Remember, black-eyed peas on New Year's Day brings good luck for the entire year!
Excellent! I did make a couple of changes though. I used fresh black eyed peas and cooked them in 1/2 beef broth and 1/2 water (do not use the recipe's water measurements--way to much water!). I only used 1 onion (b/c that's all I had) and 1 tsp onion powder. I substituted 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic for the powder. My can of tomatoes were petite diced w/ bell pepper, celery, & onion. I like my beans with a bit of a kick so I also added cajun seasoning. I only used about 1.5 cups of ham because that's all I had on hand. Everyone loved it...even the kids! De-lish!
Read MoreExcellent! I did make a couple of changes though. I used fresh black eyed peas and cooked them in 1/2 beef broth and 1/2 water (do not use the recipe's water measurements--way to much water!). I only used 1 onion (b/c that's all I had) and 1 tsp onion powder. I substituted 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic for the powder. My can of tomatoes were petite diced w/ bell pepper, celery, & onion. I like my beans with a bit of a kick so I also added cajun seasoning. I only used about 1.5 cups of ham because that's all I had on hand. Everyone loved it...even the kids! De-lish!
These came out very good. My husband went back for 2nds and 3rds and doesn't normally like black-eyed peas. I omitted the tomatoes and used fresh garlic which I crushed in a press. I also reduced the cooking time to 1 1/2 hours by soaking them over night. If you choose to soak them over night make sure to drain the water and rinse the peas. Then return to the pot with 4 cups water and remaining ingredients.
I modified the recipe by adding: nearly a cup of rice for a heartier meal, half a chopped bell pepper, and a sprinkling of parsley. Also, we didn't have ham so I cut up some sausage for seasoning and added flavor. I didn't soak the beans overnight--just used two cans of black eyed peas that were pre-soaked. It really cut down on the prep time. The recipe is excellent, and highly recommended!
I futzed with this one, and it turned out great. I started by boiling the beans separately while I sauteed the following together: bacon (to replace the ham), onions, garlic, 2 seeded and sliced jalapenos, and a palmful of sage leaves. Once that was soft I drained & rinsed the beans and added them to the pot. I added the canned tomatoes (roughly chopped) and covered with vegetable stock. That just simmered for about an hour (maybe less), and it turned out brilliantly. Coupled with cornbread, my fiancee had his first true southern meal this New Year's Day. Yum!
I rate this recipe a 4 because I had to add a lot of ingredients to it to make it my own. We (my fiance and I), made a double batch, and we added 2 bell peppers, celery, basil, parsley, 4 bayleaves, and lots of Tony Satcherins seasoning. It turned out absolutely amazing!!!! I will be making this recipe every new years now. We made "Grandma's Buttermilk Cornbread" and "Famous Fried Cabbage", also from this site... and might I say... the whole meal was rated a ten!!! Everyone raved!!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
FANTASTIC - THESE ARE REALLY GOOD. I have used a recipe similar to this several times. However, I did not add the tomatos during the cooking process. I have cooked black eyed peas for many years. I use to do the quick boil for 1 hour then drain method that is on the back of the package (I did not want to fool with the over night soak). The only things I changed were to use 1 1/4 lbs of black eye peas, 2 small/medium hamhocks (which were deboned and shredded after the cooking time)and 1-14 oz can petite cut tomatoes with garlic and olive oil. I used all of the other recipe ingredients that are called for to taste. Great recipe.
My WHOLE famile LOVED this recipe! My husband was afraid to take a bite because he said he HATED black eyed peas, but he had TWO helping of this recipe! My 2 year old and 7 year old daughters loved it to! I did use two BIG ham hocks instead of chopped ham. WONDERFUL!
we had these for new year's dinner tonite. i usually made the plain old tradition peas, but my mother in law is on a strange diet due to medicine she's on, so she can't eat cured or smoked meat. (so much for ham seasonng) i saw this and thought it would be good since i couldn't use seasoning and left off the ham. it reminded me of something i'd had. there is a restaurant that has black eye pea soup and that was it. i did change the recipe to make it tastier. i added celery, bell pepper, jalapeno and 2 cans of tomatoes. (i didn't bother to crush them) also a little mixed pepper and cayenne. it was great. thanks.
