[Dixielandjazz] Red beans and rice

[Phil Wilking]

Red beans and rice are an old New Orleans Monday staple, so the "paradise" 
is probably nostalgia for the childhood which should have been (and likely 
never was). It is very filling, tasty when well prepared, frequently with a 
slice of sausage, and nutritious.

R B & R were and are a staple because you must put the dried beans in a slow 
simmer for a long time and the rice is easy to boil up. Just the thing for a 
homemaker to almost let prepare itself for her family on a Monday while she 
does the laundry (no washing machines or dryers), cleans the house (no 
vacuum cleaners), shops for groceries (no supermarkets and no set prices - 
everything is a haggle, and no automobile unless the family is quite wealthy 
[can you say 'walking to and from the stores and markets while dragging a 
shopping bag or cart?']), does the mending (only the well-to-do have sewing 
machines), and infinitely so on. "My wife doesn't work, she stays at home." 
yeah -- Right!!!

If anyone wants to get good recipes for red beans and rice and many other 
circa 1900 dishes, get the "Picayune Creole Cook Book." It is a collection 
of the cooking columns of "The Daily Picayune" newspaper of New Orleans and 
is still in print. Be warned: in this book "butter" means butter, not 
oleomargarine; "sugar" means cane sugar, not beet sugar or any substitute; 
etc. These columns were written when a stout figure was to be desired as a 
sign of good finances and adequate food, which not everyone had.

Phil Wilking, K5MZF, www.nolabanjo.com

Those who would exchange freedom for
security deserve neither freedom nor security.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marek Boym" <marekboym at gmail.com>


>I have not tasted red beans and rice, so I don't know whether they are
> paradise, as Armstrong sang.