Tasty Bites

• 1 Smoke pork shank (1lb)
• 1 Ham hock (1lb)
• 2 lb Cajun sausage (conecuh)
• 1/2 lb pork Tasso
• 2 lb red beans
• Trinity mix (2 onion, 2 Bell Pepper, 4 stick of celery)
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1 table spoon creole seasoning (king craw if you got it)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 5 cloves garlic minced
• 8c chicken stock
• 2c water w/ 4 tsp de pollo
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1 tbsp Tabasco / Louisiana Hot Sauce / How to BBQ right hot sauce
• a LOT of fresh cracked black pepp

1. Soak your beans, either over night cold soak or a few hour hot soak.
2. Cut sausage, i prefer length wise and then down the link, half moon shaped.
3. Dice your Tasso very small, about as small as possible. I use a food processor and turn it to dust.
4. Brown sausage in pot, 6 qt should do. Set sausage aside and leave grease in pot.
5. add veggies to sausage pot and scrape up fond. Crack as much pepper as your arm can crank. Depending on your 
6. add creole seasoning and cayenne and let simmer for 10 minute or so.
7. Add chicken stock, water, bay leaves, parsley, pork shank and ham hock.
8. Bring to boil and let simmer an hour and a half.
9. Remove pork shank and cut all the meat off of the bone. Make sure to separate the skin from the meat and discard the skin... it’s too tough. Return the bone to the pot and set the meat to the side with the sausage and Tasso.
10. Let beans with the hamhock and bones simmer atleast another 1.5 hours, the longer the better. Then 30 minutes from completion remove a few scoops of beans and mash to paste and return to pot, go ahead and add all the meat back to the pot--including tasso. This will thicken the beans up. 
11. Remove hamhock, bones, and bay leaves.

Ideally the beans will simmer longer than 3 hours, the longer the creamier they get. The amount of seasoning is really up to you, i don’t add ANY salt because all of the meats are smoked/salted. You can add salt and P to your bowl. Be conservative on your first pot.