Red beans and rice: traditional Monday fare in New Orleans

by Stefania Butler, Posted Feb 27th 2006 @ 3:02PM

This morning I am making red beans and dirty rice in honor of Mardi Gras. Using this delicious-sounding recipe for the red beans and have just finished sauteing the "trinity" to add to the partially-cooked beans, along with my smoked ham hock and Andouille sausage. I found it interesting to read that red beans and rice is traditionally served on Mondays. My making it today is purely coincidental.

For the rice, I am going to serve dirty rice. I've been Googling recipes all morning and I haven't decided which recipe to choose. If you have a tried and true recipe, please let me know. Although I love traditional dirty rice made with chopped giblets, I am going to use ground beef since it's what I have on hand. I'll serve it with lots of chopped green onions to garnish and hot sauce on the side. There's nothing like a simple meal of beans and rice on a stormy, San Francisco Monday.

And, tomorrow, for Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday itself, perhaps I'll make a batch of yeasted pancakes.

[image: Phyllis Knight Gallery]

Filed Under: Did you know?, Ingredients, How To, Methods
Tags: america, did you know, dinner, dirty rice, grains, new orleans, mardi gras, red beans, red beans and rice, RedBeans, vegetables

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

2-27-2006 @5:40PM Dave said... My great-grandmother used to tell me as a little kid that we made red beans 'n rice on Mondays because that was "wash day" and they needed to cook something that could sit unattended on the stove all afternoon, slowly simmering away while the wash was done out back. My grandmother (her youngest daughter) told me that was true, but also that my great-grandmother would play poker on Monday afternoons after finishing the laundry much earlier in the day, then she would claim to have cook over a hot stove all afternoon...

Mmmm, now I'm hungry for a big ol' pot of red beans and some French bread with butter!

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3-09-2006 @5:27PM Kim in metro New Orleans said... Oh no! Blasphemy!! Can't serve red beans on top of dirty rice!!! *gasps from the metro N.O. area abound*
:)
You may find the smoky flavor of the beans/sausage overpowers the dirty rice, which has a very unique flavor all it's own. Oh...and try half ground pork/half ground beef for the dirty rice....and to make it REALLY easy, saute the gizzards ahead of time and food process them before adding them.....or just skip that and use chicken livers, which break down easier and meld really well with the beef/pork mixture.
And....how'd it turn out??
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11-30-2008 @7:40AM james carthen said... Where did Alton Brown come up with the idea of using pickled pork shoulder (butt)? I havent seen it in any other recipe. Also, the idea of eating bread with red beans and rice seems like a triple sin. Two carbs together seems like already enough! This food from New Orleans is so good it just can't be the best for a good diet. I'm going to cook it and eat it anyway. Not more than a couple servings, though.
Also, dirty rice with red beans and rice is too much over the top. Kiss!
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