I've been cooking black eyed peas for 60 years and never thought of putting tomatoes in them. It is an excellent addition!!
Quite tasty. I'm from the North and hubby is from the South. He has to have the black eyed peas on New Years. It's about the only time of year that I cook these. I made this recipe in the crock pot. I used 2-15 oz. cans of peas and 1- 15oz. can of diced tomatoes, both with their liquid and left out the water and the garlic(hubby isn't crazy about garlic). This was plenty of liquid to boil down a bit in the crock pot. Ham and tomatoes and the onions make it a bit more interesting than plain black eyed peas. Thanks
I'm a firefighter and I decided to cook today and sticking to tradition we had black-eyed peas and cabbage. This reciepe along with another fireman's pot of cabbage was a hit!!! I followed the reciepe with just a few modifications. I presoaked the peas for about 6 hours. I crumbled up 7-8 leftover strips of bacon from breakfast and I used fresh garlic. I used a can of Italian diced tomatoes and sprinkled a little cajun seasoning in for an added boost. If I can do this anyone can. LOL! BRAVO
We also changed a few things. We sauted the onions with some spices first and added some german sausage. We then added diced tomatoes and fresh, crushed garlic. We used 8 cups of water, thanks for the recommendation! We couldn't imagine using the recommended amount! We also used a vegetable bouillon cube with the water. A splash of tabasco sauce and this was a hit!
My southern husband raved to his parents that his Yankee wife now makes black-eyed peas better than they do! I doubled the recipe so there would be leftovers, but everything was eaten up. It was delicious. Thanks Roxanna....you certainly brought good luck for the new year to our table!
Every thing good about this dish, except, (unless it's me), I didn't get the measurements. It calls for 3 cups water, but later in description it says to fill 8 quart container 3/4 full. It takes more than 3 cups to do that, so I just filled up the pot 3/4 full and it had plenty of water to cook. I didn't soak overnight, just did as the recipe said. Another blunder I see was that it servered way over 6 servings. I would say it served 20!! And we took a couple of healpings.
This has become a yearly "must" serve on New Years Day. I only use real garlic crushed, not powder and eliminated the tomatoes. Very tastie! Kids always hate it but I insist on one teaspoon bite for good luck for the new year.
I NEVER LIKED THESE PEAS BEFORE , BUT I MADE THEM FROM THE RECIPE FOR SOMEONE ELSE, AND AFTER I TASTED THEM I WAS HOOKED...
Delicious. I started with the (rinsed, sorted and soaked peas, a ham bone, 4 Bay leaves, one onion cut in 4 pieces and enough water to cover (about 6 cups) in the crockpot. When peas were almost tender, I discarded bay leaves & onion & ham bones (after saving the meat, chopping, and returning to the pot). Then I added 1 cup raw brown rice, about 1/2 cup chopped green peppers, 1 finely chopped (and seeded) jalapeno pepper, 2 Tbsp minced garlic instead of the garlic powder, 2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley, 1 Tbsp dried basi (didn't have any fresh), and the tomatoes. When rice was tender, my version of Hoppin' John was ready.
These are quite tasty but I do have a few changes. I like my peas to be an almost creamy texture so I omitted the tomatoes. I used one ham hock that I made several cuts into, half a link of smoked sausage, one onion, garlic powder, onion powder, chile sauce and chicken broth as the liquid. I let these simmer for a couple of hours and OH MY they are good!
I used two cans instead of dry beans. Also used a can of tomato sauce since I didn't have canned tomatoes. I also had leftover Honeybaked Ham, which added a nice sweetness. Best black-eyed peas ever!
