New Orleans traditional food

[Guest guest]

I just got back from New Orleans. The French Quarter has a couple people

selling hot dogs and pizza, but you won't see fast food chains there. Many

dishes were developed by slaves from what they had available. Many low cost.

One dish I really liked was red beans and rice. It was traditionally made

on Monday. People saved their leftover Sunday ham bone and Monday was wash

day. It's easy to make while doing laundry.

I gave it a try at home. I set the kidney beans to soak overnight. Rinsed

and put to simmer on the back of the stove. I didn't have a ham bone, so

cooked some bacon in a dutch oven. After it was cooked, cut it and added

veggies like peppers, onions, garlic, and celery to the bacon grease. You

cook the beans a little longer than normal. You want them to be creamy when

mashed.

Add the beans and seasonings to the dutch oven. I added some homemade

chicken bone broth in. Everyone has different tastes, you need to figure

out how much seasoning yourself. I used several kinds of pepper, garlic,

thyme, sea salt. Then mash part of the beans to make them creamy. Leave

some whole. Stir and pop it in the oven.

When you are ready to eat, serve over cooked rice. The bacon or ham really

carries the flavor thru the beans. In New Orleans they serve it with

andouille sausage. I don't know anyone here who makes that, so I used some

lucky pork sausage. It was as good as what they serve in the Big Easy. One

pot will last for several days and it gets better with age.

Rice and beans are a complete protein, the pork is to bring in the flavor.

Very low cost and yummy. Play some jazz for background music while you eat

it.

Kathy

[Guest guest]

seward co-op has, int he past, carried an andouille sausage. i'm from New

Orleans and we've always ever kept it simple with sausage and/or ham,

garlic, onions, peppers, and seasonings. you can also just use cubed

pieces of ham instead of a ham bone.

enjoy the lovliness and i definitely agree about some jazz, or even blues,

in the background!

-aaem

On Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 9:52 PM, bubblingovernow <fhwhelan@...> wrote:

> **

>

>

> We made a variation of this and liked it. Used chipotle and corn with the

> beans. Very good.

> Faith

>

>

>

> >

> > I just got back from New Orleans. The French Quarter has a couple people

> > selling hot dogs and pizza, but you won't see fast food chains there.

> Many

> > dishes were developed by slaves from what they had available. Many low

> cost.

> >

> > One dish I really liked was red beans and rice. It was traditionally made

> > on Monday. People saved their leftover Sunday ham bone and Monday was

> wash

> > day. It's easy to make while doing laundry.

> >

> > I gave it a try at home. I set the kidney beans to soak overnight. Rinsed

> > and put to simmer on the back of the stove. I didn't have a ham bone, so

> > cooked some bacon in a dutch oven. After it was cooked, cut it and added

> > veggies like peppers, onions, garlic, and celery to the bacon grease. You

> > cook the beans a little longer than normal. You want them to be creamy

> when

> > mashed.

> >

> > Add the beans and seasonings to the dutch oven. I added some homemade

> > chicken bone broth in. Everyone has different tastes, you need to figure

> > out how much seasoning yourself. I used several kinds of pepper, garlic,

> > thyme, sea salt. Then mash part of the beans to make them creamy. Leave

> > some whole. Stir and pop it in the oven.

> >

> > When you are ready to eat, serve over cooked rice. The bacon or ham

> really

> > carries the flavor thru the beans. In New Orleans they serve it with

> > andouille sausage. I don't know anyone here who makes that, so I used

> some

> > lucky pork sausage. It was as good as what they serve in the Big Easy.

> One

> > pot will last for several days and it gets better with age.

> >

> > Rice and beans are a complete protein, the pork is to bring in the

> flavor.

> > Very low cost and yummy. Play some jazz for background music while you

> eat

> > it.

> >

> > Kathy

> >

>

>

>