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Hopping John

A stew of cow peas, bacon, rice, and onion simmered until the rice is cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,433 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Hopping John

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the cow peas in cold water overnight.

Cook the peas

  1. Boil the bacon in cold water until done, then remove it.

  2. Add the soaked cow peas to the bacon water and cook until tender.

Finish the stew

  1. Stir in the minced onion and rice on top of the peas.

  2. Cook for about 30 minutes until the rice is done, stirring to combine until almost dry.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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 + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Peas + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Cow peas
Provide the main body and protein of the stew, becoming tender as they cook.
Bacon
Flavors the cooking water with fat and smoky, savory seasoning.
Rice
Absorbs liquid as it cooks, thickening the stew and giving it a starchy texture.
Onion
Adds aromatic sweetness and savory depth to the stew.

The step that matters

Cook the rice until almost dry. Stirring while the rice finishes cooking helps it absorb liquid evenly and release starch, so the stew thickens without scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, onion):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, onion. 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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