In news:rec.food.cooking, sf > posted on Sat, 12 Feb 2011
18:57:39 -0800 the following:

> I'm usually the one who is posing that question. Find a bag of dry
> beans that are called "small red beans". Those are what you want to
> use, not kidney. Anyway, I finally made red beans & rice and it
> turned out to be much ado about nothing. The good news is that I now
> prefer the small red beans over kidney beans in chili (if you ever
> make your chili with beans). So the conclusion is that I will
> continue to buy small red beans, but I won't make red beans and rice
> with them.

Well, when I make red beans & rice, I always put two packages of Eckrich
Skinless Smoked Sausage in it. I cut the sausages in half lengthwise then
in half again to make four quarters. I then cut across the quartered
sausage to get triangles with one rounded edge. I don't put celery in it,
but I do put finely diced onion and green pepper in it. I also include
garlic, salt to taste, black pepper, thyme and a couple or three bay
leaves. For the liquid, I don't use water. I use chicken broth, and
sometimes a mixture of both chicken and beef broth, but I use more chicken
than beef. It really is a wonderful food, but the sausage is very
necessary to get the right flavor.

I cook it in a crock pot. After about six to eight hours, you'll have
perfection, and you can keep it at a temperature that maintains 160
degrees for quite a while. Stir regularly. If it sits for too long, the
sausage that surfaces will turn a rather unsightly color, but it's still
safe to eat and it tastes fantastic. It just tastes better and better as
the hours go by. When I cook that, I'll eat many small servings
throughout the day.

For the rice, I use two cups of Jasmine rice and I rinse it until the
water runs clear. I use a rice cooker and I start with a can of chicken
broth and enough water to take the liquid content up to about 2.75 cups of
liquid, plus one stick of butter. It makes a nice, firm rice that's easy
to fluff, but you won't get the crunchy bits. Your mileage may vary if
you go for stovetop rice. Also the butter will scorch a little on the
bottom, but it won't stick and I like the flavor of that browned butter.
The rice can get kind of mushy in a rice cooker if left for too long, so
after a couple of hours, I just take it out and put it in the fridge. When
I get ready for another small serving, I'll just dip a little out of the
container in the fridge, microwave it for half a minute to knock the
chill, then ladle a helping of beans and sausage over it.

Also, I've used both "small red beans" and dried kidney beans. I like
this dish with either type of bean.

Damaeus