LOL @ Hoppin Jack. You mean Hoppin John.

That preparation looks fine, but I'd add some tomato paste or sauce to it. And if you're not used to it don't mess around with dried beans. I've tried the soak overnight method and by noon the next day (when I got up and turned the beans on to cook them at 6 am), they were still hard. Just get some canned beans and use them. Great Northerns are good.

"Pickled" Black Eyed Peas
from the Helen Corbitt Cookbook (she used to be the chef for the Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas. This book was 1957).
2 cans of black eyed peas
1 cup oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
1/4 cup wine vinegar (I use a bit more--1/3 and make it red wine vinegar)
Clove of garlic, sliced into 2
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
Salt and pepper

Combine the whole thing into a jar or plastic (tupperware type) container. Ideally you'd let this sit in your refrigerator for a few days, so do this NOW if you want to enjoy it for New Year's Day. More of an appetizer option. Good on crackers or scooped up with chips.

This recipe confuses me, but maybe that's just because I can't read the whole thing. never heard of this cooking method at all.

but, every year we make black eyed peas in our crock pot, which is very easy - throw in a pound of dried peas (rinse and pick through first, of course), whatever kind of pork product (i used diced ham) you want to use to round out the flavor (or skip if you're vegetarian), a chopped onion, bay leaves, some chopped up carrots, whatever kind of seasonings you like, let it cook all day and it turns out great. I especially like to eat this with rice (white or wild) and red wine vinegar added to taste just before eating.

We usually serve with greens or broccoli, corn bread, sometimes ham slices if the peas are relatively light on the meat.

dessert seems to vary year by year. i'm thinking i will make a chocolate pudding this year, maybe turn it into a chocolate pie. pineapple upside down cake is another great option. festive but a lot different than the desserts most of us have been eating all season.

this is pretty typically southern. you can do the beans on the stove with the soak and then simmer method, but the crock pot is a lot easier because you have a much lower likelihood of burning them. or maybe that's just me, the mediocre cook!

Or whatever other special New Year's food do you make for friends and family. I was going try this recipe:



Any suggestions?

Any Hoppin' Jack recipes?