans during cooking – and some don’t – but you can’t go wrong when you shake some of your favorite hot sauce on a plate of red beans at the table. 

Bring on the heat.

Also called pepper sauce or chili sauce, hot sauce is a mixture of some kind of chili pepper (and there are many kinds) with, most commonly, vinegar and salt, plus a variety of other possible ingredients like tomato, garlic, fruit, ginger or sugar. The intensity of the “heat” in a hot sauce, which can vary depending on the kind of chili pepper, is measured by the Scoville Scale. As an example, Tabasco’s classic hot sauce measures 2500-5000 SHUs (Scoville Heat Units) on the Scoville Scale, while another local favorite, Crystal hot sauce, measures 2000-4000 SHUs. 

Hot sauce and beans go way back.

Peppers of all varieties (as well as beans) were introduced to the Old World via early explorers to the Americas, who gathered seedling plants and specimens and distributed them worldwide. Archeological digs of southern Mexico, the land once inhabited by the Aztecs, unearthed evidence of chili peppers being eaten as far back as 7,000 BC. and domesticated centuries later. The Aztecs made an early hot sauce by blending peppers or pepper paste, herbs and water. As early bean varietals closely related to red kidney beans were native to the same region it is logical that they might have ended up in the same bowl – to rather delicious effect, no doubt! Somewhere along the way, a bottle of sweet peppers and water sat long enough to ferment, the predecessor to the array of fermented hot sauces we commonly enjoy today.

Vinegar Makes Red Beans Taste Great!

Vinegar is an acidic liquid produced through fermentation and used in cooking as a flavoring agent and preservative. Its acid content and tangy flavor make it a standard in marinades. Historically, red kidney beans, planted by Spanish settlers, have grown abundantly in the rich Southern soil. The cheap, flavorful beans lent themselves to a variety of hearty preparations and flavor profiles that would have been familiar to the many ethnic groups mingling in the region. Vinegar, often steeped with small peppers, quickly became a favored flavoring agent for red beans, with its unique ability to cut through the unctuous texture of bean dishes. To this day bottles of vinegar and peppers are traditionally found on dining tables, often steeping there for years, refortified with fresh vinegar from time to time.

Season at the Table

The “glues” that hold plant cells together are called hemicelluloses. Acids such as vinegar make hemicelluloses more stable and less soluble, which might slow down the softening of beans. So to make sure your red beans are at their creamiest, add the vinegar later in the cooking process, or just use it to season them at the table. On a low salt diet? Vinegar also brightens the flavor of your beans without the need for excess salt.

If you’re looking for ways to increase the amount of protein in your diet, look no further than your favorite Monday meal – red beans and rice. This nutrient-packed dish is undeniably high in plant-based protein. Why? A 1-cup serving of cooked red beans (even before adding other sources of protein) clocks in at 15 grams of protein, and a typical bowl of red beans and rice clocks in at almost 30 grams of protein.

Of course, if you’re a meat eater, flavoring your red beans with cuts of pork such as bacon, ham hocks, or sausage is a tasty way to add even more protein to the dish. But if you’re looking for other options, check out the suggestions below.

Bone Broth

Lots of red bean fans like to simmer their beans in chicken broth or stock, as opposed to water. And while that works well to add flavor, a way to add even more protein is to use bone broth.

While regular chicken and beef broth offer 1-3 grams of protein per serving, most brands of bone broth offer 7-10 grams of protein per serving, with some bone broth protein powders featuring upwards of 20 grams of protein per serving.

Bone broth is made with similar ingredients to regular broth (meaty bones, aromatics, and water), with the addition of cider vinegar, which draws the nutrients out of the bones, cartilage and tendons. Both are simple to make, but the main difference is that bone broth is slow simmered for a much longer period of time — about 12-24 hours. This makes it more flavorful and increases the protein in the broth.

You’ll find lots of bone broth choices on grocery store shelves, but make sure to read the nutritional labels, because the protein per serving varies.

Rice & Whole Grains

White rice – The classic sidekick to red beans is white rice, which contains 4.25 grams of protein per serving.

Brown rice – An unprocessed whole grain that features a hearty texture, brown rice offers micronutrients, high fiber, and 5.5 grams of protein per serving — making it a higher protein replacement for white rice.

