By Kim Severson
- Total Time
- 1 to 3 hours, depending on ingredients
- Rating
- 5(97)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Southern field peas come in seemingly endless varieties, the most well known of which are black-eyed peas. For this dish, it’s worth seeking out their sister, the pink-eyed purple hull pea that April McGreger, who makes Farmer’s Daughter brand pickles and preserves Hillsborough, N.C., knew growing up. They are sold fresh in late spring through the early fall in the South, but can be found frozen. Black-eyed peas will do just fine, though. This is a bold and brothy soup with plenty of what Southerners call potlikker, flavored with ham hocks for traditionalists or smoked turkey parts for a lighter version. It is essential to serve this dish with sturdy cornbread to soak up the potlikker. Ms. McGreger likes thin and crispy cornbread.
Featured in: Field Peas, a Southern Good Luck Charm
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings, about 12 cups
- 2tablespoons oil
- 1½cups finely diced yellow onion
- 1cup finely diced celery (leaves reserved)
- 1tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1hot red chile, cut in half lengthwise
- 2bay leaves
- 3small sprigs of thyme
- 1pinch of allspice
- 2small smoked ham hocks (about 2 pounds) or 3 pounds of smoked turkey wings or a smoked turkey leg
- 1½pounds fresh or frozen purple hull or other field peas, or substitute 1¼ cup dried black-eyed peas (if using dry peas, soak in water for 6 hours or overnight and drain)
- 1large bunch of mustard greens, or about 12 cups torn leaves, lightly packed to total about a pound
- 1cup chopped tomato
- 2tablespoons pepper vinegar, apple cider vinegar or a combination of the two
- 1tablespoon sugar
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- ¼teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅓cup thinly sliced green onions (white and green parts)
- 2tablespoons torn celery leaves
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
134 calories; 4 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 20 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 367 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large Dutch oven or other soup pot. Add the onion and celery and cook for 5 minutes, or until soft. Don’t let the vegetables brown. Stir in the garlic and cook another minute. Stir in the chile, bay leaves, thyme and allspice.
Step
2
If using ham hocks, add them along with 10 cups of water, bring to a boil and skim off any foam. Partly cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 2 hours. If using smoked turkey wings or legs, add 9 cups of water, bring to a boil and skim off any foam. Partly cover with lid and simmer for one hour.
Step
3
Stir in the peas, partly cover the pot with the lid and simmer until the peas are tender. This will take about 20 minutes for fresh or frozen peas or as long as 1½ hours for peas that were dried and soaked.
Step
4
While the beans cook, wash the mustard greens in several changes of water. Taste a leaf to be certain they are not gritty. Tear the greens into bite-size pieces and discard the tough middle stem. Alternately, pre-cut, bagged mustard greens can be used.
Step
5
Remove the hocks or wings to a platter and cool. Take the meat off the bone, chop and add to the pot. Discard any skin and connective tissue.
Step
6
Add the shredded mustard greens and tomatoes to the pot and simmer just until the greens are wilted, or about 10 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, sugar, salt, black pepper and green onions. Taste and adjust seasoning. Ladle into warm, shallow bowls and scatter a few celery leaves on top. Serve with cornbread and pass pepper vinegar or hot sauce at the table.
Ratings
5
out of 5
97
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Cooking Notes
Edouard Fontenot
Regarding sourcing, I order dried field, crowder and lady cream peas from Camellia Brand in New Orleans . . .
(http://www.camelliabrand.com/
It's the brand my family always used--much better than the random black eyed peas from Stop and Shop. Free delivery for orders of $25. I haven't found a source for fresh peas, the kind my daddy used to buy off the back of farmers' trucks in season. So delicious.
Ellen
No one in the South spells pot liquor phonetically!
Marguerite
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/23/us/pot-liquor-or-potlikker.html
I suppose the former Lieutenant Governor of Georgia is "no one," then.
Suzanne
This sounds delicious. The aunts and grandmothers who taught me to cook in Texas fifty years ago would certainly agree on the superior flavor of purple hull peas They would also approve of the touches of vinegar and sugar, "secrets" they shared with me. However, they would be horrified at the waste of cutting out the midrib of mustard greens and wonder how anyone could imagine that ten minutes of braising could add any depth of mustard flavor to the pot liquor!
April
I've never lived anywhere but Mississippi and North Carolina, and I do! It's my recipe.
Harriet
Thanks so much, Edouard and Michael. I actually got the Anson Mills site from April McGreger who is mentioned in the article! Here it is for anyone why wants to check it out. http://www.ansonmills.com/products/41
Phyllis Gary
Our family LOVED this recipe. I ordered the peas from Amazon.
Harriet
This is for Kim Severson--can you please provide a source for varieties of field peas?
John Golden
Yes,, you should have supplied a source guide of where to buy these peas for us in the Northeast.
