Red Beans & Rice

Buffa's Red Beans & Rice.pdf

This version will need scaled down a bit...

  • 14 C. red beans

  • 4 stalks celery

  • 4 green bell peppers

  • 6 yellow onions

  • 6 links of smoked sausage

  • 1 Qt Ham

  • 1 pound bacon

  • 1 ham hock or ham shank

  • 1 C. Crystal hot sauce

  • 1/2 C. Worcestershire sauce

  • Redfish seasoning mix

  • Cayenne pepper

  • 2 pounds butter

  • Rice

  • Garlic Bread

  • Green onions

  • Additional Sausage for Serving (pictured and optional)

  1. Soak the red beans over night and drain.

  2. Chop the celery, peppers, onions, sausage, ham and bacon. Add to the red beans in a large pot.

  3. Add ham hock/shank, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce to ingredients.

  4. Add seasoning mix and cayenne pepper to taste.

  5. Add water to cover the beans by 1 inch.

  6. Bring pot to boil, then cook on low for 45 minutes or until beans are soft.

So again, a recipe swindled from an establishment. Halloween in New Orleans 2014. Frenchman street was hopping, and we were wrapping up a night of booze and Kermit Ruffins. Nikki (Mary Poppins) and myself (Burt the Chimney Sweeper) stumbled away from the crowd and walked into this corner bar in between the quarter and Frenchman. Maybe it was the alcohol, or lack of food for most of the evening, but this dish was amazing. Four years later we had to try it again with minimal influence, and no love was lost. Jazz Fest 2019, we brought Jackie and David to the bar to try. It was a hit, even with David on a full stomach. Jackie I believe asked the individual working the bar where this was from, and I want to say it was inspired from some cookbook which we could not remember to this day.

So one day, I said what the hell, i'm going to ask Buffa's about their recipe. I told them I was working on a family recipe website, and the idea was to not only share recipes we grew up on, but also some recipes from our travels. I asked them to provide any variation or what cookbook inspired this. Within minutes I received their recipe. Per Buffa's management, this was actually a family recipe from one of the cooks who used to work at Buffa's about 20 years ago. Some parts are a little vague (quart of ham???), but we are thrilled to have this and work from. Not sure if we will ever nail it down, but it will be fun trying. Worst case scenario? We'll have to travel to NOLA again for good food, good music and good times. Win win.

~ Michael