These were the best black eyed peas anyone at our table of 12 have ever had! Normally no one will eat but one bite, but many were going back for seconds, and even asked for some to take home! Glad I tried this one! It is actually quite similar to the way I make Pasta Fazul, an Italian soup.
This was really good! I used 6 cups of water instead of 3 and during the last 30 min of cooking I added a cup of okra and a little hot sauce. Served with corn bread. Yummy!
Next time I will soak my beans overnight because they took forever to soften up. But once they did, yummy! I had left over pork loin that I threw in instead of ham and that worked great. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I borrowed from "2BCreative" by soaking overnight (a must in my opinion for dried beans), only using 4 cups of water, adding fresh garlic, & cooking for 1 1/2 hours. I used canned stewed tomatoes whirled in the blender. The result was a tad soupy, but we all had 2 bowls full! Served with my favorite cornbread recipe. I'm happy with this- it will be my standard New Year's recipe from now on!
Great basic recipe for black-eyed peas. For those who say it's bland, try adding your own ingredients to jazz it up. To speed things up, I used 3 cans of black eyed peas, 1 can of diced tomatoes (did not puree) and simmered all ingredients for about 20 minutes. I also started out by frying 6 slices of apple smoked bacon and sauted the onion in the grease. I only used 1/2 an onion because that's all I had and it was just fine. I used all the bacon drippings and added the bacon to the 2 cups of chopped ham and it was delicious. Probably don't need that much bacon grease though :). Will definitely make this again next year.
I made this experimentally on New Year's Eve. I used my husband and one of our friends as guinea pigs. I used low sodium chicken broth in place of the water and filled the pot to cover the peas plus one inch above them, I used 3-4 crushed garlic cloves instead of powder, and I used three cans (drained) of black-eyed peas instead of dry but did not change the cooking time. I made corn bread to go with this. You can use a slotted spoon if you want more of a pea side dish or use a ladel and ladel the "soup" over your corn bread in a bowl. This was absolutely fantastic either way you serve it! Husband and friend gave rave reviews and insisted I serve the leftovers on New Year's Day. I had quite a bit left over and since today is New Year's day, we'll have it again. It's probably better the day after making it once the flavors really set in. We're having people over for dinner and a football game so this will be GREAT! Thanks Roxanna!
Great recipe! I feel luckier already!
Pretty much a traditional recipe. I'm from the south and my family always cooked/simmered the onion(s) and a piece of smoked shank together, w/water to cover of course, until the meat fell off. Adding a little crushed garlic, and fresh ground black pepper. After soaking the Peas, over night or quick method, rinse and add to onion/shank broth. Simmer on back of stove while fixing rest of meal. NO TOMATOES...YUCH. Add salt if needed and serve with rice and corn bread. Yum!
This was by far the worst direction provided for any recipe. Did anyone that has already rated this actually read the directions? It tells you to use a 8-quart pot and fill it ¾ full of water. That’s right 24 cups of water. This gives you SOUP. If you cut the amount of water down to 8 cups this will make a nice pot of peas.
I wanted to rate this four stars instead of five because it did need alot of tweeking.I rated it five because I don't want anyone to pass it by. I took the suggestions of others who rated the recipe and made the following changes. I used chicken broth instead of water and used about 8 cups, which is about half what the recipe called for. That amount would have been entirely too much. I used rotels (original).I used one onion instead of two,more garlic,and cajun seasoning to taste. I used diced ham but threw in a hamhock while cooking for flavor. It turned out wonderful.I made a pot for home and one for work.Alot of people don't like black-eyed peas, but everyone loved them. It's a must try!
Tried this recipe today. a little after New Years but better late than never. Basic recipe was a little bland. Added a bay leaf, some creole seasoning and 1 can of chicken broth. this helped.
