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Hoppin John

A Southern dish of rice, black-eyed peas, bacon, onions, celery, bell pepper, and jalapeños simmered together.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and black-eyed pea work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 40 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Hoppin John

Serves 8
Total1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Brown bacon in large Dutch oven, remove, and reserve 2 tablespoons of grease in pan.

  2. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper, and sauté 5 minutes.

  3. Add rice and seasoning packet, water, and black-eyed peas; cover and simmer 25 minutes.

  4. Add bacon and jalapeños, cover and heat 5–10 minutes more.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

330Calories
10 gProtein
4 gFat
62 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Waternot in our table0
Black-Eyed Peanot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Rice + black-eyed peatop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together40 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Onion + black-eyed peatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together190 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Celery + black-eyed peatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together45 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Pepper + black-eyed peatop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bacon
Renders fat for sautéing the vegetables and adds smoky, savory flavor.
Long grain rice
Absorbs the cooking liquid and provides the bulk and structure of the dish.
Black-eyed peas
Add protein-rich body and a creamy texture as they soften in the liquid.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it sautés, building the flavor base.

The step that matters

Add the rice, water, and peas and simmer covered. Rice cooks by absorbing liquid. Keeping the pot covered traps steam so the grains cook through evenly, and lifting the lid releases heat and moisture that can leave the rice unevenly done.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, pepper, rice, black-eyed pea):

  1. Okrafits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, pepper, rice, black-eyed pea. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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