What is the worst meal you have tried to eat? I can tell you the exact meal, place and the cook who made it. The place was Grandma Herriott's kitchen, the cook was my father, Rex, and the meal was Hoppin John. This was way before our adventurous days, probably 25 years ago or so. My father got the inspiration from a cook book on heritage cooking. He starved us all day, while he worked on this meal. When he saw that the lack of food was weakening us, he sat us around the kitchen table to eat dinner. I still remember the cautious look on my fathers face, as he plated the neon green substance that came from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.
I remember my brother and sister waiting on me to try it first. It was Life cereal and I was Mikey. I remember the spoon entering my mouth. I am not sure who laughed first? Was it my siblings laughing at me trying to swallow? Maybe it was me trying to do the impossible? Laughter broke out all over the room.
Grandma Herriott was there that night. When she spoke, you listened. The look on her face and the words that came out of her mouth silenced us immediately. We were told to finish our dinner. My brother, sister and I glanced at each other...the end was near. Then a voice from the stove started laughing. My father had finally tried his creation. We were saved, he admitted it was inedible. This was how the legend of Hoppin John began for our family. Every meal that was not up to par was compared to Hoppin John and it became the butt of many jokes. Luckily, the Hoppin John outcome did not effect my father and his willingness to be adventurous when making new foods. Some of the family members may be scared for life but as for myself, it only made me stronger.
This week my father and I decided to remake the classic dish. Hoppin John is a southern dish that is served around or on New Years. It has black-eyed peas, bacon, onion, celery, spices and is served with Carolina Gold rice. If you look on-line you can find thousands of recipes, but we used one from the January 2018 issue of southernliving.com. For the record, Rex did all of the work on the Hoppin John. I had to separate myself in case it turned out bad again! I grilled a delicious pork loin to accompany the Hoppin John. Well I can safely say it was a thousand times better. It even made our book of recipes. The legend of Hoppin John will never be forgotten but Rex has been redeemed!
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