Farro – Another healthy option is farro — a plant-based protein and fiber-rich whole grain that’s also rich in nutrients, minerals and antioxidants. Like brown rice, farro has a nutty, chewy texture that holds up well to cooked beans. And with 7 grams of protein per serving, you’ll be increasing your protein intake in a delicious way.

In fact, when beans and rice or whole grains are eaten together, they’re considered complete proteins. Since beans are lower in methionine (an essential amino acid which rice contains) and rice is lower in lysine (an essential amino acid which beans provide), when eaten together, they each provide what the other lacks. So if you’re looking for even more plant-based protein, look no further than delicious beans and rice.

Quinoa – A third option is quinoa, which is rich in protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. It’s a whole grain that’s a complete protein, which means it contains all of the essential amino acids in the necessary amount, and boasts 8 grams of protein per serving.

Check out the protein totals for a few different combinations below. No matter how you combine the ingredients, red beans and rice is a great way to add a healthy dose of plant-based protein to your diet!

Red Beans and Rice Protein Combinations

Red Beans and Rice w/ Broth – 29.25 Grams of Protein

• Red beans: 15g per serving
• Broth: 2g
• Smoked sausage: 8g per serving
• White rice: 4.25g
• TOTAL: 29.25g

Red Beans and Rice w/ Bone Broth & Brown Rice – 36.5 Grams of Protein

• Red beans: 15g
• Bone broth: 8g
• Smoked sausage: 8g
• Brown rice: 5.5g
• TOTAL: 36.5g

Red Beans and Rice w/ Bone Broth & Farro – 38 Grams of Protein

• Red beans: 15g
• Bone broth: 8g
• Smoked sausage: 8g
• Farro: 7g
• TOTAL: 38g

Red Beans and Rice w/ Bone Broth & Quinoa – 39 Grams of Protein

• Red beans: 15g
• Bone broth: 8g
• Smoked sausage: 8g
• Quinoa: 8g
• TOTAL: 39g

Maybe you’re on a high-protein diet, or you’re vegetarian and want to make sure you’re getting enough protein. Or perhaps you’re simply trying to be more mindful of nutrition. Whatever your aim, you’ll benefit from the high amounts of healthy plant-based protein found in beans, peas and lentils.

With a range of 13-18 grams of protein per serving, (lentils have the most at 18g per serving, while our signature red kidneys have 15g per serving) you can enjoy your favorite beans, peas and lentils and know you’re getting a healthy dose of protein towards your daily goal. Add to that a range of 6-19 grams of fiber per serving as well, and you’re getting even more nutritional bang for your buck.

Check out the chart below to see just how much protein per serving you’ll get from each of our Camellia varieties:

DRY BEAN PROTEIN & FIBER

A History of Spice Mixes

According to Judy Walker, food writer for Nola.com and The Times Picayune, “Chefs and home cooks have combined salt, pepper, spices and herbs forever, or at least as long as there have been Herbes de Provence, curries and Chinese five-spice powder. Blends make cooking more convenient and dishes consistent. But the tremendous growth of spice mixes in the past 30 years can be traced in great measure to Louisiana, first to Tony Chachere, then to New Orleans through Paul Prudhomme and, later, Emeril Lagasse.”

Some would say the king of these spice mixes is Creole seasoning.

A Blend Born of Necessity

A delicious blend of paprika, dried oregano, ground black pepper, dried basil, kosher salt, cayenne pepper, granulated onion, dried thyme, and granulated garlic, Creole seasoning was originally created by Tony Chachere out of sheer necessity. He was a travelling insurance salesman who often took his own spices and herbs on the road to season his food, and to make things easier, he traded in his bottles and jars for a custom blend. In 1972, when he wrote a cookbook and included the recipe for his concoction, people wanted to buy it.

Just Add Some “Tony’s”

Now, even though you’ll find other brands of Creole seasoning on grocery store shelves, Tony Chachere’s is synonymous with the all-purpose salty/spicy blend. Many fans who grew up with it add it to just about everything — red beans and rice, gumbo, Creole tomatoes, eggs, and bloody marys — and refer to it simply as “Tony’s”.

