^^^^ How y'all are.....Wooooeeeeee ;)

Jerry, Justin.....yup!

ARGH, I shouldn't have viewed this thread when I was hungry. Now my stomach is rumbling.

I really want some red beans and rice right now, but I don't have anywhere closeby to go to. Thanks guys.. Guess I'll be making rice and beans this weekend though! :)

Maybe I'll try out one of your guys' recipes!

My buddies Mom used to make pasteles with black beans and rice every Christmas. Man that was good eating!

It's probably just a typo..
But by 2 teaspoons garlic ya'll probably meant to write 2 cups garlic.

Looking at that recipe inspired me to make some black eyed peas and ham with cornbread for dinner. I did add a couple of tablespoons of garlic to the pound of black eyed peas.

I wonder if I should substitute smoked ham shanks for the hocks?
I used to eat this in a little town called Hammond La. back in the late 70's
Great memories, first place I ever had mudbugs too.

You could. The shanks will cook way faster than a hock, but the broth will lack richness. The fat from the hock skin makes all the difference.

Beans and Rice form a complete protein when eaten together, or so they say.
When the pot of chili gets to the bottom, my wife will often throw some leftover rice in the pot. I grumble on principle, but it isn't bad.

I'll go with the hocks, Thanks

Dulans On Crenshaw Soul Food, Dulans Catering Co. | Los Angeles

let's see...Mexican entrés seem to always have refried beans and rice. I like it with the beans, rice, and some salsa all mixed up.

I was thinking the same. 2tsp sounds more like what someone would put in 1 lb of beans, but then you may as well just round up to 1 tbs at that point... :D

Guys the use of hocks or skins is WAY over thinking it. You'll only get so much flavor. And actually you'll get more flavor from a quality smoked sausage. If you cook them in a crock pot it always best, takes longer but better results. By the way, where was that restaurant in Hammond La? Spent a few years at SLU in Hammond.

Get too much meat in the beans & rice and it become etouffee.

Naw...totally different. Blond roux and crawfish don't suddenly jump out of Andouille...no matter how much ya add. I don't like a lot...just enough. ....and some Lousiana, Crystal, or Tobasco...hell, even Rooster sauce if ya ain't from around here...yer choich.

Naahh. If you find nice, meaty hocks you can strip the meat from them after cooking and add them back to the pot. And you get a lot of flavor out of the bones and marrow.

I'll put it this way, when I see a package of nice hocks at the store, they get bought and that's what triggers when I have the next pot of beans.

Nothing wrong with the skin, either. When I make a cassoulet, I line the heavy, cast iron pot that I cook it in with pork skin. Very traditional.

Nothing wrong with adding a sausage, though. You can never have too much meat...

When I see some nice hocks on sale, it becomes Portuguese bean soup. Boil the hocks for a couple hours, then strip them down and throw the meat and chopped up skin into the soup. Gotta experiment with my Instant Pot to see how it comes out. :D

Not that there's anything wrong with etouffee at all.

But, all of the etouffee that I've had, has no beans, it's always veggies and meat.

We didn't have a lot of money, so we ate a lot of beans. No rice, ever. My dad spent 3 years in the Philippines in WW II and would not allow rice in the house. Mom always cooked Great Northern beans with ham hocks until the beans were practically a thin paste and served them with cornbread and sliced onion. As I kid I put ketchup in them. :eek: When I got older I loaded them down with black pepper. Now they go through me like barbed wire. I still love them, but I don't eat them often.