Defying gravity, Galliano’s Pork Chop LaPlace is a study in vertical culinary construction: a base of red beans, then cornbread and ham hock dressing, topped with an andouille-stuffed Berkshire pork chop (cold smoked and grilled), upon which three onion rings are carefully placed, then finished with a “tiger sauce.”

It has probably given a few diners pause on how to start eating; nevertheless, it is one of the restaurant’s most popular dishes.

A Cajun Concept Restaurant

Located in the Warehouse District, Galliano opened in December 2016 as a “very casual Cajun concept,” says co-owner Manny Pineda. When COVID-19 hit in early 2020 and the restaurant lost a steady customer base from the nearby Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, the decision was made to revamp the menu offerings.

“I am a fine dining brat,” admits Pineda, who worked his way through college at a number of fine-dining establishments in New Orleans, including Emeril’s. It was there that he met Chef Ricky Cheramie, with whom he and a business partner opened Restaurant Rebirth, a Creole-and Cajun-inspired farm-to-table restaurant. Later, he opened Galliano on the same city block.

For the new Galliano menu, Pineda and Cheramie harkened back to their fine dining backgrounds and added traditional homestyle Cajun dishes with a few twists — such as the Pork Chop LaPlace, a Cheramie creation.

But even with this menu elevation, traditional dishes such as red beans and rice are on the menu – alongside jambalaya, gumbo, blackened Gulf fish, and others.

The restaurant also focuses on local sourcing, such as Camellia Red Red Kidney Beans – for Pork Chop LaPlace, as well as the traditional red beans and rice offering.

Traditional Red Beans & Rice: How They Make It 

“We start with the trinity [onion, bell peppers, celery]. Add all the seasonings such as Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Meat Magic Cajun Seasonings, paprika, and cook it all down,” says Pineda. “We add a little bit of ham hock in there, some andouille sausage, cook it some, then throw in the Camellia red beans,” which have been soaking overnight.

“Chicken stock is added, then bay leaves, and it is all cooked down to the right consistency.”

What is the “secret” ingredient? “We add a couple of smoked pork chops in, while the red beans are cooking down,” says Pineda.

Once the pork chops are done, and the chef pulls them out, the meat basically falls off the bone. It is then chopped and mixed back into the red beans to cook further. When finished, the red beans are served with Louisiana long-grain rice.

It all combines into a hearty dish, one that has its roots firmly in Galliano, the town in southeast Louisiana that Cheramie hails from.  

Galliano, 200 Julia St., gallianorestaurant.com; on Instagram; Mon.-Sat. 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

With so many options to choose from, it wasn’t easy to select the top ten bean dishes of 2023! But here they are – flavorful favorites you’ll return to again and again. From traditional Creole and Cajun dishes to soups, appetizers, snacks, and more, there’s something delicious for everyone to enjoy.

Shrimp & White Bean Soup

This heartwarming classic features sweet Louisiana shrimp. Make it with your favorite white beans – whether they’re Great Northerns, Cannellinis, or Navy beans.

Instant Pot New Orleans-Style Red Beans for 2

Fast and easy, our Red Beans for 2 brings authentic Louisiana comfort food to your kitchen with small-batch cooking in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot.

White Bean Soup with Tasso, Winter Squash & Chard

This one’s a winter weeknight favorite that’s delicious, easy to make, and a great meal-prep recipe.

Southern Quesadillas

Oh-so-southern, these blackeye pea quesadillas are a tasty twist on the Tex-Mex version.

Blackeye Peas and Jammy Eggs

The creamy yolk from soft-boiled eggs mixes with blackeye peas for a delightfully savory flavor.

Field Pea Caviar

This colorful, southern caviar makes a great dip, snack, or side.

Braised Lady Peas

This classic southern dish will be a welcome accompaniment to any dinner table. A touch of tang and crunch from pickled onions hits the spot.

White Beans with a Cajun Accent

Whether it’s for a casual Sunday supper or a larger family gathering, a big pot of White Beans with Tasso and Ham is a crowd pleaser.