A Red Beans & Rice Essential

In fact, to many, it’s a mandatory ingredient when it comes to cooking their red beans and rice. Just as no self-respecting Louisiana cook would think to make a pot of red beans without the Trinity or bay leaves, many lend the same importance to Creole seasoning, saying the beans absorb the flavors of the seasoning as they cook. It’s also popular to add it at the table, as many do with hot sauces and vinegars.

So try some Creole seasoning in your next batch of red beans, and while you’re at it, add it to any foods that need doctoring up with a hit of bold flavor.

See our recipes that use Creole seasoning.

Known for its nutritional, medicinal, and flavor benefits, garlic is a natural superfood that’s a part of culinary traditions around the world. Considered both an herb and a vegetable, garlic is part of the bulbus allium family and consists of a bulb and multiple cloves (often called a toe).

You can purchase garlic dried, jarred, or fresh, and use it in a multitude of different ways. Luckily, garlic is available all year round, but is freshest during the July – October months.

Garlic Packs A Flavor Punch

In both scent and flavor, garlic is easily recognized by the senses, and fresh garlic can add flavor to even the simplest of dishes. Utilized with beans, pasta and rice dishes, pizza, dips, spreads and more – garlic is an incredibly versatile ingredient that compliments many cooking styles.

Louisianians love strong flavor, so it’s no wonder this ingredient is a go-to essential for their beloved Louisiana-style Red Beans and more.

Cooking & Handling Raw Garlic

While simple, chopping or mincing garlic can be a sticky endeavor. Once the garlic has been removed from its casing, the release of sugars and oils can make it difficult to work with. The smell of garlic on your fingers can also linger for as long as a week! If you aren’t looking to wear a garlic scent, you can purchase a garlic press to cleanly and quickly mince garlic for recipes.

Garlic cooks very quickly, so it’s important to either add it when other ingredients are in the pot, or to start cooking it over low heat. Continuous stirring is also key, so that the garlic doesn’t burn. Burnt garlic produces a bitter scent and can leave a dish tasting less than delicious. So, do yourself a flavor favor and follow the above tips.

Storing Raw Garlic

Be sure to store any garlic in a dry and dark place, with a lot of air circulation. It’s recommended to store in a wire basket or mesh bag. It’s best to store garlic as an entire head, or bulb, because it lasts longer. Once you break a head of garlic, it immediately reduces the shelf life to just a few days. When intact, the head itself can stay fresh for many months under the right conditions.

If you have leftover fresh garlic, don’t fret! Bag it and store in the refrigerator, but be sure to use it as soon as possible to prevent it from sprouting and going bad.

Garlic Breath

Did you ever wonder why red beans and rice is often topped with parsley? Parsley is well known for taming the scent of most overly pungent flavors on the tongue, and often provides a nice visual accent to dishes. For red beans and rice, it’s no different. To help counteract the acidity of garlic and get fresher breath, chew on some parsley after a garlic-y meal.

Garlic Benefits

Cooking with garlic has a long-standing history around the world, but its medicinal benefits are known across cultures, as well. In the 1500s across Western Europe, garlic was often utilized to combat infection and served as a cure for the plague or smallpox. It was even used as an insect repellant. Throughout the course of many wars, its antiseptic properties were relied upon to provide relief and treatment for ailments like dysentery.

Garlic is incredibly nutritious, fortified with many B vitamins as well as folate, Vitamin C, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and zinc. It’s proven to reduce cholesterol and is considered a cancer preventer when eaten raw daily.

It also doesn’t hurt that it can help fight a cold, and invigorates both hair and skin.

Vampires Beware:

The most famous of all garlic folklore is its association with vampires. This was popularised in the West by Bram Stoker’s classic novel Dracula, but it has long been a repellant of “bad souls” across Eastern European and Egyptian cultures.

Why garlic? Because of its healing possibilities and ability to repel insects, it’s believed that garlic placed around the neck or around the room will repel a vampire.

Check out bean recipes with garlic.

Crab Boil: Traditionally Used to Flavor Seafood

Crab boil is a spice mixture that’s traditionally used to flavor crabs and other shellfish when boiling seafood. And since Louisiana-style crab boil tends to be spicier than in other parts of the country, it’s not surprising that it often contains a fiery combination of cayenne pepper, salt, bay leaves, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, allspice, dill seed, black peppercorns and crushed red pepper. It’s found in two forms: 1) dry spices, usually housed within a mesh or cheesecloth bag that gets thrown into the seafood boiling pot to steep, and 2) a liquid concentrate that can be added directly to the water.

