Try Hoppin’ John at The Larder + The Delta
Reinventions of classic dishes are nothing new.
Heck, the history of Southern cuisine is reinvention — the melding of cultures; the triumphs and the atrocities; the birth, destruction and rebirth of a nation all laid out on the plate for anyone to see, if they’re willing to look hard enough.
But there’s a beauty in the fact that Southern old dishes can still be made new in ways that surprise and excite us.
At The Larder + The Delta in Phoenix, Stephen Jones makes a dish that’s a perfect example. His Hoppin’ John is a riff on the Carolina classic that looks forward and backward at the same time.
And it’s a killer dish, to boot.
What’s Hoppin’ John?
In its classic form, Hoppin’ John is a Southern dish from the Carolinas, a stew of rice, field peas and pork. You’ve probably seen it around New Year’s Day, when it’s made with black-eyed peas for good luck. That’s how you’ll most commonly see it these days, but that isn’t how Stephen Jones makes it.
How is this Hoppin’ John different?
Jones builds his version on an even older tradition, which he then turns around and modernizes in his own unique way. First, he reaches back to the dish’s origins to restore some of its history. Records suggest that as far as Hoppin’ John is concerned, black-eyed peas came late to the party. Earlier versions of the dish were most often made with red cowpeas — like the Sea Island red peas that Jones uses.
What are cowpeas?
A type of bean, technically. Blackeyed peas and red cowpeas are both cowpeas, which is a type of legume, but
the two types are quite distinct. The difference isn’t subtle, but they do have a lot in common.
Both were brought to the American south by African slaves in the late 17th century and grown with Carolina Gold rice, which Jones also uses in his dish. In fact, if you want to look even deeper into the roots of the Hoppin’ John, look to the rice and bean dishes of West Africa. Rice and beans make for a great crop rotation, common in many parts of the world.
From a culinary standpoint, red cowpeas have a robust, almost meaty flavor and they maintain a firmer texture than black-eyed peas, both of which make them better suited to Jones’ version of the dish. And it doesn’t hurt that they taste so good together.
Where does the pork come in?
Jones doesn’t use pork.
You’re killing me.
Jones’ version of Hoppin’ John is vegan, actually, though not as a matter of principle. He wanted to shake the dish up a bit. And few things shake people up like yanking the pork out of their favorite Southern dishes.
My heart is broken.
Settle down, you’re going to love this. Jones wanted to bring the flavors of these two heritage crops into focus, so he makes his version of the dish in an unconventional manner.
How does he cook it?
By cooking the rice and peas separately, for starters. Unlike the classic one-pot version, this is a two-pan dish. In one pan, he heats up canola oil and adds a pile of cooked Carolina Gold rice that’s a day old. The rice crisps better when it’s dried out a little bit. He seasons the rice with lots of black pepper and a pinch of his cayenne-based house spice blend, but no salt. Salting the rice at this point would draw out the remaining moisture, and to get a good crust, he wants that rice nice and dry. So the salt comes later.
What about the peas?
Those go in another pan. But first, he heats up some olive oil and tosses in a bit of garlic and the “trinity” — a classic
Hoppin’ John
The Larder + The Delta, 200 W. Portland St., Phoenix.
3 p.m.-10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays. 3 p.m.-11 p.m. Fridays. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Sundays.
480-409-8520, thelarderandthedelta.com.
combination of onions, celery and bell peppers. Jones refers to his mix as the “micro trinity” because it’s very finely minced. Once that’s softened a touch, in go the par-cooked peas, along with a few ladles of vegetable stock. Then, when the rice has developed a crunchy, golden crust on the bottom and the vegetable stock has almost completely bubbled away from the peas, Jones combines the two pans and tosses them together, seasoning with salt while breaking up the crunchy rice and mixing in some kind of allium.
What is an allium?
It’s a genus of plants that’s known for being, shall we say, pungent? Onions, scallions and shallots are all alliums. For this dish, the allium Jones picks depends on the season. Maybe scallions, maybe green garlic, maybe i’itoi onions. Whatever’s fresh and pungent. In any case, the allium is the last component and the dish is done except for the presentation, which is pretty low-key. He
transfers the mixture to a plate and adds a few pea tendrils for garnish.
Sounds simple. How does it taste?
Amazing. The first thing that hits you is a light whiff of garlic followed by heady dose of black pepper and a gentle buzz from the cayenne. Then come the textures. The dish crackles with the crunch of golden, toasted rice. At first, the peas resist with a nice bite, but they slowly relax to provide a creamy, mellow baseline. And finally, as you get deeper into the dish, what glides to the fore is the natural flavor of the peas and the rice — rich, nutty and satisfying.
That’s the genius of Jones’ Hoppin’ John. By breaking the rules and taking a classic dish in a brash new direction, he snaps it around and brings the focus back to its roots. This is the agriculture of the old South, right there on the plate: Sea Island red peas and Carolina Gold rice, growing together in a delta in the Carolinas, hundreds of years ago.