Red beans and rice — United States

Red beans and rice pairs small red kidney beans, simmered until creamy, with steamed white rice, a combination that belongs to the wider family of rice-and-beans dishes found across the American South, the Caribbean and Central America. In Louisiana it is closely tied to Creole cooking, built around slow, all-day simmering rather than quick cooking. It is reported from New Orleans and southern Louisiana, where it was long prepared on Mondays, using ham bones left from Sunday dinner while the day was given over to washing clothes; the beans could simmer unattended on the stove for hours. It remains common on neighbourhood restaurant and school lunch menus as a Monday special, and at large gatherings throughout the region. To prepare it, dried red beans are soaked, then simmered slowly with onion, celery and bell pepper, garlic, thyme, bay leaf and cayenne, along with a smoked pork element such as a ham hock, andouille sausage or tasso. The beans are cooked low and long, stirred occasionally so some of them break down and thicken the pot into a creamy sauce, then spooned over freshly cooked white rice. Households vary the choice of smoked meat, the level of heat, and how far the beans are mashed for creaminess, while keeping the base of beans, the vegetable trinity and rice constant. It is usually served with cornbread and a side of sausage or a pork chop, and the same basic pairing of beans and rice reappears under different names and seasonings throughout Central America and the Caribbean.