What Louisiana dish of red beans served with rice is traditionally associated with Mondays?

Red beans and rice is the Louisiana dish traditionally associated with Mondays.

The Monday custom developed from the practical rhythm of New Orleans household cooking. Sunday meals could leave a ham bone or other pork leftovers, while Monday was commonly treated as laundry day. Red beans could simmer with relatively little hands-on attention as household work continued, and the beans were served over rice.

Louisiana versions often use red kidney beans or smaller red beans, pork such as ham or sausage, and the familiar onion, celery, and bell-pepper combination. Seasonings vary among families. The dish is filling, inexpensive, and well suited to cooking in a large pot, which helped make it a durable part of regional food culture.

Red beans and rice is not the same as dirty rice. Dirty rice mixes seasoned meat and vegetables into the rice itself, while red beans and rice keeps the beans as the principal stew-like component served with rice. Monday remains the traditional association, although the dish is now eaten on any day.