This turned out surprisingly well, especially with a few changes and additions. Soaked the beans overnight and drain. Used crumbled bacon (14 strips) instead of ham. Used 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper and omitted the salt due to using canned beef broth. Added 1/2 tsp. liquid smoke. Added 1/2 tsp. dried basil, few shakes of dried parsley and 1 bay leaf. I needed only 4 cups liquid (14.5 oz can beef broth and 1 1/2 cans of water instead of the ridiculous amount of water called for the recipe. Used minced garlic instead of powder. Used dried minced onions. Used Italian diced tomatoes and didn't puree them. Turned out AMAZING!!
Tried this recipe today. a little after New Years but better late than never. Basic recipe was a little bland. Added a bay leaf, some creole seasoning and 1 can of chicken broth. this helped.
I too made this recipe today for my Southern husband (I am from the North) who praised them again and again (very picky so I had to blend up tomatoes and cut onions very small). I followed this recipe exactly and it came out beautifully. We liked it a little soupy; just remove with a slotted spoon and served over white rice with a little hot sauce and mini cornbread muffins. I also made smokey links with barbeque sauce in the crockpot to accompany. Very good and we will enjoy the few leftovers tomorrow. Have added this recipe to my recipe box on this site and will definitely make this again.
Very good but needs some more flavor. I used two cans of stock and two cans of black eyed peas instead of dried. I didn't add quite as much ham, maybe only half. The thing that did spice it up was a small can (I believe 8 oz.) of crushed tomatoes and chili peppers.(The kind you would put in a salsa) It added quite a zing but was delicious. I used that instead of the whole tomatoes. Kept the onions, too. It was still a bit "soupy" but was good. Definitely needed corn bread as others suggested. Made it with Golden Sweet Cornbread from this site. Very good meal. Thanks!
Finally found a recipe to like black eyed peas! Normally can't stand them. This was good. I went back for seconds and thirds... I can finally stop looking for a way to eat them with my family.
I've been making black eyed peas for years and never thought of using tomato in the recipe. I used a can of Petite Diced Tomato with onions and garlic and I always soak my beans overnight. They plumped beautifully and withstood my stirring and checking and sampling. I will use this recipe from now on!
Just delish! I want to make them again for easter.... I recommend them.. my neighbor even loved it..
Once I added herb seasonings and let it cook down, it turned out very good. It seemed very bland up to that point. When serving, I sprinkled some cheddar cheese on top and everyone enjoyed it!
This is a 5 star recipe that is easily tweaked to make it perfect for your family. Until now, I've only ever taken a spoonful of black-eyed peas on New Years (just in case there really is something to the good luck tradition). However, I'm eating these peas regularly now. Following this recipe produces a great dish. Tweaked for my taste buds and to keep it quick and easy, I used 1 undrained (15.5 oz) can of Goya BlackEyed Peas, 1/2 of a 16 oz package of Eckridge Smoked Sausage, 1 (14.5 oz) can of DelMonte Diced Tomatoes with Garlic & Onion, and 1 medium green pepper, chopped. I simmered these ingredients for 5 minutes, then served over Uncle Ben's Ready Rice Whole Grain Brown which cooks in the microwave in 90 minutes. Deelish!!!
I hadn't ever done the whole NY black-eyed peas thing but figured I'd give it a shot - these were good! Because we aren't able to get ham (Saudi Arabia) I did substitute chicken... and made it more like a soup by adding some chicken bullion/water and cilantro. Used can of chopped tomatoes too and I can rarely be bothered to soak beans so used a couple cans of beans and it was a good quick meal. Kids loved it to so maybe it will become a new tradition... assuming we find the black-eyed peas again next year!
Never cooked black eyed peas before but was informed I needed to do so for New years day. It came out very good. I liked it with Franks Hot sauce on the side.
I soaked my beans overnight, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. You can't go wrong with this one.