Boosts Flavor & Spice in All Kinds of Dishes

The real magic is in the liquid concentrate that’s made with spice extractives like essential oils (the aromatic components of a spice, normally extracted by steam distillation). Why? Because the liquid concentrate can be used to boost the flavor in all kinds of delicious dishes. And in South Louisiana, that means going well beyond boiled seafood. Many add a splash to their red beans (as well as to their rice-cooking water) for spicy, delicious flavor. But you’ll also find that folks add it to egg wash before frying seafood, as well as to gumbos, etouffées, and potato salad (again, to the water they boil their potatoes in). And some even go so far as to add it to melted butter used to roast potatoes and other vegetables.

Try a Few Drops in Your Red Beans

It’s potent stuff, but because you can literally use it drop by drop, you can control the level of spiciness and flavor it imparts. Haven’t tried it yet? Give it a go in your next batch of red beans and rice; you’ll be glad you did. Just remember, a little goes a long way, so be judicious. And enjoy.

A Spice-Aisle Staple for Vegetarians

Liquid smoke is a spice-aisle staple among vegetarian bean lovers, and they swear by its ability to add great smoky flavor to vegetarian red beans & rice. While smoked meat purists might not approve, liquid smoke fans claim it’s a meatless shortcut to savory, woodsy flavor. It provides the flavor of smoke without using smoked meats or cooking food over an open flame. Of course, you can use it to add extra smoky flavor — even if your dish also includes smoked meat.

So what exactly is liquid smoke? It’s literally wood smoke that has been condensed into a liquid form. Invented by Ernest H. Wright in 1895, it’s the result of running smoke from burning hickory wood through a condenser, and collecting the droplets. At the time, it was an inexpensive alternative to the common practice of smoking meat, and it was used more as a preservative than a flavoring agent, due to its natural antimicrobial properties.

A Great Way to Add Smoky Flavor

With the widespread appeal of summer campfires and backyard barbecues that came along in the 1950s and 60s, as well as the acceptance of flavoring condiments such as ketchup and barbecue sauce, liquid smoke gained popularity. Now, it’s marketed as a great way to quickly add smoky flavor to your favorite foods. And as you might expect, it’s popular as an ingredient in the production of barbecue-style meats, smoky bacon and smoked cheeses.

Most brands of liquid smoke are made the same, all-natural way that Wright did it way back when. Nowadays, you’ll sometimes find additional ingredients such as molasses, salt or vinegar.

A Little Goes A Long Way

The most important thing to know about using liquid smoke is that a little goes a long way — whether a dish is vegetarian or not. Dash it sparingly into chili, stews, soups and slow cooker dishes. Try adding a few drops to your red beans, and taste as you go. The flavor is intense, and you don’t want to overpower your dish. When tightly sealed and stored in a cool, dark place, it should maintain its flavor and aroma. So the next time you want to go for that special savory flavor, reach for the liquid smoke.

Rice is an essential but often-overlooked co-star of Louisiana’s most famous and distinctive dishes: gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya, dirty rice, rice and gravy, and — yes — red beans and rice. And when you’re choosing the rice that will complement your cooking, there’s no reason to settle for run-of-the-mill varieties when something as delicious as popcorn rice is available.

Savor the Hints of Nuts and Popcorn

Popcorn rice — a Louisiana-bred long-grain specialty variety of aromatic rice — is a sure-fire way to make your red beans even tastier. Popcorn rice delivers just what you’d expect from the name: a uniquely strong, nutty, toasty, popcorn-like aroma that is comparable to basmati rice.

The prominent extra flavor and fragrance in popcorn rice come from natural biochemicals that rice farmers purposefully cultivate, chiefly one called 2-acetyl 1-pyroline (or 2AP) that delivers the special aroma. You’ve heard of artisan cheeses, beers, and sausages; well, popcorn rice is an artisan grain.

Better Ingredients, Better Beans

The preparation of popcorn rice is generally no different from other varieties of white rice, though you should refer to your package’s label for specific instructions. To preserve its flavor, store popcorn rice in a cool, dry place or even freeze it.

