Hoppin John

Hoppin John, the New Year's Day favorite,
goes all the way back to the 1600's
was eaten in South Carolina in the 1700's.

Ingredients:
6 oz lean salt pork cubed
1 medium onion diced medium
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cup long grain rice
2 ½ cups water
½ tsp Kosher salt ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 bay leaf (dried bay will work also)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
4 cups fresh or frozen black-eyed peas

Directions:
1. Place the salt pork in a cast iron skillet and fry over a medium heat
until lightly browned. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onion
is translucent.
2. Add rice and stir to coat grains with fat. Add the water, salt, black
pepper, bay leaf, and red pepper; bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat
to very low, cover the skillet and cook the rice on low heat for 10 minutes.
Remove the cover and add the black-eyed peas. Do not stir.
3. Cover the skillet again and cook slowly for 30 minutes. Remove the
skillet from the heat and let stand undisturbed for another 10 minutes.
Remove the cover and gently fluff the rice with a fork to mix in the
black-eyed peas. Serve at once.