Grey Peas and Bacon Gravy

Grey peas and bacon is Black Country food, still cooked around Wolverhampton and Dudley and traditionally eaten on Grey Pea Night in the run up to Christmas. The peas are maple peas, brown and nutty, and they need an overnight soak. What comes out of the pot is not really a gravy you make separately, it is the liquor the peas give up as they break down, and it is properly good with a slice of bread.

Ingredients

Makes about 800ml of peas in their liquor, enough for six

• 400g (14oz) dried grey peas also sold as maple peas or carlin peas
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda for the soaking water
• 300g (10½oz) smoked bacon a piece of collar or thick cut rashers, chopped
• 2 large onions chopped
• 1.2 litres (2 pints) ham or chicken stock unsalted if possible
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp malt vinegar at the end
• salt and plenty of black pepper

Kit

• Large bowl for soaking
• Heavy pot with a lid
• Slotted spoon

Method

1. Put the peas in a big bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with plenty of cold water. Leave overnight, at least 12 hours. They swell to nearly three times their size, so use a bigger bowl than you think you need.

2. Drain and rinse them well. Rinsing off the bicarbonate matters, otherwise the finished dish has a faintly soapy taste.

3. Fry the bacon in a dry heavy pot over a medium heat for 8 minutes until the fat runs and the edges brown. Add the onions and cook for another 10 minutes until soft.

4. Add the drained peas, the stock and the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, skim off any froth, then turn it right down to a bare simmer and put the lid on.

5. Cook for 1 to 1½ hours, stirring every 20 minutes so nothing sticks. Somewhere around the hour mark the peas start to break, the liquid goes from thin and grey to thick and khaki, and that is the gravy forming.

6. Take the lid off for the last 15 minutes and let it reduce. Crush a ladleful of the peas against the side of the pot and stir them back in to thicken it further. It should be thick enough to sit on a spoon but still sloppy, not a purée.

7. Stir in the malt vinegar, then season with salt and a lot of black pepper. Salt only at the end, because pulses cooked in salted water stay tough and the bacon has already brought plenty. Serve in bowls with bread and butter.

Tips worth knowing

• Do not skip the soak. Grey peas are hard as gravel and no amount of boiling will fix an unsoaked pea in an evening.
• Bicarbonate softens the skins and stops them staying leathery, but a teaspoon is plenty. More than that and the texture goes slimy.
• A ham hock instead of bacon gives a better liquor and a lot more meat. Simmer it with the peas from the start and shred it in at the end.
• The vinegar at the end is what everyone forgets. Grey peas are earthy and dull without it, and sharp and moreish with it.

Keeping and reheating

Keeps 4 days in the fridge and freezes for 3 months. It sets almost solid when cold. Reheat with a good splash of stock or water, stirring, and it comes back to a loose gravy easily.

Questions people ask