Someone mention Red Beans and Rice? It isn't the weekend, but it is Monday night, and Monday nights are for discussing Red Beans. I lived in the Lower Garden District, New Orleans, for a number of years. I still don't know why, but Mondays are for Red Beans in New Orleans. Here is my "recipe" that I've adjusted over the years. "recipe" in quotes, because make it however you want, and make it on any damn day you please, as well. Just know, it really is a Monday thing in New Orleans. Ingredients: Beans: 1 pound of Camelia Red Beans. Camelia is the traditional, best, and local brand, but I have been finding it increasingly difficult to find during our current climate. I also have no clue whether the Camelia brand is available in stores outside of the American South. Don't be tempted to buy a 2 pound bag of red beans. The 1 pound bag may seem too small, it feels as though you could toss it in a corn hole game, but when soaked and cooked, it will feed 6+ easily. Veg: 2 Sweet Onions 2 Peppers 4+ Ribs Celery 6+ Cloves Garlic Parsley Stems All chopped VERY finely. Dice these as small as you can. Don't put them in a food processor. Take your time and dice them. You want this veg to be small enough that it disappears into the red beans. This is also where my "recipe" is going to differ the most with others that you'll find online. I use twice the amount of vegetables that you'll find in other recipes. For me, it brings more substance and just makes it a bit more healthful. For the peppers, two red bells are nice, but if you want it a bit more spicy, two poblanos work great as well. A tip here, if you think you have chopped enough celery, add one more stem to the prep. A little more celery than you think is really nice in red beans. Meat: Smoked Meat Sausage You all mentioned Tasso. I don't use it. It can be tough to find, but I also just think it's an odd product. It's like a pickled pork shoulder that's really tough to cut. I go with a smoked ham hock. Much easier to find, better flavor, and no butchering struggles necessary. But, use a smoked turkey wing or neck, use a pork shoulder bone, a leftover ham bone, etc. For the sausage, I typically use a local smoked sausage. Find something nice. Andouille would work, but not necessary. Liquid: Water/Stock If you have the smoked ham hock/meat, the chicken stock is over kill. If you can't find a smoked meat, I'd probably use a chicken stock. Really prefer water here, mostly because boxed chicken stocks tend to be shit. If you have homemade chicken stock, absolutely, go for it. Seasoning: Bay Leaves Salt Extra Salt to taste. Bay leaves are nice, but not necessary. Put 'em in if you have 'em. If you have fresh, for sure. Fresh oregano is always nice, too. Garnish: Finely Chopped Parsley Finely Chopped Green Onions Crystal Hot Sauce Crystal Hot Sauce is my preferred hot sauce. It really isn't hot; I would actually consider more of an acid, like squeezing fresh lemon over a dish, than I would a "hot" sauce. But, go for Tabasco, etc. if you want a bit more heat. Directions: Soak red beans overnight in water. Remove anything funny. In a Dutch Oven, sauté sausage, cut into coins, over medium heat. Remove once brown, and reserve for later. In same Dutch Oven, add onions, celery, and peppers. Cook until softened. Add garlic and parsley stems. Add water/stock and smoked meat. Throw the beans in. Add the seasoning. Cook until beans become soft. Take the smoked meat out. With a potato masher, mash beans until your desired creamy texture is met. Add the sausage coins back in. Garnish with immense amounts of chopped parsley, chopped green onions, and hot sauce. Serve over rice; the cheapest long-grain rice seems to be the best here. Enjoy.
That is basically what I do with my recipe. I add a little more seasoning like thyme, oregano, and Worcestershire, and don't use chicken stock. But that's damned close. Also my immersion blender makes the mashing fast and easy. I like to brown the sausage before adding it in for texture reasons. Not a fan of soggy sausage. You covered that too cause you're a pro. The main thing though, and your recipe covers it, it to use dried beans. I detest recipes calling for canned beans. Just no.
Oh, I forgot thyme! That is always a welcome addition to some red beans. Good call! I'm not sure about the immersion blender, though. I love the machine, but I seem to remember something about "mashing" versus "blending" with beans and their proteins that doesn't always work. The stick blender seems like too much muscle for the job. Oh, canned red beans?! Ha, yes, fuck off!
You're right, mashing gives you the best texture since you get a beany broth as well as partial and full beans. With the immersion blender you have to be really fast and then be done or too many beans are souped. I sort of pulse it quickly. Unless I'm eating the beans prepare out of the can, like baked beans or something, I don't do canned. They are the worst texture when you cook with them. Dried are more cost effective with less waste, can be seasoned just the way you want, and take up less shelf space.
I honestly had no idea that the beans in red beans and rice was mashed. I just always pictured a pile of beans on a pile of rice.
Good red beans are creamy. The place I used to work had the worst red beans. They were soupy and thin because they were not mashed and the conecuh (what a waste of a gold star product) was added at the beginning so by the end it was soggy. I had the bright idea to upsell the dish by having extra grilled conecuh added on top but that's an unrelated story.
Most of the Google images definitely have a "bean shape" Like this: But that's not how I'm picturing what you two are talking about.
Holy shit Beirut. If it ends up being political I'll switch it over to the politics thread, but for now it seems like an explosion at a fireworks factory.
Here is an at-sea angle. It’s unbelievable, shades of Halifax: https://twitter.com/chadblue_/status/1290683745582960640?s=21
You can see mini explosions going off in the beginning. I think Aetius is right. That or its munitions of some type.
I mean the scale of the explosion, it’s obviously an accident. So many things can blow up when heated. Especially if those things are packed tightly into a congested area. The city of Halifax was completely destroyed by a munitions ship blowing up in its harbour. People are saying it was a fireworks factory but GODDAMN. That looked like it could be magnesium.
I mean there are different recipes. But those aren't the creole style I make and eat. That pic looks like kidney beans too which is ''A'' red bean but not red beans. Like more the style of instant ones out of a package. This is more what a good creole style red beans look like.
I don't think we appreciate how insanely large the Halifax explosion was. It threw an anchor that weighed over a ton two miles; it vaporized people on the shore; it created a tsunami that wiped out an entire native settlement. The thing was a quarter the size of the Hiroshima bomb. Which just goes to show, beware drunk French sea captains.