Black-Eyed Peas
The Southern good-luck bean. Slow-simmered with smoked ham hock, onion, garlic and a bay leaf until the broth turns silky and faintly smoky. Eaten on New Year's Day for luck, and on the Kwanzaa table as one of the ancestral African-diaspora dishes.
Overview
Dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight, simmered low and slow with a smoked ham hock and aromatics. The hock seasons the broth and gives up its meat at the end of the cook. Finished with a splash of cider vinegar to brighten and a pinch of cayenne for warmth. Eaten in shallow bowls with the broth, often spooned over rice.
Ingredients
- 400 g dried black-eyed peas
- 1 smoked ham hock (about 700 g; or 200 g smoked bacon lardons)
- 1 large onion (diced)
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 green pepper (diced)
- 1 celery stick (diced)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or 1 tablespoon bacon fat)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
- 1.5 litres chicken stock (or water, if the hock is well-seasoned)
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
Method
Stage 1 - Soak
- Tip the peas into a wide bowl, cover with cold water by 5 cm, and leave to soak overnight (or 8 hours). Drain.
Stage 2 - Build the base
- Warm the oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven over a medium heat. Add the diced onion, green pepper and celery and cook for 6-8 minutes until soft and just starting to colour at the edges.
- Add the garlic, smoked paprika, thyme and cayenne. Stir for 1 minute until the kitchen smells of toasted spice.
Stage 3 - Slow simmer
- Add the drained peas, ham hock, bay leaves and stock to the pot. The hock should be more or less submerged; top up with water if needed.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and skim any grey foam from the surface.
- Cover and cook on a low heat for 1 ½ hours, until the peas are tender and the broth has thickened slightly from the released starch. Check at 1 hour and 1 ¼ hours; pea-to-pea variation in age makes the cook time variable.
Stage 4 - Finish
- Lift the hock out onto a board. When cool enough to handle, pull the meat off the bone in shreds and return to the pot. Discard the bone, skin and any fatty bits you do not want.
- Stir in the cider vinegar. Taste: the broth needs salt (the hock varies wildly in saltiness) and a good grind of black pepper. The cayenne should sit gently in the background; add a pinch more if you want more heat.
Notes
- For a vegetarian version, skip the hock and use vegetable stock; brown a heaping tablespoon of smoked paprika in the oil at the start, add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and ½ teaspoon of liquid smoke at the simmer, and finish with a knob of butter for richness.
- A small handful of chopped collard greens (or kale) stirred in during the last 15 minutes turns this into a one-pot meal.
- Some Southern cooks add a pinch of sugar to soften the cayenne; experiment with ¼ teaspoon if your peas are tasting sharp.
Serving
In shallow bowls over hot rice (the dish becomes "Hoppin' John" once the rice is included). Hot sauce on the table. A skillet of cornbread for mopping up the broth.
Storage
In the fridge for up to 4 days; in the freezer for up to 3 months. The dish improves overnight as the peas drink up more of the broth.
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