Posted on 01/01/2007 10:50:17 AM PST by blam
Why do they call it Hopping John?
On New Years Day east Tennesseans, and people here and there all over the South, eat black eyed peas and rice and call the mixture "Hopping John" (often written "Hoppin' John".) Over the years I have eaten hopping John with good friends in the kitchen, been served it from chafing dishes by well-off San Antonio ladies three sheets to the wind, and walked into a roadside restaurant in Maryland with a can of black eyed peas and asked to be indulged. Somebody at the table always asks "Why do they call it hopping John?" and nobody ever knows why.
Hopping John seems long to have been associated with the meager cuisine of slavery. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase is first attested in 1856 in A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (page 506), one of a number of American travel books written by Frederick Law Olmsted, later to gain fame as the landscape architect who designed New York's Central Park and the great Biltmore House in Asheville NC. He wrote that "the greatest luxury with which they [presumably the slaves somewhere] are acquainted is a stew of bacon and peas, with red pepper, which they call "Hopping John".
Surfin' the Net, I find one plausible explanation: that "Hoppin' John" is an odd adaptation of the Creole French pois pigeons 'pigeon peas', pronounced pwah peeJON. It's not toofar from that to "hoppin' John" (though why not "poppin' John", I wonder).
The OED offers some support for what I think is an equally likely origin of the word, recording a statement by an otherwise anonymous Hardy (not the novelist, who lived somewhat later) in 1843 that "These feasts, or as they are called elsewhere in Northumberland, hoppings, are held on the festival of the patron saint."
New Years Day follows less than a week after the feast of St. John the Evangelist (the traditional author of the Gospel and Epistles of John and of Revelation) on December 27th. The feast of the other Biblical John, St. John the Baptist, comes at the other end of the year, on June 24th. Thus marking the two solstices, the festivals of the two saints John are thought of in traditional calendar lore as the two supporting points of the year.
Some northern European peoples say that the Sun is seen to dance at the winter solstice, at the time when it is seen at the farthest point to the south, and begins its return northward. Could this dance have occasioned the name of this homely dish?
I think we shall never really know.
For more hopping John lore, with recipes, visit John and Matt Thorne's Outlawcook and read some really fine food writing on the site while you're there, along with a harrowing account of the horrors of slavery.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Texas-Caviar-I/Detail.aspx
happy vittles!!!
mmmm okra. I don't have that tradition. Wish I did. I will fix pork roast, black eyed peas with onions and mushrooms (it's different every year but hubby bought fresh mushrooms so in they go) and spinach since I really don't care for collards but some kind of greens are required. I'm trying to cut back on the carbs but will probably do either hot water cornbread or a more traditional cornbread in my old cast iron muffin tin. We just had some shrimp and crab for lunch. So blessed.
If no one's posted the Texas Caviar recipe on here in a few minutes or if you haven't found it elsewhere, I'll post the one from the big Texas Home Cooking book (best book, IMHO). It works well - and shocks Californians, this transplanted Texan can tell you.
Well somewhere, sometime back someone in your family sure nuff knew bout hopping john.
Just opened my can of blackeyed peas. Living in CA, I miss the restaurants Black Eyed Pea around Texas - they probably still give a free cup of blackeyed peas if you go there on New Year's Day.
My husband born and bred here in Florida would have candied tomatoes with his hopping john. Course collards and cornbread are a must do as well.
That is what my grandmother told us every year as well. Now if only all her wonderful biscuits and cornpones held the same luck we would have been rolling in dough :-)
PS.
It's called hopping John cause after eating that meaning beans and rice you will be hopping to the john.
Somebody who specializes in doing research on Southern cuisine did a historical study on this a few years ago. The dish appears to have originated in South Carolina.
There are a thousand versions. Mine is onions, crumbled bacon, and garlic sauteed together in a bit of bacon grease, then steeped in rice with chicken broth; add the black-eyed peas and top with tomatoes. You have to add Tabasco, of course. Fried okra and corn bread are what God intended us to eat with Hoppin' John so I'm there with ya, Blam. I dunno about the milk, though.
But if you don't eat this on New Year's Day you'll have bad luck the rest of the year. I think that's the problem with a lot of people, they forget to eat Hoppin' John on New Years Day and then they're surprised their luck stinks.
My family went to Texas in the GTT era and they've had the black-eyed susan tradition. The theory seems to be that if you're eating the dirty beans on New Year's day the rest of the year can't get much worse ... We like to keep it simple with the susies, hamhock, canadian bacon and onion. Yummie.
"'Texas Caviar?'"
That is some delicious stuff. I think it is lightly tossed in olive oil and is served chilled. It is wonderful, and I, too, would like the recipe. So, I'll google and post it.
TEXAS CAVIAR DIP
2 (14 1/2 oz.) cans black-eyed peas, drained
1 (15 1/2 oz.) can white hominy, drained
2 med. tomatoes, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 med. bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped
1 (8 oz.) bottle commercial Italian salad dressing
Combine all ingredients except Italian dressing; mix well. Pour salad dressing over mixture; cover and marinate at least 2 hours in refrigerator. Drain and serve with fritos or corn chips. Makes 7 cups.
Thanks!
That sounds about right. Thanks!
"I've never heard of 'Hopping John'"
Never heard of it.
Just opened a can to go with barbeque and fries.Been eating these in Kentucky for 57 yrs.Ain't got rich but do love eating them!
That sounds delicious, but haven't you guys heard of salt pork?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.