In honor of Mardi Gras my husband and I are making one Creole/New Orleans dish a week for the entire month of February.  I’m kind of digging this concept…maybe I should do one Irish inspired dish a week next month.  I might be onto something.

One note about this dish.  You must rinse the pork after you pull it out of the brine before you put it in the crock pot with the red beans.  I was so excited to get to my quilt I’m making (my very first one!) after work that, even though I was thinking you might have to rinse the pork I didn’t check the recipe.  Bad decision.  Our red beans were a little too vinegary – not inedible, but not terribly enjoyable either.  Yep, sometimes I screw up in the kitchen too!

Ingredients for the pickled pork:

1/2 cup mustard seeds

1 tablespoon celery seed

2 tablespoons hot sauce (Louisiana hot sauce or Tabasco)

1 quart white vinegar

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1-2 teaspoons peppercorns

10 cloves of garlic

2 lbs boneless pork butt, cut into cubes

1. Combine everything except for the pork butt in a sauce pan and boil for 5 minutes.

2. Allow to cool completely.

3. While the seasoning is cooling, cut the pork butt into cubes.

4. Place the pork butt in a container with a tight fitting cover and pour the cooled seasoning over.  Stir.

5. Cover and refrigerate for 3 days.

6. Rinse before combining with your red beans.

Ingredients for the red beans & rice:

1 (1 pound) package red kidney beans

1 green bell pepper

1 onion

4 celery stalks

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons pepper

2 tablespoons creole seasoning (in the grocery store spice isle)

3 garlic cloves

2 quarts of water

2 pounds pickled pork butt (or 1 pound smoked sausage cut into pieces)

1 1/2 cups of rice

2 cups of water for rice

1 tablespoon butter

1. Soak the kidney beans in water overnight (double the amount of water to beans)

2. Add all the ingredients, except for the rice, water for rice, and butter, to a crock pot and cook on low heat for 6 hours.

3. Place the rinsed pickled pork butt (or sausage) in the crock pot and cook on low for an additional 1 hour.

4. Cook rice according to rice package directions (you may use different amounts of rice/water depending on the type of rice you use).

5. Serve the red beans over a steaming scoop of rice and enjoy!