Your red beans and rice won’t be any worse off if you don’t use popcorn rice, but as with anything you cook, the better ingredients you use, the tastier your final product will be. Using popcorn rice (or other aromatic types such as pecan rice and jasmine rice) is simply another way to up your kitchen game with a higher-quality flavor component that will never be accused of blandness.

It’s a simple truism in cooking that chicken stock makes everything taste better, and that includes your red beans and rice.

Why settle for using just water in your beans when this stock can add hints of chicken along with the delicious essences of an array of aromatic vegetables, herbs, and spices?

The Secret to the Stock: Bones

In chicken stock, it’s the bird’s bones that infuse the water with that extra-special flavor and mouthfeel, thanks to the gelatin that’s released during the simmering process. (Chicken stock is different from chicken broth in that the latter uses more meat than bones.)

Use as much chicken stock as you want in your beans. Even just a little should improve the overall taste of the final product. Or you can go all out and use stock entirely in the place of water.

Another great option: Use chicken stock, not water, as the liquid base for your rice.

And if it’s a truism that chicken stock makes everything better, then, naturally, homemade chicken stock trumps chicken stock out of a can or carton, or in a bouillon cube or powdered form.

Making Your Own Stock Is Simple

Whenever you have a whole chicken as a main meal, get into the habit of throwing the carcass — bones, skin, leftover meat, and all — into a stock pot or Dutch oven, then bring it to a boil along with some aromatic vegetables (such as onion, celery, carrots, garlic, leeks); herbs and spices (such as parsley, bay leaf, thyme, cloves, pepper, or anything that would go in a classic bouquet garni); along with, of course, water or even wine. The options are endless, and cookbooks are full of stock recipes. However, you probably don’t want to add salt to your stock-in-process because your chicken carcass, presumably, already contains sodium.

Let the stock simmer for several hours and then strain it, removing the fat and other particles along with the carcass. Store the broth in containers in your refrigerator or freezer to be used when needed. Obviously, freezing stock will make it last longer.

Stocks Come in Every Flavor

Stocks also can be made in similar fashion out of leftover seafood, fish, beef, veal, duck, game, or other meats for use in gumbos and other dishes. And if you’re a vegetarian, just leave out the meat and sauté your aromatic vegetables before starting the stock-making process.

If you don’t have the time or the inclination to make your own stock, try the premade products. Using a commercial version is better than using no stock at all. And in recent years, high-quality organic versions have become available, some marketed by celebrity chefs.

Red beans and rice already is the quintessential meal of south Louisiana. Adding chicken stock will add even more flavor dimensions that can only improve your final dish.

The south Louisiana specialty meat tasso resembles ham or pancetta and is a lean cut of pork that’s cured, spiced and smoked for hours to create the finished product. Although tasso can be eaten by itself, its ultimate purpose is to help season a wide variety of Cajun and Creole dishes, including red beans and rice.

Tasso (pronounced “TAH-so”) is a perfect seasoning for slow-cooked beans of all kinds, including red, black, blackeyes, butter, cannellini, navy, and Great Northerns. A little tasso goes a long way, but liberal amounts can’t hurt a dish, either.

Add Tasso to Your Trinity

When making traditional Louisiana-style red beans, start by combining tasso with the “holy trinity” of onion, celery, and bell pepper. Tasso takes the place of — or can be used in conjunction with — other seasoned meats used to sauté the trinity, such as ham hocks or bacon, infusing the base with a smoky, spicy flavor.

Tasso also complements gumbo, étouffées, soups, jambalaya, shrimp and grits, vegetables such as collard greens and Brussels Sprouts, casseroles, and pastas, especially for carbonara and cream sauces. Some food lovers like tasso as a pizza topping, while others eat it plain or on sandwiches.

Make Your Own Tasso (Or Buy It)

Home cooks can find lots recipes for making their own tasso. The preferred cut of meat is from the pig’s shoulder. Although sometimes described as “pork butt,” it’s actually not from the swine’s nether regions. The meat is cut into long strips, almost like a hearty beef jerky, before it’s seasoned and smoked.

Spices used to season the pork vary according to individual recipes but can include salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, sugar, hot sauce, mustard, paprika, cinnamon, vinegar, and/or Worcestershire sauce. Fire up your home smoker with pecan, hickory, or oak wood, and smoke the meat for at least a couple of hours.

