From:
The Dallas Morning News
Lifestyles Magazine
Sunday Edition 01-01-06
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Why black-eyed peas?
Their reputation for bringing luck in the new year began in the Deep South
03:13 PM CST on Sunday, January 1, 2006
By KIM PIERCE / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Black-eyed peas have symbolized good fortune since ancient Egyptian times. But eating these members of the lentil family on New Year's Day to ensure good luck for the coming year is a tradition bound up in several threads of Southern history.At the center is Hoppin' John, a beloved South Carolina comfort food that combines black-eyed peas, rice, and ham or bacon.
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http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif <IMG onmouseover=" this.style.cursor='hand'" title="GOOD LUCK: This shortcut version of Hoppin' John starts with canned black-eyed peas. Be sure to set out plenty of hot sauce. " onclick="return clickedImage(this);" height=129 alt="KYE R. LEE/DMN" src="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/v3/01-01-2006.NSL_01pea.GEU1PC1AS.1.jpg" width=175> KYE R. LEE/DMN
GOOD LUCK: This shortcut version of Hoppin' John starts with canned black-eyed peas. Be sure to set out plenty of hot sauce.
<!-- image1 ends here -->"Hoppin' John, like almost all rice-and-bean dishes, is considered lucky, especially when served on New Year's Day," writes culinary historian John Thorne. " 'Eat poor that day, eat rich the rest of the year' is both the explanation and the hope."
To further cement one's luck, the meal was eaten as soon after midnight as possible. A dime might be hidden in the dish, enhancing the luck of the one who found it. And greens typically eaten with Hoppin' John were thought to symbolize paper money.
Mr. Thorne posits that the dish came with slaves from West Indies rice plantations to South Carolina's Gullah, or Low Country, where a rice-based culinary tradition flourished.
Hoppin' John is widely believed to be African in origin, with its similarity to African and West Indian dishes. Rice also is indigenous to Africa, and black-eyed peas, or cowpeas, were among the foods Africans brought to the Americas.
Hoppin' John made its transition from slave quarters to the main house in South Carolina by at least 1847, when The Carolina Rice Kitchen includes a recipe. Culinary historian Karen Hess suggests that some Southerners may have been ambivalent about eating an ancestral slave dish.
But in at least one Southern city, the Civil War changed that. At the siege of Vicksburg, black-eyed peas stood between the residents and starvation, earning the humble pea new respect.
The origins of the name are uncertain. One possibility suggested by Ms. Hess and others: The name is a bastardization of the French Creole term for black-eyed peas: pois pigeon (pronounced "pwah pee-JON").
Kim Pierce is a Dallas freelance writer.
ONE-POT QUICK HOPPIN' JOHN
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="99%" bgColor=#000000 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=3 width="100%" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>pound bulk sausage, hot or regular </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>cup chopped onion </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>cup chopped green pepper </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>cup chopped celery </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>2 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>cloves garlic, minced </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>(14-ounce) can chicken broth </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>cup converted rice, such as Uncle Ben's </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>teaspoon salt </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>˝ </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>teaspoon black pepper </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>˝ </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>teaspoon red pepper flakes </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>1 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>bay leaf </TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule></TD><TD class=dwsmodule></TD></TR><TR bgColor=#ffffff><TD class=dwsmodule>2 </TD><TD class=dwsmodule>(14-ounce) cans black-eyed peas </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>Sauté the sausage, onion, green pepper, celery and garlic in a large pot over medium-high heat. Drain and return to the pot. Add chicken broth, rice, salt, peppers and bay leaf. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Drain and rinse black-eyed peas, then add to the pot and simmer an additional 5 to 10 minutes, until liquid is absorbed into the rice. Makes 8 servings.
PER SERVING: Calories 396 (36% fat) Fat 16 g (5 g sat) Cholesterol 41 mg Sodium 1,045 mg Fiber 8 g Carbs 45 g
SOURCE: Karin Calloway/Augusta Chronicle
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