Name: Cajun Red Beans and Rice
Yield: 6 people for 2-3 days
Ingredients: 1 pound dry red beans; 6 ea . (3½–4 pounds / 1.5–2 kg ) large ham hocks; 2 cups (½ stalk) finely- chopped celery; 2 cups (1 ea.) finely-chopped onions; 2 cups (1 ea.) finely-chopped bell peppers; 5 bay leaves; 3 Tbsp Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic , or a similar spice; 1 Tbsp tabasco sauce or similar hot sauce; 4 cups cooked rice

Why it works: Beans and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,017 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Cajun Red Beans and Rice

6 people for 2-3 days

Timeabout 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound dry red beans
6 ea . (3½–4 pounds / 1.5–2 kg ) large ham hocks
2 cups (½ stalk) finely- chopped celery
2 cups (1 ea.) finely-chopped onions
2 cups (1 ea.) finely-chopped bell peppers
5 bay leaves
3 Tbsp Paul Prudhomme's Seafood Magic , or a similar spice
1 Tbsp tabasco sauce or similar hot sauce
4 cups cooked rice

Directions

Prepare the beans

Cover beans with water and let soak overnight.
Drain.

Simmer the ham hocks

Place ham hocks, celery, onions, bell peppers, bay leaves, and seasoning into a large saucepan with 10 cups water.
Cover and bring to boil.
Simmer until meat is fork tender, about an hour after boiling starts, stirring occasionally.
Remove ham hocks from pan and set aside.
Skim fat from pan and discard.

Cook the beans

Remove a significant fraction of liquid from pan.
Add drained beans.
Add back just enough liquid to cover beans.
Simmer beans until they just begin to break up and the liquid starts to become creamy, about 45 minutes.
Stir frequently.
Add back liquid as needed to keep beans covered.
If beans begin to scorch, do not stir; transfer mixture to another pan without scraping scorched beans into new pot.
Add ham hocks and cook 45 minutes more.

Serve

Serve immediately.
On a heated serving platter, mound ¾ cup rice per serving at one end of platter, place ham hocks at other end, and put 1 cup beans per serving in middle.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

539Calories

34 gProtein

15 gFat

64 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Pork	100g cooked	242
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Red Bean	not in our table	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Beans + ricetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,017 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beans + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,159 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Beans + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,242 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dry red beans: Break down during simmering to thicken the liquid into a creamy, starchy base.
Ham hocks: Release fat and collagen into the pot, adding savory depth and body to the broth.
Celery, onions, and bell peppers: Build the aromatic base of flavor that seasons the beans and cooking liquid.
Cooked rice: Serves as the neutral starch that the bean mixture is spooned over.

The step that matters

Simmering the beans after adding them back. Beans scorch easily on the bottom of the pan. Keeping them covered with liquid, stirring as needed, and moving the mixture to a new pot if scorching starts prevents a burnt taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, ham, celery, pepper, sauce, rice):

Mustardfits better
Tomatofits better
Carrotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beans, ham, celery, pepper, sauce, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Rice Fritters84 recipes

Steamed Rice48 recipes

Rice Griddle Cakes28 recipes

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Cajun Red Beans and Rice