DELICIOUS !!! If eating these peas doesn't bring me luck this year I don't know what will... I only made a few changes: I used a can of diced tomatoes instead of liquefying a can of whole ones, substituted a tsp. of minced garlic for the powder, and used one onion instead of two. We ate these with barbequed ribs but the peas were a meal in themselves. Next time we will just have some rice on the side... This recipe helped me create an awesome New Year's tradition in my house!!!
These peas are fantastic! I've never made black eye peas before because honestly every time I've eaten them, I really haven't cared for them. My husband however loves them and has asked me many times to make them. Black eye peas being a southern New Year's menu tradition for luck, and me wanting to do something for just him decided to try this recipe. I have to admit they taste fabulous! The only thing I would change is the amount of water, it was too much. Don't get me wrong, the flavor of this pot liquor will be fantastic with a monster pan of cornbread, but it was still too much. I will use this recipe again, and I will also be eating black eye peas again. Great recipe!
Maybe it's just me but I did not like the tomatos added to this dish. I guess I prefer the southern style.
This was a great recipe, I have another Black-Eyed Peas recipe that my husband likes better though due to his love of spicy food...Instead of ham, try Jimmy Dean spicy breakfast sausage and rotel with the black-eyed peas.
I cheated and used frozen black-eyed peas. I also used less ham, fresh garlic and shallots instead of onions. I LOVED the addition of tomatoes. I'm usually not a big fan of black-eyed peas but make them because it's a New Year's tradition, but this recipe made them the best thing on our plates!
I don't even like black-eyed peas, but I loved these! Only thing I did different was used a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles to add a little spice. I didn't blend them. AWESOME PEAS! Next time will make with corn bread.
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Liked the idea of adding canned tomatoes in this recipe. It was more soupy than my old recipe but was a nice change and didn't dilute from the flavor. Only change made was to add a few dashes of liquid smoke. My kids say it makes it taste like I cooked it over a fire all day. Thank you for sharing.
Instead of water I used beef broth. I put in some fried bacon and some cubed ham and I cooked all of this in my slow cooker on high for 4 hrs.
Ok, so I combined this recipe with the one for black-eyed pea chowder. I was making blackened tuna, and wanted to continue the Southern theme. Apart from adding a little garlic and more salt, I stuck to both recipes, and the result was GOOD! This is hearty, tasty and healthy. An excellent side-dish. Thank you yet again!
This was sooo good. I added a bag of frozen green beans and some peppers for color, and at the end I added some balsamic vinegar cuz I was too lazy to think about individual seasonings. Everyone loved it. 13yo son -"you should make this more often. " He never says that. Made corn bread and collard greens as well, poured leftover greens, ham hock meat and pot liquor into Peas, and next day leftovers were heavenly. I was happily surprised with how awesome this dish was. THANK YOU!
I love this recipe! I make it around 7:00 pm on New Year's Eve and then let it simmer for about 3 hours. It's my breakfast for New Year's Day and usualy my dinner too. I sometimes make cornbread to go with it. We love it and it's so easy!
I made this on New Years at the last minute and I am so glad I did! I have made it a few times since and will continue to all year long.
There wasn't much flavor in this recipe. Maybe instead of using water to fill the pot, you should use chicken broth, or bouillon cubes.
I halved the recipe, added more ham, and used a can of Rotel tomatoes. It was very good! I personally enjoyed the kick that the tomatoes gave it, but everyone may not like that.
My husband, who usually doesn't like black-eyed peas, ate 3 helpings! We loved this recipe. I used a can of diced tomatoes and a can of chicken broth replacing some of the water. Definitely a keeper!
It was good. I tweaked it the second time and added chopped bell pepper and celery to the onions, sauteed them in oil, then added the drained, cooked beans and ham. I then poured tomato juice over it instead of blending tomatoes, and used fresh garlic instead of powder. I then added some creole seasonings to taste. Really good over rice and with sour cream, chopped green onions, shredded cheese and corn muffins on the side.
