Good news! It’s Fat Tuesday, and that means a Fat Discount on an annual paid subscription to Between the Layers. Until March 1, upgrade to paid for just $40 for a year’s worth of full access to recipes and content. Fat Tuesday Red Beans & Rice - No. 192Let’s get a jump on Lent by cooking some beans, plus King Cake news!
IT’S FAT TUESDAY, THE DAY WE COOK pancakes for dinner, fry up doughnuts and fritters, and slice into King Cake. But if that’s too much excess, just simmer up some red beans. I’ve written so much on King Cake at Between the Layers, and I’d love to mention my King Cake just won a bake-off over at Book Riot! Woohoo! You can read about it here. But this Fat Tuesday, I lean into savory—can you believe it?—and share a recipe unique to New Orleans but applicable anywhere because it’s cheap and delicious. This red beans and rice recipe comes from the late Daisy Fuller Young, a New Orleans native who was the mother of former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young. I received the recipe from her family many years ago when I was the food editor of the Atlanta newspapers. With her pot of beans simmering on the stove in the background and with the assistance from some of my favorite cookbooks, I dive into a red beans and rice story today.
‘’Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours’’ - Louis ArmstrongBack when hams were baked for Sunday dinner and washing was done on Monday, red beans were simmered along with that leftover ham bone in a large iron pot. New Orleans historian Liz Williams writes in her 2013 book, New Orleans: A Food Biography, ‘’A person who has to tend a washtub and heat hot water all day could tend a pot of red beans... It would also allow the efficient use of fuel, for when else would there be a time when a fire would be tended all day?’’ So Mondays evolved into red beans and rice day in New Orleans, and that’s when you’d find them simmering in homes, school cafeterias, and restaurants. Although with tourists roaming the streets in search of red beans and rice today, they’re cooked most any day. New Orleans’ favorite brand of the little red beans, which are smaller than kidney beans and cook up creamy and yet hold their shape, is Camellia. If you visit New Orleans, be sure to stop in a Rouse’s market and grab several bags to take home. But if not, you can buy the very lovely small red Domingo Rojo beans from Rancho Gordo.
The traditional liquid for red beans and rice is simply water because you’ve got a piece of ham in the pot to flavor things up. And authors Rima and Richard Collin write in their 1975 The New Orleans Cookbook that the marrow from the ham bone gives the beans their distinctive creamy, almost baby food-like texture. They are purists and insist you need a ham bone, and if you can’t find a bone-in ham you can buy a ham bone from a butcher and keep it in the freezer until you want to simmer a pot. But I didn’t use a ham bone and instead made use of a bit of holiday country ham still in my freezer. Daisy Young used a ham hock. Her trick to imparting a creamy texture was to mash a portion of the beans against the inside of the pot and release them back into the broth. She never, ever used flour to thicken the juices. Recipes differ as to what type of meat to add to the pot depending on where you call home. In New Orleans, Creole red beans are simmered with pickled pork, according to Lena Richard in her 1939 Lena Richard’s Cook Book. ‘’Just before ready to serve add parsley and salt and pepper to taste,’’ she instructs. But out in the country, ‘’In Madisonville, where I grew up,’’ writes Leah Chase in The Dooky Chase Cookbook (1990), ‘’we would use smoked ham to add flavor to our red beans.’’ Toni Tipton-Martin says in her 2019 book, Jubilee, that author Freda DeKnight once recalled the strong connection between New Orleans, red beans, and jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. Red beans are brightly flavored with spices, and seasoning them is an art. Armstrong was known to say, ‘’old man, season them well! Add the right spices at the right time, and man, you have a ‘Date with a Dish’ that’s just about the greatest.’’ DeKnight would go on to name her famous cookbook just that, Date with a Dish. Louis Armstrong was known for his signature salutation, ‘’Red Beans and Rice-ly Yours.’’ And, if you love trivia, I’ll share this: He just so happened to be a dental patient of Daisy Young’s husband, Andrew Young, Sr.
No wonder red beans and rice are a religious experience. They contain the holy trinity of seasoning…onion, celery, and green pepper. Besides the connection to Mardi Gras, red beans and rice offer something else—the best aroma ever. It is perfuming my house while I write this letter to you. Is it the green pepper, the onion, or the celery, or all of the above? Together they are known as the holy trinity. Only in New Orleans! After the trinity is briefly sautéed, I add that piece of country ham and know salt seeps out of it as the beans cook. So I don’t add any extra salt until the end of cooking because salt makes beans tough. Rancho Gordo suggests you only add salt to dried beans once they cook long enough to soften. But cayenne, red pepper pods, fresh or dried thyme, parsley, bay leaf, they have no effect whatsoever on bean tenderness, so add them as often as you like during the process. A note about water: I pre-soak beans overnight, which shortens the cooking time. And I begin with about 6 cups of water but keep 2 cups in reserve for adding to the pot as they cook down. And I stir the pot every half hour, and in about 2 1/2 to 3 hours, really depending on whether or not you pre-soaked the beans and the heat of your stove, you will have creamy cooked beans and enough ‘’gravy.’’ If you’ve added meat to the pot, shred it into smaller pieces and stir it back in. Or, if you haven’t, now’s a good time to slice some cooked smoked sausage and sear it off in an iron skillet to serve to the side. Spoon the beans with meat and gravy alongside steamed rice. And sprinkle with minced fresh parsley or green onions if you’re feeling fancy. Don’t forget the hot sauce! Laissez les bons temps rouler! Here’s a photo from BTL subscriber Leslie who baked my King Cake to share with her co-workers today. I am loving the baby!
Happy Fat Tuesday! - xo, Anne How are you celebrating/cooking for Mardi Gras? Coming this Thursday for Subscribers…Our second installment of Cake in Other Places. Has it been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine? I am marking the date with a Ukrainian apple cake and hopes of peace. Plus, I share an update on our Project Preserved Lemons. Not a Thursday (paid) Subscriber? Join us!
THE RECIPE: Daisy Young’s Red Beans and RiceDaisy Fuller Young made frequent trips to visit her sons and their families in Atlanta, and it was on Christmas Eve when she was asked to cook her red beans and rice. According to oral histories recorded by her son, former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young, her grandmother was enslaved. The first in her family to receive a college education, Daisy Young was an elementary school teacher in New Orleans before marrying and raising a family. She seasoned the red beans with a generous stick of butter after cooking, which I do not do. Instead, I butter the rice or serve with buttered garlicky bread. Makes 8 servings Prep: 20 to 25 minutes Cook: 2 1/2 to 3 hours
You’re on the free list for Anne Byrn: Between the Layers. If you’re liking what you’re reading, why don’t you become a paying subscriber for more recipes, stories, and content.
Read Anne Byrn: Between the Layers in the app Listen to posts, join subscriber chats, and never miss an update from Anne Byrn.
|
0 comments:
Post a Comment