Recreated Hoppin’ John: A New Year’s Tradition

chellers

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Srjenkins [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons


Forget champagne—in the Southern United States, Hoppin’ John is standard New Year’s fare. This simple, delicious dish of peas, pork and rice has graced holiday tables since the 1800s. Although it’s believed to bring luck and peace in the coming year to anyone who eats it, Hoppin’ John’s history is anything but peaceful. What’s the story behind this New Year’s tradition?

The first recipes for Hoppin’ John appear in cookbooks that date back to the 1840s, although the mixture of dried peas, rice and pork was made by Southern slaves long before then. It seems to have originated in the Low Country of South Carolina, an area where plantation owners searched long and hard for a crop that would flourish in the hot, muggy weather. Rice grew well in the river deltas, so it was a natural choice, but the white farmers had no real experience with cultivating rice on a large scale. Enter the slave trade and enslaved West Africans who had grown rice for generations.

NEW YEAR’S HOPPIN’ JOHN
Start to finish: 1 hour
Servings: 10
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1 cup red bell pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, stemmed and deseeded, chopped
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 smoked turkey thighs, skin removed
1 pound black-eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed
1 quart low-sodium chicken stock
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
1 teaspoon salt
Salt, black pepper and cayenne to taste
1 cup green onion, chopped
4 cups freshly steamed white rice

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery, bell pepper, jalapenos and garlic, and cook until opaque and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the turkey thighs, peas, chicken stock, bay leaf, thyme and a teaspoon of salt. Simmer for 40 minutes, or until peas are creamy and tender. If liquid evaporates, add more stock or water. Adjust seasonings, and garnish with green onions. Serve hot over rice.

http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/hoppin-john-a-new-years-tradition
 
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My West Indian aunts, born in Barbados, also make Hoppin' John for New Year's. Is this dish popular in other countries that had slavery?
 
Well now, that was an interesting read! I never knew it was a New Years tradition but it makes sense because of the black eyed peas!
 
The grocery stores here in Dallas stock up on cans of black eyed peas before New Years Day, some having dedicated shelf displays for them. It is a big deal, except I don't think all the Yankees who live down here now get it. In south Louisiana, where we lived for a while, cabbage was served along with the peas and represented money.

Where I grew up collard greens were eaten almost exclusively by black folks. At our house we got turnip and mustard greens, which I loved.
 
Any idea why there were different greens eaten?
I don't, Pat. Collards are in the cabbage family, with thicker, coarser leaves. Mustard greens, as the name implies, are from the mustard plant and are to me more flavorful, and with a slightly bitter taste, than turnip greens. Turnip greens are the tops of the turnip root crop. We would eat the diced turnips along with the greens. I have never eaten collards. About 15 years ago we had a black family as neighbors two doors down. They were well-to-do, had a son at Morehouse College, and we would see them occasionally at the neighborhood grocery buying collard greens. It is a black thing, I don't know why.
 
It is a black thing, I don't know why.

I did not grow up eating "greens" at all. Long Islanders are unfamiliar with them. But in many trips to the South I get a taste for mustard, turnip, and collard greens and I began growing collards, which actually do pretty well here. I really enjoy them all and have tried to get neighbors interested.
 
Always use pork. A smoked ham hock slow cooked with the DRIED & SOAKED black eyed peas is delicious. A few shots of Louisiana Hot Sauce won't hurt the dish either . . .

Some may call this sacrilegious, but a good way to satisfy the "greens" requirement for New Year's Day is a serving of Stouffer's spinach souffle. :hungry:
 
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Canned peas. Yech. I cook mine from frozen or dried. With a bit o' bacon. The idea of using turkey is.....sacrilegious. :smile: Ham. Homemade cornbread sticks baked in Granny's mold. And to top it off, greens.....although my husband refuses to eat 'em. :smile: Unlucky devil.

Cornbread. Now you're talking! And I do frozen BEP's. But I add in some diced jalapeno chiles, warms up any January night.
 
I did not grow up eating "greens" at all. Long Islanders are unfamiliar with them. But in many trips to the South I get a taste for mustard, turnip, and collard greens and I began growing collards, which actually do pretty well here. I really enjoy them all and have tried to get neighbors interested.

Way to go, Pat. Greens are tasty and good for you too. My wife used to make beet greens, which are in another universe altogether. I could never get enough of those. Sweet and tangy.
 
I don't, Pat. Collards are in the cabbage family, with thicker, coarser leaves. Mustard greens, as the name implies, are from the mustard plant and are to me more flavorful, and with a slightly bitter taste, than turnip greens. Turnip greens are the tops of the turnip root crop. We would eat the diced turnips along with the greens. I have never eaten collards. About 15 years ago we had a black family as neighbors two doors down. They were well-to-do, had a son at Morehouse College, and we would see them occasionally at the neighborhood grocery buying collard greens. It is a black thing, I don't know why.

All the native people here eat collards – the sizable Indian population is especially fond of them. Collard sandwiches are often a popular item at fund raising efforts and fetch amazing prices for such humble fare -- they were selling for $6 dollars each at one recent local festival. A collard sandwich consists of two cakes of fried hoecake corn bread with collards, pieces of fried fat back meat and couple of cayenne peppers as the filler. It is important to allow a couple of frosts to hit collards before cutting and eating them. Frost takes away the bitterness and tenderizes them.
 
Way to go, Pat. Greens are tasty and good for you too. My wife used to make beet greens, which are in another universe altogether. I could never get enough of those. Sweet and tangy.
Beet greens? I'll have to try them. I buy fresh beets every fall from a local farmer, so I'll cook the greens next year.
 
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