Good point of departure. At home I use green mongo beans instead of peas, and add some annetto (achote) for color and flavor. Onions and garlic kick up the flavor, too. If it needs to be thinned, I use coconut milk and serve over rice.

This recipe gave me a good jumping off point. I soaked the peas overnight for fear that they would be hard if I just boiled them out of the bag. I added 2 tsp of minced garlic, minced onion, a generous amount of salt and pepper and 8 dashes of hot sauce. This didn't make it hot at all just added the flavor it needed. The ham hocks gave it a nice flavor. I will make it again and next time I will had chunks of ham.

I feel the added water suggestions, and they help. I would recommend soaking the peas, first of all. Lastly, who eats this with rice?

This was okay. The recipe didn't say to soak the peas overnight, so I didn't. I'm wondering if perhaps I should have. It was a bit bland. . . I would not make this again.

My southern husband wanted black-eyed peas on New Year's (I still don't get it, but I'm from Canada!) so I obliged him. I soaked the peas overnight, then drained and rinsed them. I diced up one pound of bacon and fried it in the pot until just shy of crispy, then I drained the grease and added six cups of water (as suggested by reviewers), the peas, a little salt, a little pepper, and three bay leaves. After cooking for about 1½ hours or so, I found the bacon to be tasteless (and I love bacon!) but the peas tasted pretty good, although our three-year old refused to touch them. This was awesome with soy sauce on it! If I try it again, I'll probably use bacon again, but I'll mix the fried bacon in with the cooked-and-drained peas just before serving. Thanks for sharing, Douet!

I have searched for the Perfect Black Eyed Pea recipe each year for New Year's Day. I am not a black eyed pea eater, but my husband is and, being Southern, we have to have this every New Year's Day. I read the other reviews and adjusted the water level- I think this is a common sense issue. Just eyeball the water. When you cook beans that have been soaked, you generally boil them in fresh water that just covers the beans. Same here. Add more water as needed while they boil. I did not use as much ham, but cut it into bite size pieces before serving. I added another bay leaf and kicked up the fresh ground pepper. This dish thickens as it cools, so do not worry about it being too soupy. I did not serve it over rice, but as side dish to oven baked ribs (find the recipe on this site). Of course, there was plenty of sweet cornbread. My husband said this was my best batch of black eyed peas yet (that's 15 attempts- one for every New Year's Day we have been together). Not quite as good as his momma's, but pretty good for a Yankee born wife who doesn't eat black eyed peas.

This recipe was pretty good. I just fixed it in my Slow Cooker for 9 hours. I used more of the ham hock like 2 pounds and 2 pounds of smoked neck. I added much more pepper then the recipe asked for and added in addition to that about 2 teaspoons paprika, since I didn't like the original colar. It made it taste even better

With the added water, it turned out great!!

This recipe is also good with green bean snaps thrown in. We like it best the southern way -- served with the juice over corn bread. Some hot pepper sauce (the vinegar kind) is good sprinkled on top. Is cheap, delicious and feeds a lot! Great for a covered dish event.

Needs more water and I cover my pot. I also added chopped onion, a little garlic and creole seasoning. I'm from Louisiana, so the proper way to finish this is by mashing some in the pot and serve it on rice!

This need WAY more than 3 cups of water!! Try starting with 6 cups.