Mom's New Orleans Red Beans & Rice

I love red beans and rice and was eager to try this version. I reckon pickle juice improves everything and it did! I don't have Greek spice, so substituting my diy Cajun spice was a no-brainer. The beans came out perfectly after an over night soak. I just use the cheap red kidney beans I find in Indian stores, and they're fine.

So so, so not a Cajun recipe with these spices. I’ll go back to my others.

Oh honey no! And don’t be hurt, it’s a New Orleans joke.
My family’s recipe on at least it’s fifth generation:
Soak the beans and I totally agree about Camellia brand but they are hard to find except in the South and I live in Virginia, what does that tell you, clean them for stones and split beans, in about 8 cups of water. I like overnight but a two minute boil with a 4 hour soak will do, then drain but do not rinse. Add 8 cups of water then low heat with a large onion peeled and cut in 1/8ths, two stalks of celery cut into 1/3 and one green pepper also cut into 1/8 with the stem removed. Two leaves of bay and two minced toes of garlic get tossed in as well. I keep the lid closed except to skim the scum as it starts to boil. I may need to add more water but I try not to, I might give a quick stir at that point but then I mind my own business. At the one hour point I add the seasonings, see below for the description. About before I plan to serve them and it could be 4-6 hrs or more, I crack the lid to let them cream up, ie thicken. I might stir them every 15 minutes then to make sure they are not catching and burning, if they are, do not stir the burned bits up. If they are good and creamy turn the heat off and pull them away from the heat. Now in affluent homes they might have an old ham bone in the freezer or the last part of the ham from the deli when they can’t cut any more known as seasoning meat and I add them about one hour into the cooking phase with a few grinds of black pepper and cayenne but be careful with the cayenne unless you know your eaters be very sparing. If I can get Rex I think it is the best, my daughter brings it to me from Baton Rouge but she shops early because it sells out quick. Do not touch the cayenne and then any of your mucus membranes or you will be very sad.
I meant it when I said low heat, but you can scrape down the dried stuff on the sides.
My other daughter became vegetarian in her teens so I omitted all the meat additions and cooked spicy andouille to serve on the side for the rest of us out of respect, but that tells you it can be vegetarian and it still tastes good. My red beans are on the thick side but you can add some water or stop cooking earlier if you want them soupier. That is up to you.
I serve it under the rice and I like Mahatma, you are on your own for the rice it is a different novel!!!
I didn’t mention salt because it is up to you, the seasoning meats make it salty enough for some and you probably need salt at the end if you didn’t. And some households have those who are watching their sodium intake, serve it with salt and pepper.
This is the basic recipe given to me by my Mimi, if I deviated my family would think I had had another stroke. My Bampy who grew up on a rice plantation, had a small portion of red beans and rice at every meal including his breakfast with his bacon and eggs.
If you made it this far, God bless you!
And we weren’t an affluent family but I saved every ham bone and seasoning meat was very inexpensive when I was raising my children.

I've tried several different recipes for red beans and rice. Most of them have been so so, but I could tell this was definitely the way I remember them from our trips to New Orleans when I did my first taste of the broth. By far this was/is the absolute best ever!!! I followed your recipe exactly and my family was very happy with the outcome. Thank you for sharing! )

Process tips: 1) if you can, soak your beans overnight with a teaspoon of baking soda. 2) toward the end of the cooking just use a spoon to smash some of the beans against the side of the pot. It will release some of the starchiness of the beans to thicken it up and make creamy

Do you need to cover the beans for the second part? (After you combine all the other ingredients?)

Slightly misleading when you say 'add all above remaining ingredients'. It can be interpreted as adding the rice to the beans for the four hour cook.

The red bean recipe feeds nine to twelve. One cup of rice isn't nearly enough.

Slow cooker warning.
Hi all just wanted to pass on that it's dangerous to cook red beans in a slow cooker as the temperature doesn't get high enough. They can be finished off in one but they need to be boiled first because of a toxin they contain.
http://www.eatingwell.com/article/291149/why-cooking-kidney-beans-in-your-slow-cooker-can-make-you-sick/

How would you do this in an instant pot?

Yum! This really hit the spot. At first, I was a little worried about what the strong flavor of dill pickle juice would be like in here, but I don't really detect it at all. It just helps to balance out the richness of all that smoked meat for me. So delicious. Thank you!

I'm not sure why this is featured in slow cooker recipes. Seems like you are using a pot on the stove and not a slow cooker.

Red beans are one of my all-time dislikes growing up in New Orleans! I especially loathed them AFTER they were frozen and defrosted. I love all other beans, just not them. This photo doesn't look like any RB&R I've ever seen or had though. The pickle juice makes sense given we always had pickled pork meat in ours. That's why a vinegar-based hot sauce is de-rigueur!

Do you have the nutritional info for the recipe?

Where can I find Cavender's Greek Seasoning?

Can I use canned beans?

brown rice in 15 minutes?
are you a kitchen witch or a magician?
enquiring minds want to know!

Another NOLA expat here, and I am excited to try this "secret" recipe as well! But I have the same question about the brown rice. Are you using instant brown rice? Or did you mean to write white rice?

When I cook brown rice, it usually takes about an hour to cook; perhaps you use a different type of brown rice, or perhaps I am just missing the boat by overcooking my brown rice?

I ask because I often cook dried cranberry beans with chopped bacon and brown rice in this fashion: After soaking the beans overnight and discarding the stale water, I cook them for an hour then in fresh water; then I add the chopped bacon and brown rice, and cook at a simmer for another hour. This gives me rice at the correct consistency.

When I cook long-grained white rice, by contrast, it usually takes about 12-15 minutes. Any thoughts on this disparity? (Didn't mean to hijack this thread, either.)

As a former resident of NOLA, I love good red beans and rice!