If you’re not up to the task of making your own tasso, commercial versions from companies like Poche’s, Richard’s, and Savoie’s are available in grocery stores, not to mention the mom-and-pop meat markets and butcher shops that dot much of Louisiana.

Rooted in the Rich Cajun Boucherie Tradition

Tasso came about during Louisiana’s pre-refrigeration age, when every bit of a slaughtered pig was turned into something edible, whether andouille, boudin, cracklings (aka gratons), patés, sausages, pork rib stews, or other delicacies. Even organ meat was used to make the local terrine known as hogshead cheese.

Cajuns perfected their charcuterie skills thanks in part to the presence of early German settlers who lived alongside them in Louisiana’s swamps, prairies, and riverside settlements. The all-day Cajun hog-butchering party known as the boucherie is fondly recalled as a fun-filled but labor-intensive community affair by many older Cajuns — a tradition that is rapidly disappearing because of the preponderance of refrigeration and the industrialization of food production.

Popularized by Trailblazing Chef Paul Prudhomme

Although Germans influenced Acadiana’s sausage-making traditions, so too did other cultures. The word “tasso” itself is derived from the Spanish word “tasajo,” for dried, smoked beef. Scholars point out that Spanish colonists lived near New Iberia, La., in the 18th century, and there were meat-smoking practices among Native Americans in the area.

Curiously, tasso was largely unknown in New Orleans until famed Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme introduced it there as a key component in his recipes. Despite its resurgence, tasso is one of America’s “delicious and distinctive foods facing extinction,” Slow Food USA has written in including it in its Ark of Taste. “By identifying and championing these foods, we keep them in production and on our plate.”

Tasso is a win-win ingredient for your New Orleans-Style Red Beans & Rice and other dishes. You can’t beat the flavor, and you’re tapping into one of America’s unique culinary traditions, rooted in the rich culture of Cajun Louisiana.

The bay leaf is a subtle yet indispensable ingredient in south Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole cooking, used in everything from gumbo and bisque to bouillabaisse and red beans.

Containing dozens of flavor compounds, the bay leaf serves as a fragrant background element in red beans, delivering a complex combination of woodsy and tea-like characteristics to the palate.

Perfect for Slow-Cooked Dishes

Bay leaves are meant to cook in red beans for at least an hour in order to distill their essence. One or two whole leaves should be enough, although some cooks use more. Don’t grind bay leaves into powder or cut them into small pieces.

Frozen Leaves Stay Fresh Longer

Don’t store your bay leaves at room temperature if you can help it. Freezing (or at least refrigerating) them will ensure that they retain their flavors for much longer. Some cooks also use fresh bay leaves, particularly when a tree grows nearby, but dried ones should be the go-to choice for red beans and rice, as the flavor is more intense.

A staple of today’s French pantry, the bay leaf also is a frequent component of the classic bouquet garni, along with other herbs such as parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, or whatever a recipe might require.

Use Turkish, Not California, Bay Leaves

The bay leaf most commonly used in cooking today comes from the bay laurel tree (Laurus nobilis), which produces almond-shaped leaves about 1 to 3 inches long. Often called Turkish bay leaves, they are native to the eastern Mediterranean. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the ancient Greek and Romans once used bay leaves from the laurel tree to weave crowns for their Olympic champions and conquering heroes (hence the modern term “Nobel laureate” or “poet laureate”).

Less commonly used in red beans is the leaf of the California-grown Umbellularia californica, which has a more menthol-like, floral taste. The California bay leaf is best for dishes that require strong aromatics, like desserts such as sorbets and mousses.

Bay and Filé: Gifts From American Indians

The bay leaf also has been used as a homeopathic remedy for centuries to ward off illnesses and treat a variety of health conditions. American Indians were known to burn bay leaves to repel insects with the smoke.

In fact, Indians likely gave French and Spanish settlers to Louisiana (as well as African slaves) their first taste of bay leaves, cultivated from a couple of laurel tree varieties native to the Southeastern coastal plains: the Persea borbonia, or red bay, and the Persea palustris, or swamp bay. Leaves from these trees can be substituted for those of the Laurus nobilis.

And the sassafras leaf, another member of the laurel family known to the Indians, is used to make filé powder, a thickening agent in gumbos. Filé has been hailed as among the Native Americans’ greatest culinary gifts to our cultural melting pot, with corn being the foremost. Ground bay leaves are thought to have been used as an occasional substitute for the leaves of the rarer sassafras tree.

