If it’s Monday in New Orleans, then there are thousands of households and restaurants with a big pot of red beans simmering on the stove. There are as many recipes for red beans as there are for gumbo. This one is my family favorites, based
off of a common New Orleans recipe with a few changes my family made. My wife
had never had real New Orleans red beans and rice until she had
my recipe. Now, if we don’t have pickle meat, we don’t do red beans.

Ingredients:

1 lb Camellia Red Beans
(Pretty much available at most large grocery chains)
1 lb Andouille sausage
(or Chappell Hill venison and pork
sausage or good smoked sausage)

1 lb pickled pork (pickled meat) Optional
except at my house. (Savoie’s available at HEB) or at Cajun Grocer

1 large onion chopped

1 large green bell pepper chopped

1 whole garlic minced (yeah ya gotta have the garlic)

4 ribs of celery chopped

3 bay large bay leaves

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1 tbs. salt

1 tbs. Cajun Seasoning

1- 8 Oz. can of tomato sauce (gives it more body and taste)

2-4 tablespoons olive oil

Cooking Instructions

Pickle pork, or pickle meat is only available in Louisiana. Savoie and Richards puts
it out and I like Savoie’s better. It can be ordered online from Cajun Grocer,
but it’s expensive. Mostly the shipping. Order a dozen or so and it’s not
too bad. Usually though, I just wait to go home, and get a dozen packs or so.

Pickle pork is very lean pork that has been pickled. It was a way of preservation
before refrigeration. Not to be confused with salted pork. My mother and both
my grandmother’s used both sausage and pickled pork in their red beans.

I have a little measuring spoon trio that measures a pinch, dash, and a smidgen. A
pinch is between a dash and a smidgen, with a smidgen being the smallest
measurement of the three.

Dash- 1/8 teaspoon

Pinch- 1/16 teaspoon

Smidgen- 1/32 teaspoon

The Night Before

Cut pickled pork in 1 inch cubes and brown in 1 tsp. olive oil. Put in bowl for storage over night.Leave the pan drippings for the next step.

Sweat vegetables in the olive oil and pork drippings with a bay leaf. While the veggies are cooking, and there is plenty of water in the pan, deglaze the pan by
scraping the brown deliciousness from the pickled pork from the bottom. If
not using pickled port, sweat vegetables in 2 tablespoons of olive oil
until almost dry. Season with 3 or four grinds of fresh black pepper, ½ tsp. of salt and 1 tsp. of Cajun seasoning or to taste.

Slice the Andouille or smoked sausage into ½ inch rounds and put in the bowl with the rest of the seasoning and pickle meat or smoked ham.

Put the sweated vegetables in the bowl covered, in fridge overnight (with the pickled pork if using it)

Get out the crock pot.Wash beans in and remove any debris and bad beans.

Put the beans in the crock pot and just cover with water. Stir in ½ tsp. of salt, 1 to 3 grinds of black pepper and a ½ tsp. of Cajun Seasoning, and place 1 bay leaf in
the water. Do not soak for more than 10 hours.

The Next Morning

Turn the crock pot on high. Get the bowl of vegetables and meat out of the
fridge and put into the crock pot. Add the 8 oz. of tomato sauce and add
water until up to the rim. Best to put the crock pot on a quarter baking
sheet with sides to catch the run over once the pot begins to boil.
Cook on high for 4 – 6 hours, after which, reduce
to low until the beans are tender. Keep water level near the top. Recycle
the water that overflows onto the baking sheet.

Taste and adjust seasoning as desired

Cook 2 to 2 and ½ cups of long grain rice. I like to have enough for
leftovers. (If any!)

Seasoning I don’t like to over season my food. I put enough seasoning to suite the taste of the person who least likes a lot of seasoning: just a slight after-burn. Then, I put the peppers in vinegar, and Cajun Seasoning on the table with the pepper and salt. You want it more seasoned, then you do it your self at the table. I cook with what
taste kids will eat; because if the kids like it, they will continue the custom
and you have another easy meal that feeds a lot!

Serve over steaming white rice with French bread, or garlic
bread, and a nice green salad. Serves about 6 to 8.