"Red Beans and Ricely Yours"

"Red Beans and Ricely Yours" was Louis Armstrong's signature sign-off in his letters; an homage to his favorite dish and home town of New Orleans.

The dish remains emblematic of this great city and it's culture. It is the mixing of many ingredients from many cultures into a single pot. It follows no fixed format allowing the creator to improvise, add, subtract as he/she seems fits. It simmers all day, is spicy and mellows and improves with age.

Red Kidney Beans originated in the Americas and migrated to Louisiana in the late 18th century. Rice was first grown in the Carolinas during colonial times and became an important crop dependent on the slave trade. Rice also being dependent on water and flooded fields found a fertile home along the banks of Mississippi where water was pumped over levees into awaiting fields. The crop in Louisiana also relied on large quantities of imported slaves. Production eventually spread to the coastal plains of Louisiana where it remains an important agricultural product. Louisiana accounts for 25% of the country's rice production, much of it is exported.

The happy confluence of rice and beans was based on traditional usages with local improvisation. Beans and rice dishes were common to Africa, and were brought by slaves with spices from Haiti to New Orleans. Throw in some leftover meat or whatever meat you could muster; maybe some greens. Cook all day; serve for many days.

Beans and rice are also important nutritionally as "complementary proteins." Simply, proteins consist of amino acids some of which are essential for growth; the body can synthesize non essential ones. Beans and rice are incomplete proteins-individually, they do not contain all essential amino acids. The marriage of rice and beans, however, provides all essential amino acids, compensating for the ones lacking in the other. This pairing remains nutritionally important not only in southern cooking but Latin America, the Mideast and India.

Monday is traditionally Red Bean and Rice Day in the Crescent City. Legend has it is that this is "washing day" so the women of the household had to attend to domestic chores, necessitating some self-contained and not fussy dish that could cook all day in their absence. "Soak ya beans on Sunday, soak ya wash on Monday." The dish was also a natural for the leftover Sunday ham bone as the starter culture.

There are many variations of Red Beans and Rice but all have some common elements. Soak your beans though if you are in a pinch this is not necessary. You can add water to dried beans, soak for 10 minutes bring to a boil for a half hour, take off the heat and let sit and it works. You will need to saute the New Orleans holy trinity of garlic, onions, celery and red bell pepper in oil or bacon grease. You will need pork to cook along and flavor the beans. This can be the traditional smoked sausage of Louisiana, andouille, or you can use a smoked ham hock. If you use the latter and it is large, boil it in some water to partially cook first and use the cooking water for the beans. If you don't use andouille, ramp up the garlic, onions and cayenne.

Or use Louis Armstrong's recipe below. More accurately it his wife's Lillian's recipe. Reportedly, this dish was an audition and wound up sanctifying the choice of Lillian as his wife. There are worse ways to choose a partner.

While cooking why not listen to Pops tear into West End Blues with his legendary solo. Those beans will start simmering!