Hoppin' John, Dutch Oven
Black-eyed peas, bacon fat, and ham over a bed of coals. A car-camping side that eats like a meal.
- calories
- 310
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 34
- protein
- 18 g
- serves
- 8, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 80 min
- total time
- 90 min
- water
- 950 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bacon | 8 slices | |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow onion | 1 small | chopped at home to save a cutting board |
| Minced garlic | 3 tbsp | the jarred kind is fine |
| Black-eyed peas | 6 cups | canned and drained, or fresh shelled |
| Water | 4 cups | |
| Jalapeño | 1 | seeds in or out, your call |
| Cooked ham | 1 cup | diced |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Green onions | 1/4 cup | sliced, added at the end |
Method
- Set up a 12-inch dutch oven for frying and get it to about 350°F. Lay in the bacon and cook until it is crisp.
- Pull the bacon out onto a plate. Leave every bit of the grease in the oven.
- Add the onion and garlic to the hot fat. Stir until the onion goes soft and translucent.
- Add the water, peas, jalapeño, and black pepper. Bring it up to a boil.
- Move coals off the lid and out from under the oven until it is barely bubbling. Cover and simmer one hour. Check the water level once or twice.
- Crumble in the bacon, stir in the ham and green onions, and give it 15 more minutes covered.
- Let it sit off the coals five minutes before serving. It thickens as it rests.
This is a coal-cooking recipe, not a stove one. The whole thing hinges on rendering the bacon first and then building everything else in that fat, so the peas pick up smoke and salt from the bottom up instead of getting it dumped on at the end.
The hour of simmering is where the texture happens, and a dutch oven under coals holds a low, steady heat better than a pot on a burner does. Pull heat off the lid once it boils. If it is rattling the lid, you have too many coals and the peas will blow apart before the flavor gets anywhere. The ham and green onions go in late on purpose: the ham is already cooked and only needs warming, and the onions keep some bite.
Packing
Chop the onion, jalapeño, ham, and green onions at home and bag them separately. Bacon and ham ride in the cooler. Canned peas and the spices are shelf-stable and can live in the food bin.
Variations
- Swap the water for chicken broth if you are carrying a carton anyway.
- Stir cooked rice into the pot at the end and it stops being a side dish.
- No bacon: start with a few tablespoons of oil and add smoked paprika for the missing smoke.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/hopping_blackeyed_peas-1234.asp