Resolve to Extend Benefits of Black-eyed Peas Beyond New Year’s Day

Many cultures have the custom of eating some sort of bean on New Year’s Day—chickpeas in France and Italy, red beans in Japan. In the American South, the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is thought to ensure prosperity for the coming year; not to consume them on the appointed day is to invite financial calamity.

Adherence to this tradition is amazingly inflexible. One frigid January 1^st as my husband and I were driving home from a trip to another state, our car hit a patch of black ice, rolled and flipped before coming to rest in a hard frozen plowed field. We were unhurt but the day was bitterly cold and we were 90 miles from home with a heavy winter storm in the forecast. Luckily, a passing state trooper came to our aid. He drove us to a nearby small town where we called Bob, my husband’s law partner, and asked him to come get us—and to please do so quickly, before more snow arrived. “OK,” Bob said. “I’ll get there as soon as I can. But first I’ll have to eat some black-eyed peas.” We understood.

The black-eyed pea, along with its cousins purple-hull, Crowder, and Texas or Lady cream peas are all varieties of cow peas. Indigenous to Africa, these meaty flavorful legumes came to the US aboard slave ships. On New Year’s Day they are often served in the form of Hoppin’ John, a hearty stew of black-eyed peas and rice. But Hoppin’ John makes such a warming winter meal and is so delicious and easily prepared, don’t limit yourself to enjoying it only one day of the year.

I recommend using either fresh or frozen black-eyed peas. Although dried peas are widely available, it is time consuming to soak and cook them and they tend to be mushy and devoid of flavor. Luckily, fresh black-eyed peas often appear in produce sections in late December. And commercially frozen black-eyed, purple hull and cream peas are available in grocery freezer departments year round. These cook quickly and have good flavor. Rinse them in a colander and cook as you would fresh peas.

How to Make Hoppin’ John

Render the fat from 2 slices of highly flavorful lean bacon. I use an apple wood smoked bacon that comes from pork unadulterated by hormones or antibiotics. What you are after is the smoky flavor of bacon with only a small amount of its fat.

Remove the cooked bacon from the pan before sautéing a medium onion, chopped, in the rendered fat. Augment the fat with olive oil if needed.

In a colander, rinse 3 cups fresh or frozen black-eyed peas. Add the drained peas to the pan with the onion along with the 2 bacon slices cut into pieces.

Pour in enough broth (home made or canned) to cover the peas. Add dried red pepper flakes, black pepper, and Tabasco sauce to taste. Cook until tender. The cooking time will vary according to how fresh the peas are, usually between 15 and 30 minutes. Don’t over cook or they’ll become mushy. You want some resilience.

Meanwhile, if you don’t have any leftover rice on hand, prepare some now to give you between a ½ and ⅔ C cooked rice, either brown or white. The purpose of cooking the rice separately before adding it to the pot is to avoid over cooking the black-eyed peas.

I like to add okra though it may be omitted if you aren’t fond of it. In winter, the available okra is often frozen. I only thaw it enough to cut through the pods. Cut 12 to 15 okra into thick slices and add to the pot where they cook quickly.

You will probably need to add more broth as the peas absorb liquid and grow plump and the okra exudes a thickener. In fact, adjust the amount of broth to make the Hoppin’ John as soupy as you wish.

This is very good on a cold winter night accompanied by any sort of corn bread.