This was really good and simple - I used great northern beans rather than black-eyed peas.
These were very easy to put together. They tasted rather bland until I added the hot sauce. But I let each person do their own and that was fine. Will definitely make again. Even if it isn't New Years.
This recipie is a great starter but I used MUCH less water, fresh Garlic (not powder), and personally, I like to soak overnight or par boil the peas before I cook 'em.
This recipe was very tasty after tweaking it. I would recommend using only 4 1/2 - 5 cups of water per lb. of peas. I also used a beef boullion cube in addition to the ham and onions but did not use the tomatoes.
I made this tonight with the thought that it might taste better the second day. It actually tastes VERY GOOD tonight...can't wait to eat it tomorrow. I would give it 5 stars but I had to make some modifications due to what I had on hand. I used 2 cans of rinsed black eyed peas (what husband brought home one day last week), about a cup of dry vermouth for flavor (didn't want to use chicken or beef stock for the "luck" reasons stated by a previous reviewer...I obviously used canned peas, though), 5 cloves of garlic, over 2 cups of cubed smoked ham steak, a fair amount of Cajun seasoning, about 4oz of diced green chilies, and about a 1/2c of ham drippings from the Christmas ham for added pork flavor. I used diced tomatoes and did not puree them. I also did not add any additional water. Again, we are looking forward to eating it tomorrow. Thank you for the recipe.
I made this recipe for New Year's Day and it was put up against my mother's traditional black eyed peas, and these had rave reviews. The leftovers are even better after being in the refrigerator after a day or two and eaten with cornbread. I'll definitely make these again in place of my usual red beans.
I've never liked black-eyed peas and made these for New Year's Day, and can't get enough of them!! I think I may have overcooked them a little, but still unbelievably good!!! The only changes I made was use bacon instead of ham (because it's what I had) and added some jalapeno sauce to spice it up a little.
Thank you Roxanna...u got my husband to eat black- eyed peas for the first time in his entire life. Pass the recipe to my mom and she loved it.
I love this recipe . Of course I made a few modifications to it (any good cook would) I used a left over ham bone and did not use tomatoes. Placed in a slow cooker covered with plenty of water and used the other ingredients. Cooked for 4 hrs then mashed some of the beans to thicken. Served over rice and Topped with green onion !
This was really tasty. I followed the directions exactly with the exception of using fresh, minced garlic instead of powder. Also, I added a can of Rotel, which gave it some zip. This turned out very soup-y. I think next time I will use less water so the end result is a little thicker.
First time I've eaten black eyed peas at New Year's and liked them! In fact, we ran out of peas and didn't have the usual uneaten leftovers. I'm not a fan of black eyed peas, but this time I enjoyed them. I didn't add the tomato because of our own tastes, but still great. Thanks for a great recipe!
I added Rotel tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes and a ham hock instead of the cooked ham, Was okay but nothing special.
Great Recipe! I added a couple of teaspoons of Tabasco Sauce to give the lucky peas some kick. jpmccn
These were so delicious! I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I subbed minced, fresh garlic for garlic powder. I also added a few dashes of cayenne. Other than that, I followed exactly. I love that it calls for ham, as I had some leftover Christmas ham that needed to be used. I soaked the peas for 6 hours in cold water before cooking, and they only took about 45 minutes to cook. Happy New Year!
When i initially made this, i didn't care for it (way too much water, and a bit more onions than i like). However, the next day i had some for lunch cold from the fridge and it was soo good! I was actually craving it for days after. Cold is the way to go!!
My husband is from the South and wants black-eyed peas every year and I never knew how to make them (except from a can!). He LOVED these and said he could eat them every day. I even liked them and I'm not fond of black-eyed peas, so easy, too!! Thanks for the recipe!
I fixed this recipe on New Year's day and received rave reviews from a group of people all claiming to hate black-eyed peas. Everyone planned only to have 3 peas, and before everyone left, the pot was almost gone. This recipe is definately a keeper. The only ingredient alteration that was made was that I used Rotel tomatoes instead of regular.