Red Bean Huevos Rancheros

A different take on the usual Huevos Rancheros, this delicious dish switches out traditional refried beans with tasty refried red beans.

Chocolate Hummus

Try this  healthy, vegan chocolate treat. Just add graham crackers, pretzels, or fruit for dipping.

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.

Abita Springs is a quaint village deep in the piney woods of the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain, about 45 minutes from New Orleans. Once a spa town where New Orleanians came to escape the summer heat and swim in the many local springs, it retains not only its 19th-century architectural charm but also its old-timey general store, right in the town’s CBB (central business block). With an emphasis on local tradition, Artigue’s Abita Market is a family business that serves the little community’s loyal residents, many of whom live in historic Victorian cottages close enough to walk to the store. Customers also include cyclists passing by on the nearby Tammany Trace bike path and day-trippers from New Orleans who come to check out the town’s attractions, including the quirky UCM Museum and the local Abita Beer microbrewery. 

A Small Town with Big Flavor

In addition to the grocery essentials required in any small Louisiana town, like Cajun spices, T-Rey’s local andouille sausage, spicy boiled peanuts and plenty of red beans, lima beans and blackeye peas, Artigue’s also offers a fresh daily specials menu, brought to life by chef Trey Herty. The menu features a rotation of classic Louisiana hot plates and po-boys plus local family recipes like Mom’s Red Beans and Rice with Pickled Meat, T-Rey’s Smoked Boudin, Louisiana Catfish Meuniere and Artigue’s famous Chicken and Smoked Sausage Gumbo. And not to be missed are the side dishes, from tasty Boudin Balls with Pepper Jelly Dipping Sauce to Stewed Green Baby Limas, Baked Yams and Collard Greens.

Artigue’s Red Bean Secrets Revealed

The menu at Artigue’s evolves along with the seasonal produce that’s locally available, while also staying true to New Orleans traditions such as Red Beans and Rice on Mondays. Sometimes the menu is more Cajun and other times it’s more Creole, but at Artigue’s it’s always Louisiana. So how does Artigue’s do red beans? Chef Trey essentially follows his mom’s recipe and adds in a few “chef hacks” along the way. (His mom, Reba, makes the best red beans he’s ever had.) For seasoning meat he uses products he developed – T-Rey’s Specialty Meats Smoked Sausage and Pickled Meat – which customers can also buy in the store. Chef Trey always browns the sausage in a separate pan and deglazes the pan with vegetables to impart a rich umami flavor to his red beans, and he keeps the spice lineup simple and classic: salt, black pepper and cayenne, with garlic added at several different stages of the cooking process and a couple of dashes of Louisiana Hot Sauce when serving. Can’t get much more Louisiana than that!

From Camellia Band Navy Beans and Great Northern Beans to Large Limas and more, our favorite white beans are buttery, delicious, and deserve their own day of the week. Whether you’re looking for easy Instant Pot recipes, slow simmering stovetop favorites, Cajun cuisine or something with Mexican flair, you’ll find a delicious round up of white beans here. So, let’s get cooking.   

Café Reconcile’s White Beans and Shrimp

Café Reconcile is a destination lunch spot for a lot of New Orleanians, and their famous White Beans and Shrimp dish is a local favorite.

Great Northern Beans & Ham

We can thank our friend Chef Jennifer Hill Booker for this delicious recipe. It’s from her cookbook Field Peas to Foie Gras: Southern Recipes with a French Accent.

Creamy Bean and Collard Greens Soup

A quintessential comfort food, this Creamy Bean and Collard Greens Soup is full of Southern flavor.

Instant Pot Navy Beans

Featuring smoked sausage that’s browned right in the Instant Pot, this is a great weeknight recipe that offers big, savory flavor.

Instant Pot Southern Large Limas with Ham Hock

Lima Beans with Shrimp and Andouille

Simmering white beans with Andouille sausage brings amazing spices and seasonings to the pot, but adding fresh peeled shrimp in the last few minutes of cooking really takes this dish up a notch.