Harriet
More information from April McGreger for those looking for a course for field peas in the City: Carbi Mart at Fulton & Nostrand in Bed-Stuy has had different varieties of cow peas and field peas in the past.
mayday
I made this for New Years Eve yesterday with 2 bunches of purple kale and a whole sliced up kielbasa. It was a big hit and I'm so glad there are leftovers!!
John
I love this recipe!I kept within the spirit of this recipe, but swapped out many of the ingredients, due to what I had available. (Chinese Mustard vs Sweet Mustard, sausage vs smoked turkey, subbed in Ras El Hanout (Middle Eastern) spice blend, etc) which yielded some tasty and Wonderful results! The pot likker/liquor was amazing!Thanks for the inspiration!!!
Shari Mauthner
This was delicious-I followed the recipe as written except I threw in a couple of hot peppers, including some sashimi, fresh from the garden, plus I used turnip greens I bought in error. Here’s where my attempt went askew: I used fresh cream peas (they were marked as fresh, and they definitely were fresh, not dried) but it took forever to get them soft -1 1/2 hours! Did anyone else have this happen with fresh peas? Any explanation of why it took so long for the peas to soften?
April McGreger
I would guess they were semi-dry, but it is also true that the smaller varieties (read:denser) of field peas do take longer to soften. I’ve never had a truly fresh pea take 1 1/2 though.
Judy H-M
This is one of the best dishes we make. We buy red pea beans from Anson Mills. Well worth it!
Judy H-M
This is one of the best things that we make. I have been buying red pea beans from Anson Mills. Well worth it.
Tutor Gurl
Fabulous soup! I used white balsamic vinegar as it was the only lower acid vinegar in my pantry. The sugar's sweetness is key as it balances the soup's flavor. I used Splenda. I used dried pinto beans and baby kale from this week's CSA farm portion. Farm dried beans are apparently so much better than grocery store dried beans - who knew? I made the stock one day and completed the soup (beans and extras) for dinner the next day. I can't believe the my mom never cooked me good bean soup as a kid.
Nora
used leftover porkribs and collards. Delicious!
Calandra
I was so happy to have found purple hull peas at Eastern Market in Detroit since the only other time I had them was with family in Hayti, MO. The only substitution I made was using collard greens instead of mustard greens. I put them in after the hamhock broth cooked for 1 hour 40 minutes, then followed the directions as written. Very good!
April McGreger
Definitely any variety of greens or even cabbage will work. You are right in par cooking the collards though bc they take the longest to cook.
Britania
I made modified version of this & loved it. I only had small amt of roasted turkey thigh so I can only imagine how much more wonderful it would’ve been had I a buncha smoked turkey.Btwn pressure cooker, food processor, & canned black eyed peas this came together in a snap. I substituted 2 bunches collards for the 1 mustard and used 2 cans peas. Instead of simmering 1-2 hours with water, I pressure cooked 2 turkey thigh bones 10 minutes with rich homemade chicken stock.
Mark
Trying this recipe with something called "whippoorwill peas" that I found at a farmers market here in Memphis. The gentleman selling them told me they were very similar to purple-hull peas ...
April McGreger
I love whippoorwills. Think of this soup as an invitation to try all the varieties of field peas. I’ve never found one I didn’t love but purple hulls are my favorite to grow & won the audience award at a field pea tasting I helped organize in Charleston a few years ago.
Jean
This turned out to be one of the most delicious soups I've made in almost 60 years of cooking! I had to make a few substitutions because I didn't have all of the ingredients and don't eat pork: In lieu of the ham, I added chicken meatballs and 1 tsp. liquid smoke. Instead of mustard greens, I added an equal amount of kale from our garden. I used two cans of black eyed peas instead of the purple hull peas.
April McGreger
Try it with smoked turkey or smoked turkey sausage. It’s so good. Thank you for the nice note!
Surprisingly delicious
Altogether great, but time consuming due to having to soak beans overnight and multiple steps during cooking. Black-eyed peas were tender and just right. Thought the smoked turkey might be a bit too funky, but it was tender and delicious. The broth was almost like a soup. Mustard greens gave it a delicate mustard-y kick.
akhol
We enjoyed this, and I'm not always a fan of mustard greens or field/black-eyed peas. It made a ton, quantity-wise. We used fresh field peas and two smoked turkey legs (because I wanted to use the whole package of them).
Ferguson
I used just a quarter teaspoon of salt and that was plenty with the ham hocks.
Phyllis Gary
Our family LOVED this recipe. I ordered the peas from Amazon.
Leslie
I hate to say this, but we didn't really care for this dish. I make black-eyed peas new years - every year - and decided to change it up with this recipe. Had to substitute black eyed peas and turnip greens (which, like kale, are members of the mustard family). But the flavor was too vinegary for me. It was better the next day, and much better when lots of cornbread was added.
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