Name: Red Beans and Rice
Yield: Serves six to eight
Cuisine: Creole
Ingredients: ½ lb. bacon or fat from a fresh or smoked ham, salt pork, or pork belly; 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish; 1 Tbsp. chopped green onion tops, for garnish; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 3 ribs celery, chopped; 1 green bell pepper, chopped; ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper; 1 tsp. Tabasco, plus more to taste; Salt; 6 cups cooked long-grain rice; 1 tsp. dried summer savory; 1 bay leaf; 1 lb. dried red beans; 1 small yellow onion, chopped

Preparation info

Serves
six to eight

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Tom Fitzmorris's New Orleans Food

By Tom Fitzmorris

Published 2018

About

Red beans and rice is the official Monday dish in New Orleans, on special menus in all kinds of restaurants all over town. Although most people agree on the recipe, the trend in recent years—especially in restaurants—has been to make the sauce matrix much thicker than what I remember from my youth. This version is the old (and, I think, better) style, with a looser sauce. The way my mother made it for us every Monday throughout my childhood.

I have, however, added two wrinkles. One