Frijoles Charros

South-Louisiana Style White Beans & Rice

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.

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.

Hummus by Any Other Name.

Ah yes, hummus. The age-old dish that has taken the U.S. by storm. It’s rich. It’s tangy. It’s satisfying. It’s healthy. It’s … it’s … a bean dip.

That is to say, hummus is made of cooked, ground beans that are blended with various flavor-enhancing ingredients.

I have made a lot of hummus at home. So much so that I can say with good confidence that I can put Sabra to shame. I started to think about using other beans in place of chickpeas, and when red beans, those kidney-shaped little odes to Louisiana, came to mind, it was easy to connect the boudin balls to make this a bona fide Cajun dish.

What’s Cajun About Hummus?

How to make a Middle Eastern dish Cajun? Simply using red beans and adding some all-purpose seasoning is not what makes this hummus Cajun. This dish combines true Louisiana flavors together to make a dish that is not only Cajun, but incredibly good. It’s one of those dishes that draws people around. Keep the chips coming — you’re going to need them!

Instead of the traditional tahini paste, I used pecan butter. They are essentially the same thing, as both pecans and sesame seeds are seeds. Red beans and chickpeas are too, for that matter. When ground, the pecans surrender their oil and the result is a paste. The same is true for tahini.

Onions and garlic are used in the cooking of the red beans, which adds more depth of flavor and reminds me of a pot of simmering red beans and sausage — which is a mainstay in so many Louisiana kitchens, mine included.

Cajuns Can’t Help Themselves When It Comes to Smoked Meats.

Because this is a Cajun version, I added some tasso and finished with some sliced green onions to give the dish that unmistakable South Louisiana flavor. Tasso, as you may know, is highly seasoned, smoked ham. Cajuns can’t help themselves when it comes to smoked meats.

Hummus Considerations:

While using a pressure cooker is not mandatory here, it does make short work of cooking the red beans without sticking or attention. My Cuisinart electric pressure cooker rendered those dark red beauties to soft perfection, ready to be pureéd beans in 45 minutes flat.

While a mortar and pestle can be used to grind the pecans, a food processor does a flawless job in a fraction of the time.

Only use fresh lemons for the juice. Trust me, it makes a difference.

When it comes to red beans. I only use Camellia Brand. They are more consistent in size, have fewer broken or cracked beans, if any, and they simply taste better.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound Camellia Brand Red Kidney Beans
• 1 medium white onion, chopped
• 4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups whole pecans
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Juice of two large lemons
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon Creole seasoning
• 1/2 pound tasso, diced small
• 
1 bunch green onions, sliced

Directions:

1. Place the red beans in a heavy pot or pot of pressure cooker, rinse, and fill with enough cold water to cover the beans by one inch. Let soak for at least 1 hour, preferably 2-3 hours.
2. Add onions and garlic.
3. Cook until very soft. If cooking on the stovetop be sure to stir occasionally to avoid sticking and scorching.
4. While the beans are cooking, place the pecans in a food processor and process until a paste is formed. Scrape down the bowl as needed. Reserve to a small bowl for later use.
5. Allow the beans to cool until they can be safely handled.
6. Add the beans with cooking liquid, pecan butter, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, salt, and all-purpose seasoning to the bowl of a food processor and process until very smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
7. Taste and adjust seasoning.
8. Stir in cubed tasso, reserving a small amount for garnish.
9. Top with sliced green onions and diced tasso.

A Cajun Flavor Explosion.

Pita chips are used to dip into traditional hummus. Cajun hummus demands pork skins. Don’t ask, just go with it.

Stay Hungry.

Recipe originally appeared in From the Boot

A Properly Made South Louisiana Andouille Might Become a Culinary Addiction

For fans of one-pot Louisiana cooking, a stick of Louisiana andouille (ahn DOO wee) is a beautifully savory sight to behold.

