I've made this soup several times . We love it. I ran out of time today, so I made this soup in my pressure cooker. I cooked the bacon and veggies right on the stove top in the pressure cooker. Then I added the soaked beans, spices, ham, diced tomatoes, spices and water just before I closed the lid. Easy prep. I brought the soup up to pressure and cooked for 10 minutes, took it off and let it set until the pressure cooker had depressurized: another 10 to 15 minutes. I added the kale immediately after opening the cooker and 10 minutes later we were eating soup. For those of you who have never tried pressure cooking, it ROCKS! The flavor of the soup was even better this time, and the unexpected company raved over it. Their 13 year old had two bowlfuls. By the way, I used Farmlands spiral ham and pieces instead of ham steaks. It's cheaper and has a much richer flavor.
This was crazy good. I used ham hocks instead of necks, and added andouille sausage to it with the kale. I did not have the canned tomatoes with peppers, so used fresh chopped tomatoes and some ground dried chiles. YUM!!
Made this today and it was absolutely delicious. Didn't have Kale, so I used a half bag of collard greens that I had left over from another dish - guess any greens will do. I'm giving a lot to friends so they can see how good black-eyed peas and pork neck bones taste. Will definitely make this again.
Excellent! Couldn't get any pork neck bones, so I substituted ham hocks instead. Next time I'll skip the bacon, increase the ham, and use ham hocks again, because their smoky flavor adds so much to this dish. Also used my slow cooker--two hours on high, then about five hours on low, adding the ham and kale during the last 45 minutes of cooking.
Since I am allergic to cayenne, I used Penzey's Aleppo Pepper instead. I also doubled the amount of onion the recipe calls for, and sautéed the onion/celery/carrots before adding them to the slow cooker, in order to control the amount of liquid that the onions throw off.
I can see this being my family's New Years Day dish for a long time!
Well, this was just a bunch of yumminess in a bowl! It simmered on the stove while we watched the Super Bowl..and, I actually followed this recipe very closely - and based on others' reviews, I added some andouille sausage and used 1/2 chicken broth 1/2 water. I thought the recipe might have called for too much thyme, but it was perfect..Simply delish! Paired it with cornbread and honey which sent it over the top. Will definitely make again!
I really liked this recipe but i cooked it waaaaay longer to have my beps soft enough for my taste. Also will recommend adding more salt. Otherwise, excellent taste and flavor!
Love Chef John's recipes so I usually make minor changes if any. I used fresh purple hull peas for this since I was making it now (July) and live in Texas where they are readily available. I used dried savory as well as thyme because it works really well with bean/pea dishes and while I had never cooked with pork neck bones gathered my courage and did so...don't substitute. I found really meaty neck bones for 1.50 lb and they were delish! Also used diced ham as called for but substituted vegetable stock for 4 c. of water. After adding the ham I refrigerated it overnight for the flavors to meld finishing the dish the next evening. Then I used about 1/2 as many greens (used turnip) since my guy albeit a Texan doesn't care much for them and added some ancho head vinegar for more flavor. Delish!! Will make it again.
WOW! Chef John you've done it again. This is a fantastic recipe. Made it a few days ago as written except I used a half pound more neck bones than called for and increased garlic. The nutrients of almost every ingredient is off the charts and the combined flavors amazing. DO TRY to use the pork neck bones if you can. Simmered with the beans etc provides a richness and the bits of meat taken off the bones and returned to the pot is delectable. We ate it alone and also with rice. I made so much I will freeze some and hope that's okay. Chef John your recipes are all so reliable uncomplicated and delicious. Keep 'em coming! NOTE we use collard greens rather than kale since we like it better. I think any hardy green would work.
It's a nice recipe, but I found the beans were not quite cooked enough for me in the time frame given -- a tiny bit on the crunchy side. Maybe a full hour before adding the tomatoes might be better. Also, the greens added to the beans is an interesting idea, but I still prefer them cooked separately. It could be that the substitutions I made may have made the difference -- I live in Germany, and smoked neckbone and ham hocks American style are not to be found here. I used Sudtiroler speck, a flavorful smoked meat, as a substitute for the neckbone, and smoked Kasseler as a substitute for the ham. I've used Kasseler in the past with excellent results. Bacon as we recognize it is readily available here and can be found already cut into small strips, very convenient for cooking. Even so however, the flavor was not quite as rich as I had hoped. Not bad, but I'll stick to my old recipe for next year.
