Travis Grimes, chef de cuisine at Husk Restaurant, has lived in Charleston, South Carolina, since he was nine years old. So it’s fitting that he shared his recipe for a quintessentially Southern dish, Hoppin’ John. Typically eaten on New Year’s Day to ensure good luck in the year ahead, the dish was invented in Charleston, which was at one time a major rice-producing region.
Grimes makes his Hoppin’ John with Carolina Gold rice and Southern cow peas (also known as black-eyed peas), flavoring the mixture with a smoky hock stock and served alongside pork chops. “At Husk,” says Grimes, “we use quality ingredients to cook the kind of food that we want the South to be known for.”
Start 2013 off Southern-style by cooking a batch of Grimes’s Hoppin’ John from the latest edition of the Sous Chef Series.
Don’t miss next week’s Sous Chef Series email from Williams-Sonoma and Tasting Table! Sign up for free today, and every Monday you’ll receive a new profile of one of the country’s most exciting sous chefs, along with one of their favorite recipes.
