Question on Tasso for Red Beans and Rice

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Cubed and not browned. Pickled pork is good too in the same manner.

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Thanks. That's how I've made it before. Making a batch of Red beans on Thursday because that's when my latest batch of pickled pork will be ready. Have to make it myself because no one carries it anywhere around here.

You can also toss a ham hock in there.

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Cubed and not browned. Pickled pork is good too in the same manner.

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Correct, if it's good smoked tasso you don't need to brown. Brown the andouille and let the pickled pork do its job. Hard to beat a good red/white beans dish done like this.

Tasso is pork from the back leg (generally) that’s cured like ham (Tasso ham), seasoned heavily, and smoked. I would never put it in whole and I think that’s stupid unless you plan on pulling it out and not eating it. But to each their own.

I cube it and add it to the beans, I don’t brown it since it’s supposed to be lean (ham meat). It won’t hurt to brown it, it with there being no fat, you really don’t need to brown it.

I’m hardly an expert. But I work from Emeril’s recipe and he recommends starting by browning the Tasso first. I don’t think that works. I start by browning the andouille in a little bacon grease first, then I remove that and add the trinity, then garlic, bay leaves and thyme, then I return the browned andouille along with cubed Tasso and a couple ham hocks. The andouille is fatty enough that it makes sense to me to put it in first it has more fat to release than the Tasso. I think the Tasso contributes more from its spicy coating (and I use at least twice as much as Emeril’s recipe calls for.) I also harvest meat from the ham hocks so the dish is filled with three types of porky goodness.

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I only used half the Tasso I had. Any other ideas on how to use up the other half aside from the usual beans, jambalaya, dirty rice, etc?

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I have chipped it up really small, sautéed that in some a healthy portion of butter with some minced garlic. Added cream a little at a time to keep it below a boil, then finished with a sharp cheddar and season to taste. It makes for a rich cream sauce for pasta.

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Breakfast omelets w/shredded cheddar and green onions....

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Totally this. I’ll also throw in the unused portion of the bell pepper to make a western omelet. I used to be inefficient with my bell peppers and just slice off the portion between the ribs and throw everything else away. Then I saw chefs on tv slice off the top and bottom of the pepper then sort of roll it out flat, cutting it away from the ribs along the way. That’s a much more effective way of doing it. I get more pepper to dice up for my trinity than the old way and then that top and bottom part that I sliced off can be used for an omelet.