# Beans and Rice Recipes Anyone?



## JBaldwin (Sep 1, 2010)

So I am new to the beans and rice world, and I would love to learn how some of you folks cook them. I am currently soaking pinto beans, and I don't know how to spice them up.


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## westminken (Sep 1, 2010)

Grandmother taught me to use some chopped garlic (maybe two or three cloves depending on your taste), salt pork (maybe four or five pieces sliced up into strips), jalapenos ( one or two halved and then sliced into small strips depending on your taste for hotness), also some lard maybe two tablespoons. I was raised on this. YUMM YUMM GOOD!!!


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## LawrenceU (Sep 1, 2010)

Here is our basic beans and rice recipe. We normally use Red beans but it works well with any dried bean. It even makes Great Yankee beans edible.

Sort and soak the beans overnight. Make sure and use more water than you think you will need.

Ingredients:
Beans
Andouille or other cased sausage
Onion
Bell Pepper
Celery
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Tony Chachere's Seasoning
Cayenne pepper
Beer
Salt
Pepper
Chopped green onions tops and all
File'


Prep:
Chop one large white onion
Chop one large bell pepper
Chop two stalks celery
Slice sausage into discs about 1/14 inch thick

Cooking:
Heat some bacon grease in a heavy skillet
Add onion, bell pepper and celery and one or two pressed garlic cloves to hot grease.
Saute' until the onions are about half clear
(Enjoy one of the best aromas every created in a kitchen!)
Add the sausage and cook until the sausage begins to curl on the casings (about five minutes).
Remove from heat.

In a large stock pot add the soaked beans, the above mixture, water to cover the beans by at least two inches and a bottle of beer. This is about the best use for Dixie beer that there is. Dark beer is even better. Add about two teaspoons of Tony's. Light your fire and heat the beans to a boil. Let them boil for about five minutes and then turn the down to a simmer. Test for seasoning adjust as needed. I usually add about two tablespoons of ground cayenne, but that is pretty spicy for most people. Simmer the beans until they are done. This takes several hours. Stir them every time you pass the stove. We used to have red beans almost every Monday. Monday was laundry day. Momma would put them on in the morning and they would simmer all day until supper.

About five minutes before serving stir in a tablespoon of file'.

Serve over rice and put chopped green onion on top.

This goes really well with fresh French bread on the side and a cold glass of tea or beer.

Man, I am hungry!


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## Scott1 (Sep 1, 2010)

The recipe above looks very good.

If you want an easy way, with a chile kick:

add about 1/2 jar (8 ozs) of this sauce:
El Pinto All Natural Green Chile Sauce - Medium 16 oz.

to about 1 pound of pinto beans.

Add one ham hock.

You can do this in one cook through without soaking beans, on low in crockpot for around 4 hours.

Great with tortillas with melted cheese (Colby, Monterrey jack or sharp cheddar)


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## Michael (Sep 1, 2010)

Being from the Gulf Coast, I'm all about red beans and rice. Now there are plenty of ways to cook up some red beans...play it by ear and you'll have your own recipe before you know it. But I really just wanted to pipe in and say try it with _*yellow rice*_. "Saffron" brand is the good stuff.


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## Steve Curtis (Sep 1, 2010)

We do this with black beans. It's a variation on a Cuban recipe. Of course, we prefer to add grilled pork chops (seasoned with minced garlic, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste). Sometimes, though, we just do the beans. Super simple and tasty!

1 medium white onion, diced
1 small green pepper, deseeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil for sautéing veggies
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can Ro-Tel, drained
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and well rinsed
1 cup medium grain, white rice (not instant)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt to taste


Sauté onion, green pepper and garlic.
When vegetables have softened, add cumin, Ro-Tel, black beans, and rice. Stir well, and add chicken or vegetable stock and bring that up to a simmer.
Turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed. Season with salt to taste.


