I got to wondering about this and soon found that it was more than a matter of serving black-eyed peas. It was actually a mixture of black-eyed peas, rice and ham hocks or bacon, and it had a name. It was called "Hoppin' John."
There appear to be at least four reasons for calling it Hoppin' John. Although the commonest explanation is that in time past a host or hostess would say to a guest at the table, "Hop in, John," as one might say, "Go to it," that explanation doesn't ring true for me. Only a little more plausible is the story that children would hop around the holiday table playing a game and chanting a rhyme called "Hoppin' John." I find most interesting the story, reported by Raymond Sokolov, former Food Editor of the New York Times, that the dish goes back at least as far as 1841, when, according to oral tradition, it was hawked in the streets of Charleston, South Carolina, by a crippled black man who was known as Hoppin' John.
Etymologists dismiss all of the above stories, citing a Caribbean dish of rice and peas and salt pork called (in French) pois a pigeon, which is pronounced something like "pwahahpeejawng." They think it sounded like "hoppin john" to the ears of English speaking people and that the name caught on. Well, perhaps. However, there are no pigeon peas in the dish. There are black-eyed peas which resemble cow peas from Africa, and there is rice. Where does the French influence come in, let alone the French chef with the pigeon peas?
In fact, the dish appears to have African, or African-American roots, as the black-eyed pea is the seed of the cowpea, a delicacy in North Africa. According to a 1788 account, the food on slave ships was a combination of fava beans, yams, rice and possibly a bit of pork or other meat. When they got to America and were able to substitute black-eyed peas for the "horse beans" the slave traders served them, the Africans improved on the dish and it became popular. The earliest recipe I could find calls for hog jowl, and it was adapted by Raymond Sokolov from Rice Recipes, a cookbook available from The Rice Museum in Georgetown, South Carolina.
Hoppin John with Hog Jowl
1) Drain and rinse
peas in a colander. Set in a large pot with the hog jowl. Cover
with 8 cups of water. Add salt and pepper to taste and boil until
peas are tender.
2) Remove jowl.
Cut off skin and discard. Cut meat into small pieces. Reserve.
3) Drain peas, reserving
cooking liquid.
4) Put 1 cup of cooked
peas in a pot with the rice and 2 1/2 cups of cooking liquid. Bring
to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and cook until rice is tender.
5) While rice is cooking,
fry jowl pieces until crisp. Drain and reserve.
6) On a serving platter,
combine peas-rice mixture, remaining peas, and cooking liquid. Place
fried jowl pieces on top.
Yield 8-10 servings.
Southerners sometimes put a bit of collard greens or cabbage into the Hoppin' John and serve it with cornbread, saying the peas stand for coins, the greens for cash and the cornbread for gold, all of which will come if this is the first thing eaten in the New Year. Virginians are known for adding tomatoes, "for health." Some say this custom of something or someone bringing good luck at the very start of the New Year is an ancient British custom called "first footing."
Some time ago a modern Kentucky version of the recipe was provided on the website of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell. It allows for the use of both bacon and frozen black-eyed peas and because it is delicious, simple to follow, and has ingredients easily kept on hand, I've adapted it as follows:
Bring broth to a boil and add the raw rice. Cook rice, covered, over low heat and when rice is almost done, add to the pea mixture. Simmer this together about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until water is absorbed and peas and rice are both tender. Add salt to taste.
4-6 Servings.
Who
Cooked That Up? is copyrighted 1997 by J.J. Schnebel
Revised February 2002, December
2006
all rights reserved for your pleasure
and enlightenment
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