A properly made link of this dense, porky delight carries more heft than a standard smoked sausage (about 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter) and in its cured state can fill a room with the powerful aroma of woodsmoke. Cut into it and you’ll feel a coarse, chunky texture that’s closer to spicy ham than your average kielbasa. Browned in a little oil, chunks of andouille give off the smell of crispy breakfast bacon with a little garlic and pepper thrown in for good measure.

It’s no wonder that andouille is a classic, go-to flavoring meat for many red beans aficionados.

German Roots

Despite having a decidedly French name, andouille owes its trademark flavor to the sausage traditions of a different South Louisiana immigrant group — the Germans.

Beginning in the 1720s, German pioneers from the Rhineland came to the New World and settled up the Mississippi River from New Orleans in modern-day St. Charles, St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes (a region known as the Cotes des Allemandes or German Coast). In the years since, the farmers and sausage makers built a reputation for a traditional sausage-making style that’s as delicious as it is straightforward.

The style calls for chunks of lean pork shoulder to be simply spiced with garlic, salt, black pepper, cayenne and salt, then put in sausage casings and slow-smoked for hours over smoldering pecanwood fires. Before the advent of modern refrigeration, farmers would make andouille as part of the cold-weather hog slaughters (called boucheries) that filled home larders for the warmer months. Thick links of andouille — cured by salt and smoke —would hang in the barn until they made their way to into bean pots or batches of gut-warming gumbo.

And over centuries, the Germans gradually intermarried with Acadian communities and contributing their distinctive foodways to evolving Cajun culture. Their andouille — a prize of south Louisiana’s culinary traditions and staple of local meat-market culture — earned the German Coast town of Laplace the title “Andouille Capital of the World” in the 1970s.

In the Kitchen

Bean cooks should be cautious when approaching andouille, as a properly made south Louisiana andouille might become a culinary addiction. (Don’t laugh. We’ve seen it happen.)

The taste and texture — with plenty of smoke, a jolt of garlic and just a bit of peppery heat — might just raise your standards as garden-variety smoked sausages pale in comparison.

Inside the mahogany brown skin, sizable chunks of pork shoulder (the cut of the hog used for classic pulled pork and picnic hams) are compressed into a cylinder the size of a youngster’s t-ball bat. Once you discard  the inedible protective casing, cut the andouille into thick slices or chunks, always allowing for a few more ounces than your red bean recipe requires. Once the pinkish meat starts to crisp around the edges, your whole house will fill with the aroma of spicy pork goodness, and you’ll have to keep curious snackers away from the stovetop. (The extra few ounces are for the cook to nibble and use to distract persistent guests drawn to the stovetop like moths to a flame.)

As for the red beans:  the chunks of andouille will add a smoky savor to the pot, with the occasional morsel of hammy goodness adding texture to the creamy beans.

KITCHEN NOTE: In many grocery store meat sections, you’ll find products labeled “andouille” that pretty closely resembles standard-issue smoked sausage (albeit with a little added pepper or other flavorings). These products (such as Manda’s, Savoie’s, and Richard’s brands) have a smoother texture than the classic meat market style, and as such don’t have the inedible casing issue. Just slice ’em as you would smoked sausage and brown ’em in the pan.

Getting the Good Stuff

If you’re lucky enough to live in south Louisiana, check your local community meat markets for the real stuff. Small-town butchers pride themselves on this Cajun classic.

Barring that, you can get grocery store sausages called andouille, but with a word of caution. Many commercial sausage makers just add additional spices (cayenne, paprika for color) to regular smooth-textured sausage and call it andouille. And though it might be delicious, it’s no substitute for the real thing.

If you’ve got a direct connection to Cajun Country, you owe it to yourself to try out the real deal, preferably from a local meat market or purveyors from LaPlace, LA.

Here are a couple of recommended purveyors from the Andouille Capital of the World.

Jacob’s World Famous Andouille
505 West Airline Highway
LaPlace, LA 70068
(985) 652-9080,
fax (985) 652-9022,
toll free (877) 215-7589
cajunsausage.com

Bailey’s Famous Andouille
513 West Airline Highway
LaPlace, LA 70068
(985) 652-9090
baileysandouille.com