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## Michael (Sep 1, 2010)

Josh, I must admit that I hadn't really understood the point of the "helpful" button until reading your post just now.


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## TimV (Sep 1, 2010)

What's with all the pork????? Hey, whatever. It's just gross.


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## LawrenceU (Sep 1, 2010)

Michael, I'm right there with you, brother.

Tim, beans and hogs go together. They both produce a lot of return on a little investment for poor folks who have / had to grow their own food. Thus, they became married in the recipe books.


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## JBaldwin (Sep 1, 2010)

Thanks everyone! These look good.


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## Glenn Ferrell (Sep 2, 2010)

Pinto beans! Yum! Native dish of Southern Appalachia. I would not have survived childhood without them. Cook with a little salt pork, serve with friend potatoes and Southern (not that sweet Yankee stuff) corn bread, a slice or two of sweet onion, some mildly hot pickled peppers, and maybe sour Kraut and cold butter milk. Some nice cow butter on the corn bread too. Gourmet eatin’ there.


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## puritan628 (Sep 2, 2010)

They're almost all refried where I live.


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## LawrenceU (Sep 2, 2010)

Glenn, you must have grown up in my house. That was another staple of ours. I love real cornbread.

For the strangest reason after reading your post I have a strong craving for Beaten Biscuits and Ham (Country Ham all others are also rans).


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## Glenn Ferrell (Sep 3, 2010)

Writing about good pinto beans and corn bread makes me hungry and homesick. BTW, that was "fried" potatoes, not "friend" potatoes.


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## JBaldwin (Sep 3, 2010)

We ate the pinto beans and rice for dinner last evening. YUM!


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## jwithnell (Sep 3, 2010)

Pour some of the pot likker over the cornbread. Yum!


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## Steve Curtis (Sep 3, 2010)

LawrenceU said:


> Here is our basic beans and rice recipe. We normally use Red beans but it works well with any dried bean. It even makes Great Yankee beans edible.
> 
> Sort and soak the beans overnight. Make sure and use more water than you think you will need.
> 
> ...



I plan to make this dish this weekend, but I'm not sure I can slice 'em this thin!


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## LawrenceU (Sep 3, 2010)

kainos01 said:


> LawrenceU said:
> 
> 
> > Here is our basic beans and rice recipe. We normally use Red beans but it works well with any dried bean. It even makes Great Yankee beans edible.
> ...


 
You have to have a SHARP knife. 

I think you will really like it. Enjoy!


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## SarahM (Sep 6, 2010)

My family likes a brazilian dish. It's just basically black beans cooked with garlic, onion, and water, of course, and then served over rice. We make up vinaigrette to go over the top (red wine vinegar, chopped onion, green pepper, and tomato). If you want to splurge, you can add steak. We marinade the steak in red wine vinegar with lots of garlic and then grill it. We pile out plates with rice and beans and have a small piece of meat. It's really good!


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## BobVigneault (Sep 7, 2010)

I take a couple cans of red beans, a couple cans of Rotel, several cups of rice, a bag of frozen sweet corn. I mix it all together and distribute them into meal sized plastic containers and freeze them. I pull out one a day and throw it in the microwave at work and that is my breakfast/lunch. I thought I got this idea from Josh. This is NO WHERE near the gourmet masterpiece that Lawrence described but it's a quickie meal in a hurry. I love it. Lawrence, I'm definitely going to try your recipe. What is 'file'?


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## LawrenceU (Sep 7, 2010)

File' is also known as Gumbo File'. It is dried, ground sassafras leaves. It is a staple seasoning in some Cajun dishes, derived from Cherokee seasoning. It is available in every grocery and filling station around here  and in some outside of the South. I could find it when I lived in Phoenix. If you need some I'll send you a jar.


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## JBaldwin (Sep 7, 2010)

Lawrence, thanks for explaining Gumbo File'. Your recipe looks tasty. 

Sarah, we had some black beans and rice at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago that was prepared very much like what you describe. It was really good.


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