Rice & Beans, New-Orleans style

I watched a documentary on Louisiana cuisine around 5 years ago, that made me drool and fantasize about this type of cooking ever since. My only experience in this area though is a one-time opportunity I had at the Houston airport, where I made a quick stopover on my way to Mexico. We rushed to the Bubba Gump restaurant as soon as we saw it. We only had 40 minutes to spare, but we went anyways -not knowing at the time that a hurricane would make us spend the whole night at the airport, but that's a story for another time. I remember having the Jamabalaya, and finding it even better than I was expecting. The smoky, spicy taste of the dish was something I had never experienced in another cuisine -not with this depth of taste, that I think can only be reached by using both complex ingredients and decent amounts of fat. I always kept Louisiana cuisine in a corner of my mind ever since, and when I saw a Reddit post on rice & beans, New-Orleans style, I couldn't resist any longer. The issue I faced was finding the ingredients. The original recipe includes :

• tasso, a a spicy smoked ham from Louisiana ;
• Andouille, a Cajun sausage, there again smoked and heavily spiced ;
• smoked ham hocks.

Much as I tried, those 3 items where nowhere to be found in Paris. But, no matter ! I decided to find relevant substitutes -and I don't mean to boast but, judging by the end result, the attempt was 100% successful. The substitutes I found to lend that spiced and smoky taste were :

• Créole Christmas ham, which can be found more easily in my area, be it in Créole stores or in large exotic ones, sometimes (I even found one at my large Asian store nearby) ;

• Morteau French sausage, a smoked kind of sausage ; any local smoked sausage you have on hand will do ;

• a bit of smoked paprika to reinforce the smoky taste.

Don't give up on this dish because of the tricky ingredients ; find some of your local meats that lend a smoky taste at least, and a spicy and smoky taste if you can. If not, the Créole mixed spices would be enough on their own. Once you found the ingredients, this recipe is very straight-forward. After a bit of chopping, you brown some lard and sausage, then basically throw everything in the pot and wait for it to cook !

Oven Purée - Recipe

Recipe - Advice & key points

• For the specific meats to buy and their replacements, see the comments above ;
• Don't skip the browing part for the sausage, as it lends more flavour to your stew ;
• For the "holy trinity" (onion, green bell pepper, celery), make sure the amount of onions equals the total amount of bell pepper + celery.
• This is not a quick recipe to make ; take your time to get properly cooked beans !
• The best brand for your red kidney beans is Camellia, but I couldn't find it and the stew was perfectly fine.
• Be careful with your Créole spices mix ; some contain salt (mine did), which must be taken into account before your add some more !
• This stew is usually served with a side of rice sprinkled with parsley. Careful ; the amount of rice should be limited ; the star of the show is the stew.

All set ? Let's make the most flavourful beans you've ever tried !