quick red beans and rice recipe question

[lukas_s]

Hey all. I'm new here and figured this would probably be the best place to post a question:

I got a recipe for red beans and rice that seems rather straight forward. I'm making a ton but the recipe is as follows:

4 16oz bags red beans, soaked overnight
1/8 C liquid smoke
1 medium onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb breakfast sausage, browned; or 1 lb smoked sausage, cut into bite size pieces
1 pinch rosemary
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a crockpot, mix, and cook on low for 8 hours.

Now, my question is...should there be some kind of liquid thrown in with this stuff? This is the first red beans and rice recipe that I've come across that doesn't use any kind of liquid (be it water, stock, or tomato sauce) during the cooking process. The recipe got great reviews, and nobody mentioned not having any kind of cooking liquid. I'm just wondering if the beans will cook down, making it more like a traditional red beans and rice, or if they will stay whole and require some kind of mashing.

Thanks in advance! I love this site