"Hoppin John" Stew
I made this afternoon.
This was a historical display project for the Civil War period.
Basically, it was a food that slaves of the south made using whatever they had available. Most notably, they had black eyed peas, sausage and wild rice. This local version has black eyed peas, brown rice, potagee sausage, and vegetables. I also added some spinach that I grew in my yard. It came out really good. 😁
That dish was the basis for a New Year's Day tradition of eating black-eyed peas for luck. Growing up in NC, we had black-eyed peas, cornbread, and ham on NYD. The basic Hoppin John was black-eyed peas and rice flavored with pork -- hence the ham.
Since it's a stew, you can add any ingredients you'd find in other stews pretty much. like tomatoes, chiles, jalapeños, pork fat, onions, bell peppers, celery, or whatever else you have.
My mom and grandma put vinegar on their back-eyed peas, but i wasn't a vinegar fan. They might also have collard greens with their peas and cornbread -- again, not a fan of collards.