“H” is for Hoppin' John

“H” is for Hoppin' John. Hoppin' John is a pilaf made with beans and rice. The recipe came directly to America from West Africa and is typical of the one-pot cooking of the South Carolina lowcountry. As the recipe moved inland, it became the traditional dish for good luck on New Year's Day throughout the American South. The origins of the dish and its ingredients are unknown. Whatever its origins, the dish originally made with pigeon peas in West Africa, arrived in Charleston and became a favorite of the rice plantation owners as well as the enslaved. In 1847 the first written recipe was published in The Carolina Housewife. Though most often made with black-eyed peas the original Charleston version of Hoppin’ John called for “One pound of bacon, one pint of red peas, one pint of rice.”