Didn't love this recipe. Way too much water and the addition of the tomatoes tasted weird. I'll stick with my stand-by of the bag recipe.
Simple and delicious. I cheated and used two cans of black eyed peas instead of the fresh, and used beef brith instead of water. I threw everything into a pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Came out perfect!
Very Good, but needed "spicing up"; we used 2 cans Rotel (drained) & 1 tbls garlic salt instead of canned tomatoes & garlic powder. Plus 2 chopped jalapenos, & only 1 cup chopped ham.
These are excellent. My family loved them, including my toddler son. I added more pepper and salt to my serving though because I found it to be a little bland. Next time I don't think I'll puree the tomatoes. This time I added a little rice at the end to make it more like Hoppin John, and I also added some bell pepper and celery.
These were very tasty and I would make again. I did add in a packet of ham seasoning for some extra flavor though. My family really enjoyed them.
I brought these over to my mother's on new Year's Day in keeping with tradition and they were a big hit. I too soaked the beans over night first. I didn't have any leftover ham around so I got 6/10 lb. of thick sliced ham at the deli counter which was just shy of 2 cups. I used 1 large shallot and 1 small/medium sized onion instead of 2 onions (that's what was in the pantry). I had about 1 1/2 cup of chicken stock leftover in the fridge and used that in place of some water and sprinkled in some cayenne pepper. I think next time I will try not pureeing the tomatoes, adding less water, add 1 or 2 chopped carrots and possibly some green peas just before serving. I think I will also try them in the crockpot.
If you watched your mom make black-eyed peas for New Year's when you were a kid but never learned how, this is a great starter recipe. If you follow "as is", you will get a great result. I have been using this recipe for several years and never gone wrong except for one thing. My mom always used ham hock to help season the beans,so I used ham hock as well but have never felt like my beans were actually GETTING the benefit of the ham hock flavor (I was just adding it to the pot, nothing special). THIS YEAR I decided to try something different. I actually scored the ham hock and then boiled them on their own in water until tender (a couple of hours). I then reduced the ham hock water, let it cool (I made the stock the day before since I had to soak the beans anyway) and then used the ham hock water to cook the beans. OMG! What a difference! I then add my other seasonings toward the middle of the cook, instead of the beginning (especially salt since the ham adds saltiness) and added the ham hock meat back in to heat just before serving. After several years of making these, using these tweaks yielded the best black-eyes peas I have ever made. EVERYONE (including my children) devoured them!
Okay, this was just fantastic and was a huge hit by my family and relatives. I made just a few changes. First, I added two cups of cooked chicken and spinach sausage to make it with less fat. Then, I used two vegetable broth cubes. I will most likely make this again because this recipe was simply wonderful!!
I used this as more of a base recipe because I discovered I didn't have some of the ingredients. I ended up using 1 can of black-eyed peas, 1 can of great northern beans, and 2 cans of stewed tomatoes. I pureed 1 can and left the other chunky. Put this all in my crockpot with the chopped ham, adding a hamhock as well for more flavor. I also added 2 cloves of garlic (chopped). Cooked on low for 5 hours. My fiance LOVED this. I obviously changed things a bit, but thank you SO much for the recipe or I wouldn't have had a clue what to do with black-eyed peas. :)
The only major change I made to this was I used smoked ham hocks, which I cooked for an hour just covered in water, instead of cook ham. Next time I will try the petite diced tomatoes as the regular diced was a little too big. Cooked the onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in a saute pan before adding to the broth. I did strain the fat from the broth (Thank God for my Oxo fat separator!). Added everything to the pot along with a 1/2 tsp of my Dad's creole seasoning. Did need to add some salt at the end of cooking. Since I soaked the peas overnight, I cooked this for about 5 hours on low with the lid slightly off for the extra liquid to evaporate.
