About Cajun Food

        I guess you'd call, "Cajun food is spicy hot" a misnomer. Not all Cajun food is spicy hot! Cajun
        food is flavorful, delicate and inviting. It is seasoned with salt and pepper and spices to give it a
        "taste", a "flavor", but it is never spicy hot. If Louisiana Hot Sauce is used in the cooking of a Cajun
        dish, as it often is, the "hot" is cooked out of the sauce but the flavor remains. We sprinkle Louisiana
        Hot Sauce on a dish to give it extra flavor and heat. If a dish on this site is considered "Hot", we will
        have an indicator that it is hot.
 

About Red Beans and Rice

About his mother's cooking, Louis Armstrong was quoted as saying, "I thought her Creole gumbo was the finest in the world. Her cabbage and rice was marvelous. And as for as her red beans and rice, well, I don't have to say anything about that. It is my birthmark." Louis Armstrong

That can truly be said of a lot of us, as Red Beans and Rice is what makes the world go 'round for many Louisiana, and especially, New Orleans folk. It is, and always will be, my favorite dish. Whether seasoned with ham, Louisiana smoke sausage or salt pork, it's always delicious!

Now, about Red Beans. They're not "Red" beans at all; the dish is made with "kidney" beans. Light pink kidneys or dark pink kidneys or just plain kidney beans. The reason for this, is that red beans don't cook up as well and as saucy as kidney beans; they tend to be tough. Some people make the dish with a combination of both kinds of beans. I prefer dark pink kidneys for my pot.

Ever since I can remember, which is a long time, we always had Red Beans and Rice on Monday! Why? Monday was wash day. Maw maw used to get up about 6 am, feed the chickens, fix breakfast for she and Paw paw and then get out the "wash board". This was before washing machines and dryers. She would kneel over the bath tub and scrub a number of pieces of clothes then go to the kitchen and get the pot and utensils out, wash the beans and take out the culls and rocks and put the beans on the fire. Then she would return to her laundry. The beans didn't take that much attention, so she could get a good bit washed before stirring the beans. Believe it or not, when I was about five years old, she traded her "wood stove" for a gas stove! It was a "Vesta", 4 burner with an oven on top and it stood on 4 legs. You had to light it with a match as there were no pilot lights.

After breakfast, she would send me to the grocery store to get; 1 pound of kidney beans, a piece of salt pork, a large onion, green onions and some parcely. The butcher knew what she was making so he gave me just enough salt pork to make red beans and rice. I think she gave me a dollar!

On rare occasions, we would have ham on Sunday instead of traditional chicken, at which point she would forgo the usual salt pork. She was a strong woman and she would take her large kitchen knife and put it down over the bone and with one push, she'd split the bone so the juices would run out into the beans as they cooked. Boy, them was some good eats!

Here's some tips on cooking red beans:

1 - One quart of water for one cup of beans. You don't have to add water while cooking!
2 - Washing and culling the beans is very important! Put a measure of beans in a large mixing bowl. Take out the culls, deformed beans, half beans, real dirty beans and rocks. Then put water in the bowl and roll the beans around, washing the dirt from them. Drain and repeat the washing. Drain and put into the pot.
3 - You don't have to soak the beans overnight! This is a bunch of poppycock! All soaking does is remove the skin from the beans, it does not soften the beans; cooking does that.
4 - Add the first ingredients when you first put the beans in the water; brown or yellow onion chopped coarse, 2 bay leaves, one for each cup of beans.
5 - If you're in the last hour of cooking the beans and you notice the spoon is grabbing something on the bottom of the pot, don't worry! It's not burned. Simply scrape the bottom and reintroduce it to the beans.
5 - And always add the green onions and parcely about a half an hour before the cooking is done. That way they're not cooked down and add a great deal of flavor to the beans. Add salt, pepper, molasses and hot sauce to taste at this time also.
6 - And please remove the bay leaves before serving. I've seen people trying to eat them.

Seasoning red beans is important to the flavor you want to achieve. While salt pork was the seasoning used for many years and still is used in Traditional Red Beans, it has given way to: Louisiana smoked sausage and ham or just plain Smoked sausage, ham, smoked ham and pork. All are good for the taste of red beans. Even red beans cooked without a meat seasoning is ideal for vegetarians. And, it's good for you!!!

What to eat with red beans and rice? Red beans and rice is a filling meal all by itself, with mayonnaise and bread and a good cup of coffee and chicory. The best red beans and rice I've ever eaten was at my aunt's house, she had a large family and she cooked a lot. The meal consisted of red beans and rice, fried or Ponéed pork chops, French fries and a dinner salad of: lettuce, tomatoes, onions and avacado in a vinegar base. And, of coarse, mayonnaise on bread and coffee. Boy, I'm o tole you we waddled from that table!

Now you can understand what red beans and rice is all about. A simple dish with minimum of attention to cooking. Red beans weren't meant to have: bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots? ugh! or Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, catsup or vinegar! Red beans is red beans! Keep it simple and you'll have a winner!

Enjoy!

Jack Pearson      the achin' agin' Cajun...

        About Us

        We were both born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. We both grew up eating Cajun food and
        drinking coffee and chicory. Over the years, we've replicated the recipes used by our family; our
        grandmother, mother, aunt and my father. All were excellent cooks.

        On these pages are those recipes documented as we made them and enjoyed by our families and
        friends.

        We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy bringing them to you!

        Bon a petite!

        Gigi Fairhope     GypsyWitch