Most south Louisianians wouldn’t dream of making a pot of red beans without adding bay leaves. You don’t have to use them, but the end product likely will lack the certain je ne sais quoi that this soulful herb always seems to provide. When it comes to cooking red beans, always bet on the bay.

Check out bean recipes with bay leaves.

Historic Way of Preserving Meat Adds Piquancy.

Before the advent of refrigeration, preserving foods was a challenge. Every culture developed some version of pickling, or preserving in a salty brine or vinegar. Herbs and spices, such as mustard seed, garlic, cinnamon or cloves, were often added, not only for their flavor, but because they helped with the preservation process. If the food being preserved had a high enough water content, it could be packed in salt alone. Salt pork and salt beef were staples of a sailor’s diet before steam engines made ocean crossings much less time-consuming.

Pork was a cornerstone of the diet of the French settlers who lived in Acadiana, now called Nova Scotia. When the British forced them out of their homeland many found their way south to French-speaking Louisiana, where wild boar was plentiful, allowing the Acadians to retain pork in their diets while evolving its preparation with the different herbs and spices they found in their new home.

A Recipe Born of Frugality.

As Native Americans did with the buffalo, the Acadians, a.k.a. Cajuns, utilized virtually every part of the pig. Before the advent of refrigeration and commercial curing, meat not destined for immediate consumption was often rubbed with a mixture of salt and saltpeter and layered with mashed cloves, ground allspice, chopped onions, bay leaves, and more salt, then stored in barrels where it would last as long as a year.

What Pickle Meat Brings to the Red Bean Pot.

Pickle meat, a.k.a. pickled pork, remains a staple in the Louisiana kitchen, where it is most frequently used to season pots of long-simmered beans, smothered vegetables, or greens. The meat, rendered supremely tender and pre-seasoned from the brine, can be relied upon to break down and saturate the other ingredients in the pot with its delicious flavors. Hold off on adding additional salt before tasting the cooked beans — the salt released from the pickled meat should be plenty to season the pot.

Still Acadiana Made, Now Widely Available.

At most Louisiana grocery stores pickle meat is readily available in hunks, in smaller chunks, or in slices from brands such as Richard’s and Savoie’s — both of which classify themselves as “Cajun” — and Vaucresson’s, which claims Creole as its heritage. No matter, the aromatics and spices used in the brining process are all about the same. If pickle meat is unavailable in your area, it is available online, but you can easily make it yourself:

Pickled Pork Recipe

Ingredients:

1 quart distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup mustard seed
1 tablespoon celery seed
2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce, such as Tabasco
1 bay leaf
6 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
12 whole black peppercorns
2 pounds boneless pork butt, or rib tips cut into 2-inch cubes

Directions:

1. Combine everything except the pork in a non-reactive saucepan. Bring to a full boil and retain at the boil for 3 minutes.
2. Cool the brine and add it to a stainless steel, glass, or plastic container.
3. Add the pork, stir thoroughly, and push the meat down to fully submerge it in the brine.
4. Cover and refrigerate for at least three days before using as a seasoning meat. Drain, rinse, and drain the meat again before use to remove all traces of seasoning aromatics.

What’s your favorite kind of fat?

If you love red beans and cook them religiously, you probably have a favorite kind of fat that adds the dimension, flavor and creaminess you can’t live without – whether it’s canola, corn or olive oil, butter, margarine, bacon grease, or even lard. In fact, red beans & rice fans have spoken when it comes to their secret ingredients, and which kinds of fats they swear by. So we’ll cover the most popular ones here, giving you a taste of their flavor profiles and what they bring to the table.

Fat tastes good. And it makes other flavors taste even better.

Keep in mind that fat not only has the useful functions of keeping cooking water from boiling over and transferring heat to food, but it also adds an awful lot of depth to a pot of red beans. Fat feels good in your mouth and makes other flavors taste better, too. Fatty foods are often more flavorful because many flavors dissolve in fats. In fact, some flavors like to stick to fat molecules, so fat can actually prolong the release of flavors in your mouth.

Cooking Oils: With mild, nuanced flavors, oils add depth and creaminess and complement other flavors in the pot.

