Hoppin' John | Hoppin' John Recipe | Southern Hoppin' John (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional Hoppin John? ›

Hoppin' John, also known as Carolina peas and rice, is a peas and rice dish served in the Southern United States. It is made with cowpeas, mainly, black-eyed peas and Sea Island red peas in the Sea Islands and iron and clay peas in the Southeast US, and rice, chopped onion, and sliced bacon, seasoned with salt.

For every 1 cup of dry peas, add 5 cups of water. Bring the peas and water to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat, cover it and let it stand for 2 hours.

Soaking black-eyed peas make the cooking process shorter. The ideal time for soaking any kind of bean in cold water is overnight or 8-10 hours. To speed up the process, try my favourite quick hot-soak method. Pour boiling water over your beans and allow to soak for 15-20 minutes.

What's the difference between Hoppin' John and black-eyed peas? Hoppin' John has black-eyed peas in it, but it also has other ingredients. In this recipe, the black-eyed peas are stewed with onion, garlic, celery, and a ham hock, similar to how some Southern-style black-eyed peas would be cooked.

hoppin' John was, and still is, often eaten with collard greens, which can resemble paper money, and “golden” cornbread. The peas themselves represent coins. Some families boost the potential of their hoppin' John by placing a penny underneath the dishes—or adding extra pork, which is thought to bring more luck.

While various theories exist about the origins of the name ”hoppin' John,” a plausible explanation is that it comes from a paraphrased Gullah version of the French words for pigeon peas, pois pigeons, pronounced “pwa-peejohn.”

As with many types of dried beans, soak them overnight in salted water. Then cook them slowly or low to medium high heat over 2 hours or so. When they are almost soft, add them to the stew or soup and let them heatt up for another hour or so. The result should be succulent, soft but not mushy.

1 lb dry black-eyed peas = about 2¾ cups dry or 7 cups cooked black-eyed peas. Overnight Method: Add 1¾ qts cold water to every 1 lb of dry beans. Cover, and refrigerate overnight.

It is possible to soak beans for too long before cooking. Beans should soak for 8 to 10 hours overnight. If they are soaked for longer than 12 hours, they can lose their familiar flavor and become overly mushy. For the best result, refrain from soaking them for too long.

What happens if you don't soak black-eyed peas? ›

Not soaking the black-eyed peas can slightly impact the texture, as they can take longer to cook and may be slightly firmer compared to soaked ones. However, the taste will remain similar whether you soak them or not.

Have you ever asked yourself the question whether you should soak or not soak when preparing beans? The black-eyed pea, which is also known as a cowpea, doesn't necessarily need to be soaked. But if you find yourself short on time, soaking black-eyed peas can make a true difference in regards to cooking time.

The Best Beans for Classic Hoppin' John

While black-eyed peas are now commonly used in most Hoppin' John recipes, that has not always been the case. Earlier recipes dating back to the 1800s called for cowpeas, red peas, or field peas.

Hoppin' John is a savory one-pot meal made of rice, pork, and cowpeas. Folks in the Southern United States most famously eat it. New Year's Day it's served to symbolize prosperity.

The bigger difference is in how they taste. The purple hulls are far more delicate than the black-eyes; they're creamier, sweeter, and lack the sometimes chalky texture you get with the other. They are the du Puy to the plain old green French lentil. They're more refined — and they're slightly more expensive.

Hoppin' John is a Southern dish made with black-eyed peas, rice, and pork (usually bacon, but sometimes ham hock). It usually features an onion and other seasonings for flavor. Hoppin' John can be eaten throughout the year, but it's especially common on New Year's Day.

Black-eyed peas eaten with stewed tomatoes represent wealth and health. In some areas, actual values are assigned with the black-eyed peas representing pennies or up to a dollar each and the greens representing anywhere from one to a thousand dollars.

The ingredients in Hoppin' John have symbolic importance, and eating this dish on New Year's Day portends good fortune in the new year: black-eyed peas represent coins. collard greens represent greenbacks (dollars), or cash. corn bread represents gold.