Black-Eyed Peas and Hoppin' John

Ingredients

• 400 g dried black-eyed peas, soaked overnight in cold water, drained
• 1 smoked ham hock, or 200 g salt pork or smoked bacon, as one piece
• 1 onion, peeled and halved
• 4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp cayenne or black pepper, or to heat preferred
• 300 g long-grain white rice, rinsed
• 600 ml reserved pea broth, from the pot; supplemented with water if needed to reach 2:1 ratio to rice
• 1 tsp fine salt, added late; do not salt at the start
• To serve
• 1 bottle pepper vinegar, hot peppers steeped in cider vinegar, at least two weeks old
• 1 batch collard greens, braised separately, alongside
• 1 batch cornbread, baked separately, alongside

Method

1. 1
   Place the smoked ham hock in a large heavy pot and cover with 2 litres of cold water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, uncovered, for 30 to 60 minutes, until the liquid has taken on visible colour and a perceptible smoke. The broth should smell of rendered pork fat and wood smoke before the peas go in.
2. 2
   Add the drained peas, onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Return to a steady simmer and cook, uncovered, for 1 to 1½ hours — less if the peas were soaked a full night, longer if not. Do not add salt. The peas are ready when each one is tender throughout but still holds its shape and its skin is intact; the broth will be cloudy and faintly creamy from released starch. A pea pressed between the fingers should yield cleanly without dissolving.
3. 3
   Season with salt now — not before. Taste the broth and adjust for salt and cayenne. Remove the hock; when cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bone, shred it coarsely, and return it to the pot. Discard the bone, onion halves, garlic, and bay leaves.
4. 4
   This is where the dish lives or dies. Measure the broth remaining in the pot: you need exactly twice the volume of rice in liquid — 600 ml of broth for 300 g of rice. Ladle off or add water to reach that ratio precisely. Too much liquid and the result is soup; too little and the rice will be undercooked and the pot will scorch. With the broth at a simmer, stir in the rinsed rice and the shredded pork. Reduce heat to the lowest possible setting, cover tightly, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes without lifting the lid.
5. 5
   After 20 minutes, lift the lid and listen: there should be no bubbling sound, indicating all free liquid has been absorbed. Tilt the pot — no liquid should run to the side. The surface of the rice should show small steam holes. Remove from heat, drape a clean cloth under the lid to catch condensation, replace the lid, and rest for 5 minutes. Each grain of rice should be distinct; the overall dish moist but not wet.
6. 6
   Serve directly from the pot onto warmed plates. The dish should be moist and cohesive — peas holding shape, rice grains separate, the smoky, starch-thickened broth binding them. Pass pepper vinegar at the table; the acid cuts the richness of the pork and lifts the earthy peas.