Recipe - Hopping John

4 Strips bacon
One half cup Raw rice
One fourth cup Onion
2 cup Water
2 cup Fresh Blackeye Peas
Salt & Pepper to taste

Dice bacon. Add onion and fry until bacon is crisp. Add peas and rice, then
water. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes or until rice
is tender. ( I *ALWAYS* add a good sized shake or two of Louisiana Hot
sauce (NOT Tabasco, there is a difference) Yields 10 servings

This is the basic recipe (from Southern Living) It can be adjusted in
several ways:

1) substitute ham hocks for bacon by boiling them in the 2 C water until
the meat comes off the bone. Fry onion in bacon grease until yellow. Or
use any fatty pork meat: trimmings from a roast or chops, "fatback", etc

2) I prefer PurpleHull Peas over the Blackeyes, But if you don't know
the difference (or can't find them) it's not a big deal. It is important to
use fresh peas, frozen if you have to...if you can only get canned or dried
peas, nevermind and fix something else.

3) I discovered a secret to Southern style cooking: Cavender's Greek
Seasoning. Put a little of it in everything, along with the Louisiana Hot
Sauce makes everything taste better. This is what I would do for the greens
as a regular family dinner. Later I'll get out the company recipe.

BTW Southern Living is *the* Soutern magazine and has the best recipes for
regional favorites. They also put out an annual cookbook which includes
all the recipes for the year. If I keep osting them here y'all see that
this book is a very worthwhile purchase.