Today we're going to making red beans and rice.
All right today we're making red beans and rice which Ricky's been requesting for about
3 weeks.
I have to say it's about once a week we do some sort of bean and rice dish.
We do red beans, we do pinto beans, we do black beans - but red beans and rice is Ricky's
favorite.
I'm going to show you how to do it.
So I started off by brown off - rendering - a good bit of bacon.
Actually - you want to know what?
It's a secret.
It's not bacon.
It's hog jowl.
Smoked hog jowl when you go to look for it.
It's a very traditional Southern thing.
And the cool thing about that is, it is a fraction of the cost of bacon.
I guess that's because nobody knows what to do with it.
Well this is what you do with it.
And for a true Cajun red bean and rice you're going to want to use an Andouille.
But I have a little guy who just does not do well with anything spicy at all.
So I substitute a polska kielbasa, which is a smoked sausage.
It just doesn't have the heat that the Andouille has.
What's Andouille, exactly?
Andouille is a Cajun sausage.
It's absolutely delicious, but it is a little bit spicy.
Some of them are really spicy.
Which I love.
I think it's wonderful.
But if you're doing something like this for a mixed audience, you just got to watch the
little guys - they can't handle the heat.
Now I will say I've been working with Joey recently to see if I can't get his palate
up to speed, but if you want to do that a better option is to start with a poblano pepper
or an Anaheim pepper.
Those are very mild peppers but they do have the same range of heat that something like
a jalapeno or a serrano has, but just on a much lower level.
Shhhh....
My sister and her kids are here.
Joey's excited.
He's talking to Lindsay.
Don't you dare show that part of the kitchen.
No!
You know better than that.
Chase was going to show you my niece Lindsay but I didn't clean that part of the kitchen
because it doesn't go on YouTube!
So all we're doing here - we took the same pot that we had rendered all the bacon grease
- we rendered all that down.
I got rid of the bacon grease.
But to that same pot I'm adding that sliced sausage so we're going to capture that flavor.
All I'm doing here is going to get it brown and crispy on both sides.
Now back here I have my beans, which I've done a quick soak method.
Joey...
Thank you.
I've done a quick soak method on the beans.
And if you don't know what that is, or if you don't know how to brine your beans, check
out the video I did a couple of weeks ago on How to Make Soup Bean, because I talk all
about it in that one.
So tell you what.
My sausage is getting brown and crispy and my beans are ready to go in the pot, but I
need a few minutes to get these finished on both sides.
So I'll be back in a second.
So I browned off our kielbasa.
And that actually, I'm going to set aside until the dish is almost finished.
And now we're going to start building our flavor base.
So I've got a traditional Trinity, which is this stuff.
Onion, celery, bell pepper and I add a bunch of garlic, because it's delicious.
And we love it.
And I want to show you what I did it.
So I browned off the bacon and I browned off the fat from the bacon.
Then I browned off the kielbasa and it has it's own fat.
And then I poured off the fat from that.
And yes, fat is flavor and there are some times when you want to add it judiciously,
but when you've got products like that that already contain a good bit of fat, you really
want to make sure that what you end up with doesn't end up being greasy.
Instead of flavorful.
And because we're using the bacon which will continue to have a little fat left in it,
and the kielbasa which also continues to have a little bit of fat in it.
Then you've got plenty.
And the same thing if you use Andouille.
Same principle applies.
Ok so our flavors we're putting in here.
We've got fresh thyme.
2-3 sprigs.
These are fresh bay leaves.
If you use dry bay leaves, use half of this amount.
So you'd probably want one good size one.
This is fresh oregano - a couple of tablespoons.
About a teaspoon and a half of black pepper, a teaspoon and a half of garlic powder, mmm
- a teaspoon, I guess of red pepper flakes.
And that's about a teaspoon and a half of parsley which you really don't need because
it has no flavor.
And I grabbed it because I thought it was the oregano.
That goes in here.
The parsley won't hurt anything.
Fresh parsley is lovely, but by the time you dry it, it's kind of like 'what's the point'.
A couple of teaspoons of salt (kosher), oh, and I already used pepper.
So I don't need that.
So we stir all this together.
And I talked earlier about the quick soak method or the brine method for dried beans,
and that's what we've got back here.
So it's just a dried bean you'll find on any grocery store shelf - just like that.
Throw it in with salt, bring it up to a boil, turn it off.
let it sit.
And then you don't have to worry about letting it sit overnight.
Which is you're a Southerner?
Once you discover that?
It'll change your life.
Suddenly you don't have to worry about forgetting to soak your beans.
It doesn't matter.
All right so I didn't have quite enough water in there, so I'm going to add - probably - well
just enough water just to cover it.
With red beans and rice you want it a little bit saucy but this is not like soup beans.
You don't want too much.
I'm going to bring this to a boil, reduce it to a simmer and I'm just going to let it
simmer for about 2 hours.
If it gets too dry I'll just add water to keep the beans covered.
And that's really all there is to it.
Almost - almost all there is to it.
So I'll be back to show you what it looks like in just a few minutes.
No wait.
About two hours.
So I know the camera angle has gone from here to Ricky, and then Chase did it and now we're
at Bladen, I thought for a while I was going to have Lindsay.
So sorry about the camera angle.
But the kids have been helping me shoot this afternoon.
So our red beans and rice went for a couple of hours, and I just tasted a couple.
Any time you want to know if your beans are done, taste two or three out of the pot, because
you might get one that is an outlier.
That's not good.
So here's how you finish it.
Remember you can use Andouille if people in your house can handle a little more heat.
And then the bacon.
And we're just stirring that in.
I think I added - maybe - a cup and a half cups of water when it started getting a little
bit low.
And I did end up covering the pot because some idiot thought it would be great if all
the kids get Nerf guns for Christmas and they were flying everywhere.
Anyway - I covered the pot so we wouldn't get any Nerf bullets.
And here's how you serve it.
So just plain old white rice.
And I've seen - I think this is what throws people off.
Is thinking the whole thing red beans and rice thing is that they cook the rice and
the beans together.
And then when you serve it, you know we had those fresh herbs in there, just scoop right
past all of those.
You can do what I do and tell my kids that if they find one because I didn't pull it
out, they're lucky and they get to make a wish.
That way you don't have to get rid of it.
All right - and I think the best way to garnish this, can you get a good shot on that?
Just a little bit of scallion.
Otherwise known as green onion if you're in Tennessee.
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So red beans and rice.
Oh yeah.
That's how you do it.
Today we're going to - Ok.
Shhh.
Psst.
I'm filming.
Good.
Are you going to burp that?
No.
Good.
I could but I'm not.
All right, so our red beans and rice
(burping....My name is Jan)... (laughter)
Can we turn off Spongebob in the background?
And remind everybody to quit stomping up and down the steps?
Just give me...
Want me to end the video?
Three minutes.
No it's good.
I'll cut it out.....