This is my grandmothers Red Beans recipe.  I grew up with it using Treet as the meat added instead of smoked sausage.  Although it’s rather like Spam, it’s got a smokier flavor, and when rendered in the cooking liquid of the red beans it takes on a much more authentic smoked ham flavor and adds a really good flavor to the beans.

1 lb dried kidney beans
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 stalk celery
1/2 bell pepper
2-3 bay leaves
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 – 1 tsp tabasco hot sauce.
1 lb Jacksonville andiouie sausage unless you can get it from new Orleans
2 cans treet – optional, it’s the way my grandmother did it, so I like it but if you don’t then use more sausage

1. Rinse the beans under cold water and sort through for debris

2. Place beans in large pot with about 10 cups of water. Boil for about an hour the drain and set the beans aside for a moment

3. Dice onions, celery, bell pepper, and mince the garlic. Sauté on medium high heat until the onions start getting translucent

4. Add the red beans, salt, pepper and bay leaves to pot.

5. Add about 8-10 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer.

6. slice the anduoille sausage and, if using Treet, slice into squares and add to the pot after about 30 minutes

7. Simmer, stirring occasionally for about 2 -2 1/2 hours, until the beans are tender.

8. If the liquid is to thin, mush up about two to three large spoons of beans and add back and cook for about 15 minutes longer to thicken the liquid.

9. Serve over rice with hot sauce, generally Tabasco