Name: Hoppin' John
Cook time: 8 minutes
Total time: 2 hours
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup small dried beans such as cowpeas or black-eyed peas; 1 smoked ham hock; 1 medium onion, chopped (about ¾ cup); 1 dried hot pepper (optional); 1 cup long-grain white rice; Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

A bowl of white rice smoked ham hock and blackeyed peas topped with hot sauce.

Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich

Come January 1, you’ll find pots of black-eyed peas simmering on stovetops worldwide, but it doesn’t have to be New Year’s Day to make Hoppin’ John. The Southern dish is often served alongside collard greens to bring good fortune in the year ahead: The greens are said to represent bills and the dried peas coins.

Lowcountry Hoppin’ John has a long history, with branches of its family tree crisscrossing the Carolinas, Cuba, and the African continent. In The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The Africa Connection, Karen Hess links the Hoppin’ John recipes prepared by enslaved cooks in antebellum American kitchens to diasporic African bean pilaus. (Louisiana’s red beans and rice with Cajun seasoning is another iteration, Hess believes.)

Some Hoppin’ John recipes call for bells and whistles like diced green bell peppers, dried thyme, or chicken broth dappled with bay leaves, but the classic version excels due to technique and the caliber of just a few key ingredients. Ham hocks enrich the cooking liquid and create flavorful potlikker, perfect for sopping up with cornbread. (Smoked turkey legs are a tasty alternative for pork-free kitchens.) They also impart salt to the dish, so taste before seasoning. Dried black-eyed peas are standard here, but any field pea, such as cow peas, purple hull peas, or Crowder peas, will do. And, if you don’t use the dried hot pepper (a dried cayenne pepper, chile de árbol, or casabel would do well) but still want spice, add a dash of crushed red pepper flakes.

For the best texture, it’s worth seeking Carolina gold rice, a long-grain rice variety and heritage food in South Carolina some historians believe originated in Madagascar. Leftovers keep beautifully in the fridge; reheat in a Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over low heat.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking’ by John Martin Taylor. Buy the full book on Amazon.

Recipe information

Total Time
2 hours
Yield
6 servings

Ingredients

1 cup small dried beans such as cowpeas or black-eyed peas

1 smoked ham hock

1 medium onion, chopped (about ¾ cup)

1 dried hot pepper (optional)

1 cup long-grain white rice

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional)

Preparation

Step 1
Wash and sort 1 cup small dried beans such as cowpeas or black-eyes. Place them in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan; add 5 cups water and discard any peas that float. Add 1 smoked ham hock, 1 medium onion, chopped (about ¾ cup), and 1 dried hot pepper (if using) and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook until peas are tender, but not mushy, adding up to 1 cup more water if necessary to keep peas submerged, about 90 minutes or until 2 cups of liquid remain. Add 1 cup long-grain white rice to pea mixture; cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes, never lifting the lid.
Step 2
Remove from the heat and allow to steam, still covered, another 10 minutes. Remove the cover and fluff with a fork; taste and season, if necessary, with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve immediately.

Editor’s note: This Hoppin’ John recipe first appeared on Epicurious in August 2004. Head this way for more of our best recipes for ringing in the New Year →

Cover of Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking by John Martin Taylor

Excerpted from Hoppin’ John’s Lowcountry Cooking: Recipes and Ruminations From Charleston and the Carolina Coastal Plain © 1992, 2012 by John Martin Taylor. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Buy the full book from Amazon or Bookshop.