Southern · Lowcountry · main

Sea Island Red Peas and Rice

Name: Sea Island Red Peas and Rice
Prep time: 3 h 3 min
Total time: 3 h 13 min
Cuisine: Southern · Lowcountry
Ingredients: sea island red peas — 340 g; long grain white rice — 400 g; pork hocks — 500 g; water — 2000 g; yellow onion — 280 g; celery — 150 g; garlic — 14 g; bacon drippings — 27 g; bay leaf — 2 g; thyme — 2 g; red chili flakes — 5 g; salt — 10 g; black pepper — 5 g; spring onions — 60 g

Sea Island Red Peas and Rice reads richness 7.2, umami 6.9 and allium 4.9 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Southern · Lowcountry main, about 3 hr 13 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 7.4 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 2.8 / 10
Sour & Bright — 0.7 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.6 / 10
Rich & Fat — 7.3 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 5.4 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Richness 7.2 · Umami 6.9 · Allium 4.9 · Salinity 4.5 · Sweetness 2.6 · Herbaceous 2.4 · Smoke 2.2 · Heat 2.0 · Warm Spice 1.7 · Earthy 1.6 · Bitterness 1.0 · Floral 0.7 · Fruity 0.7 · Sourness 0.6

What's in it (14)

sea island red peas — 340 g
long grain white rice — 400 g
pork hocks — 500 g
water — 2000 g
yellow onion — 280 g
celery — 150 g
garlic — 14 g
bacon drippings — 27 g
bay leaf — 2 g
thyme — 2 g
red chili flakes — 5 g
salt — 10 g
black pepper — 5 g
spring onions — 60 g

Time & effort: about 3 hr 13 min (3 hr 3 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 74.7 kcal, 3.5 g protein, 2.3 g fat, 10 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

This is the Gullah Geechee original that the rest of the South knows as hoppin' john, and the two things that make it itself are both varietal. Sea Island red peas are a small, dense, russet cowpea grown in the Carolina Lowcountry since the eighteenth century — they hold their shape through a long cook and they throw a dark, meaty broth that black-eyed peas simply do not. Carolina Gold is the rice. Anson Mills and Marsh Hen Mill ship both.
New Year's Day is when most households make it, for luck, but it was a weekly dish long before it was a superstition.
Drain the soaked peas. Put the ham hock in a heavy pot with the water, bring to a boil, skim, then simmer 1½ hours until the meat is loose on the bone. Keep the liquid — this is the pot likker the peas will cook in.
Push the hock aside, add the bacon drippings, onion, celery and garlic and cook 8 minutes until soft.
Add the drained peas, bay, thyme and red pepper flakes and simmer uncovered 1 hour, until the peas are tender all the way through but still whole and the liquid has gone dark and slightly thick. Top up with hot water if they come uncovered. Season with the salt and black pepper now and not before — salting hard beans early keeps their skins tough.
Lift the hock out, pull the meat off, chop it and return it. Measure the liquid in the pot: you want exactly 700 ml (3 cups) left with the peas. Ladle out or add hot water to hit it.
Rinse the rice and stir it in. Bring back to a hard boil, cover tightly, drop the heat to its lowest, and steam 18 minutes without lifting the lid. Rest 10 minutes off the heat, then fork it up from the edges. Scatter the spring onions.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Cajun Dirty Rice Skillet — Cajun/Creole · Cajun
Soup Beans with Ham Hock — American · Appalachian
Axoa de Veau — Basque · Iparralde (France)
Chicken Fricassee with Andouille — Cajun/Creole
Sopa de Pedra — Portuguese

Keep reading: what richness, umami, allium mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.