red beans and rice

I have a recipe for red beans and rice that I found on some long-lost New Orleans site years ago. We eat it quite regularly, although funnily enough I don't think I've made it since I've started this blog. When we were in Oklahoma a few weeks ago and watching way too much Food Network, Good Eats did an episode on red beans and rice. We were intrigued and I made it tonight.

My version calls for Andouille sausage whereas Alton Brown suggested pickled pork. And of course, in true Alton-fashion, you pickle your own pork. He also doesn't mandate bean soaking. I forgot this and soaked. Because the beans were already plumped, my finished dish was much more soupy than was expected. I'm going to try this again following his instructions exactly to see if that was my problem.

Soupy or not, the beans were really, really good. Totally different taste than my recipe, but in no way inferior. The real question is: Which is the authentic Lousiana red beans and rice taste? I live in SE Texas now, I think I'm going to go find me some Cajuns and ask them.

The complete winner here, though, was the rice recipe. You've got to try his method of preparing rice. It is delicious enough to be a meal on its own. And by using an electric kettle to pre-boil the water, it's lightning fast. You must try it!