A fat favorite mentioned by many is oil. Because of its mild, nuanced flavor, it adds depth to savory dishes and complements other flavors in the pot. Lots of red bean lovers wouldn’t dream of adding anything else to the pot until they’d first sautéed the trinity (a combo chopped onion, green pepper and celery), as well as garlic, in a few generous glugs of olive oil. The combination of those aromatics plus the oil makes a wonderfully flavorful base for red beans. Others adamantly insist that adding corn oil or canola oil near the end of cooking is the key to the creamiest red beans. Following are some interesting quotes and tips to chew on:

“If using meat, brown it in olive oil after patting it with your favorite seasonings. Afterwards, use some of the oil and the drippings to sauté all the veggies.” Michael D.

“Pickled pig tails and cooking oil @ the end.” Teara M.

“A big cooking spoon of Mazola Corn Oil for creamy beans! These are the best!! Cooked in a crock pot!!!!” Cindy N.

“U want creamy beans? Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil at the end. Works every time.” Shana T.

“Sauté onions, garlic in canola oil.” Susan P.

“At the end, a l’il cooking oil – the best!!!!!” Tammy B.

Butter: Luxuriously smooth and creamy, it carries flavors and spices into the rest of the dish.

Another popular choice is butter. With its rich, creamy dairy flavor, real butter is made from milk fat and has a delicious, smooth texture. Interestingly, it has a melting temperature of 98.6° F, which happens to be the temperature inside your mouth. And it works well as a flavor carrier for spices and other ingredients; for example, when you sauté an onion in butter, all the flavor from the onions will be carried by the butter into the rest of the dish – complementing and enhancing the flavor of the beans. Sound good? Try one of our favorite red bean recipes that features butter. These fans say it’s their secret ingredient:

“I use a little file and a little butter.” Harvey H.

“Garlic and butter.” Patrick S.

Bacon Grease: The king of flavorful fats

Now – nothing against oil and butter, but when it comes to adding meaty, smoky flavor and richness, lots of red beans & rice fans claim there’s nothing better than bacon grease. Cooking bacon in a cast-iron pan or heavy skillet over very low heat for 10 – 12 minutes will give you a good rendering and a nice amount of fat to work with. But remember, bacon is salty because it’s cured – so when cooking with bacon grease, be careful of the amount of salt you add. You can always put more in if need be, but it’s hard to fix if you over-salt. Check out some bacon fan suggestions below:

“Chicken broth, bacon grease, and ham hocks.” Heather V.

“Bacon grease. Gotta have it!” Claire S.

“Smoked bacon, smoked turkey neck, and the grease from the bacon, celery.” Theresa G.

“Bacon grease.” Kuris N.

“Sauté onion, celery, garlic in bacon fat.” Rose Anne L.

“Bacon grease-sauté onions-pickled pork, Tasso, a little roux, ham base, low and slow till they cream, green onion tops at the end!” Jimmy Y.

“I use bacon grease to help make my beans creamy.” Rhonda K.

“A teaspoon of bacon grease.” Connie W.

Making you hungry for a pot of red beans? Start cooking and maybe give one of these fan suggestions a try.

Camellia food shoot on 10/10/18 and 10/11/18. Photo by Ryan Hodgson-Rigsbee

Louisiana-style red kidney beans are typically cooked down in water or chicken or vegetable broth with sautéed onions, bell pepper, and celery (also known as “the Holy Trinity”) and garlic.

The cooking liquid is further flavored with herbs and spices that may include any combination of bay leaves, parsley, thyme, rosemary, basil, oregano, and cayenne and/or black peppers. Leftover or inexpensive cuts of meat, such as smoked ham, pickled pork, sausage or wild game, are often simmered with the beans to impart specific flavors. “Heat” spices are usually kept relatively tame, allowing the diner to personalize his or her serving to taste with condiments offered at the table.

Once that plate of red beans hits the table, it’s anything goes.

If you put red beans and rice in front of three different people from three different Louisiana families, you’ll see at least three different ways to dress up those beans before they take a bite.

Common tableside additions to the red beans and rice dish include hot pepper sauce, sliced green onions, chow-chow (a mustard and pickle relish), a big dollop of butter, ketchup, mayonnaise, pickled white onions, olive oil, and vinegar.