We think this was a fun thread. And good food came out of it.

pierino - 2 hours of early morning (9-11 Central Time) Cajun & Zydeco music stream every wednesday at www.koop.org out of Austin, TX..

Red beans and rice, with a little chow chow.

Well the proof is in the cooking. The red kidney beans worked out just fine and from my research, the kidney beans are more cajun and the small red beans are more caribbean, but also hail in New Orleans. In this rendition, the Thanksgiving ham bone was the star. It's pot licking good.

count me in!

Yes ma'am, reminds me of my misspent yout' hangin' out at the Napoleon House on Chartres. Oh, but then there was also Chez Helene....

dude, you're killin' me. I mos def need to git out my scrub-board.

What you need my friend Pierino is some all day duck gumbo, some Subdudes and some Gourds, and a beer or 4. Hmm ... me too come to think of it

Fan me many times dear, 'cept that right now it is really cold, so I don't need no fannin'. What I do need is red beans and rice and some zydeco music.

As pierino said, it's just preference--kidney beans are larger and meatier; red beans are smaller. Use what you have.

pierino, is there a way to "fan" you twice?

Practically no difference between kidney and red beans. The red beans tend to be a little smaller (at least in New 'awlins) but use whats you gots. Believe I forgot to mention that andouille sausage ought to go into that shoulder and red beans mess up.

I prefer pinto or rositas for my rice and beans finding the red kidney bean, however delicious, to have a thicker skin and not as easy to digest. I use pinto for my chili as well.

I use the small ones, but have used kidney when I couldn't find those. They have a slightly different taste when tasted alone, but are essentially the same flavor by the time you get it all mixed up with the other ingredients in RBR.

I bet drbabs will have an answer for you! I'm not sure there is a big difference - the flavor is similar, but the red beans are quite a bit smaller which might affect cooking times. I use small red beans in my red beans and rice like in drbabs' recipe but have subbed kidney beans when I can't find them.

The red beans and rice recipe I have uses kidney beans. I don't know how using other beans would change the texture or flavor. With the kidney beans it gets really creamy.