Some Red Bean Info

Doing a little research into red beans and rice and found a couple of items of interest from the Camelia website.

How to Soak Your Beans

Before soaking or cooking your beans, peas, or lentils, always rinse and sort them. Pour the beans into a non-reactive bowl and remove any debris such as rocks, dirt, or imperfect beans. After soaking beans, drain them, discard water, and then rinse the beans. All dry beans—except lentils, split peas, and black-eyed peas—should be soaked before cooking.

There are four ways to soak, ranging from eight hours to overnight:

8-Hour Slow Soak
3-Hour Hot Soak
1-Hour Quick Soak
Overnight Gas-Free Soak


8-Hour Slow Soak

In a stockpot, cover 1 pound Camellia Brand dry beans with 10 cups water. Cover and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse beans.

3-Hour Hot Soak

In a stockpot, bring 10 cups water to a boil. Add 1 pound Camellia Brand dry beans and return to a boil. Remove from heat; cover tightly and set aside at room temperature 2-3 hours. Drain and rinse beans.

1-Hour Quick Soak

In a stockpot, bring 10 cups water to a boil. Add 1 pound Camellia Brand dry beans and return to a boil; let boil 2-3 minutes. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans.

Overnight Gas-Free Soak

In a stockpot, place 1 pound Camellia Brand dry beans in 10 or more cups of boiling water. Boil for 2-3 minutes, cover and set aside overnight. Drain and rinse the beans thoroughly before cooking them.



Seven Day Pickled Pork

1 (6 ½-pound) pork shoulder roast
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne red pepper
3 cups apple cider vinegar
5 cups water
2 large onions, sliced
1 head garlic, separated, peeled & crushed
4 tablespoons mustard seed
4 bay leaves

Trim pork roast of excess skin and fat. Cut roast in half along the bone; remove bone and reserve it for other uses. Cut pork into 2-inch pieces; score a 1/4-inch slice into the surface of each piece. In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, salt and red pepper. Dip each piece into the brown sugar mixture; rub seasoning well into meat and shake off any excess. Divide pork chunks into 2 large zip-top freezer bags; let stand at room temperature 2 hours.

Combine remaining brown sugar mixture, apple cider vinegar, water, onion, garlic, mustard seed, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large saucepot (not aluminum) over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to the touch.

Divide cooled brine evenly into each zip-top bag, squeeze to remove air and seal. Refrigerate at least one week, turning each bag once daily.

Remove pork from brine; freeze or use within two weeks.

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