An Homage to The Whig’s Black Eyed Pea Burger
September 6, 2013
By Jay Matheson, Owner of The Jam Room Recording Studio and Founder of The Jam Room Music Festival
September 6, 2013
Jay Matheson is a Columbia, SC based musician, business owner, teacher and audio engineer whose award-winning Jam Room Recording Studio is the primary sponsor of the Jam Room Music Festival, coming up September 21, 2013 at Main and Hampton Streets with headliner Son Volt and many others.
Support the Jam Room Music Festival’s free admission policy by hitting Trustus this Friday night, Sept. 6, for The Ladies of Country Music, featuring 6 of Columbia SC’s most loved female vocalists in a 1960’s era Grand Ole Opry-style show. Friday September 6th at Trustus Theatre: 1st show, 8:00pm, $20. 2nd show, 10:00pm, $15.
As anyone who’s a part of Columbia SC’s subculture knows, the opening of the Whig as a drinkery, eatery and gathering place is one of the most important events in recent history. They are a very important cog in the Main St. art scene renaissance and one of the primary sponsors of the Jam Room Music Festival.
In the early, pre-pizza oven Whig days, one of the shining stars on their menu was the Black Eyed Pea Burger, but as is said, all good things must come to an end. The BEP burger disappeared from the menu a few years ago.
Although I am no chef, I have had quite a bit of experience in the past with salmon patties and it occurred to me that I could resurrect the now-defunct BEP burger by substituting properly prepared peas, onion and spices for salmon and have my own un-interruptible supply of custom-made Black Eye Pea Burgers.
I will attempt to guide any interested persons through the process in my very first attempt to record one of my personal concoctions. Here we go!
Black Eyed Pea Burgers
Inspired by The Whig, Columbia, SC
Ingredients:
A bag of frozen black eye peas (12 oz.?)
1 large egg
Cheese of choice
1/3 cup corn meal
1 small onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small jalapeno pepper
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Let’s get started.
1. Boil the peas in a saucepan along with salt, pepper and a tablespoon or two of chopped onion. Boil the peas until they are a little mushy (an hour would be a good, approximate time). Cooking times for the peas vary, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on them so as to not over- or undercook them. Once cooked, drain and let cool.
2. After cooling, add a little finely chopped garlic and jalapeno to your taste in a large bowl. Then add a beaten egg and mix. Then add 1/3 cup of corn meal + 1/4 cup of your favorite grated or very crumbled feta cheese and mix. Often this will not be of proper consistency to form into patties, so adding a little mayo, a little at a time, can be helpful (don’t add too much at a time; start with a teaspoonful). Add salt and pepper to your taste; I normally am fairly generous with the pepper.
3. Then use your hands to mush the peas and other ingredients together. It should be approximately the consistency of raw hamburger when done. Too dry? Add mayo. Too wet? Add a little corn meal.
4. Now the tricky part: to cook them without falling apart. I always use a cast iron skillet. I heat it to normal frying temperature on my stovetop with a maybe an 1/8th inch of olive oil. Form a patty to a normal medium burger size and place in the pan. Use the spatula to flatten it a little. After a few minutes of frying you can start to test the rigidity of the bottom of the burgers. When you feel that a bit of hard crust has formed on the bottom it’s safe to flip the burger. Just be careful not to be too rough, as the burger could break apart or you might splash some grease. Once both sides are properly browned the burgers are done.
5. As an added bonus, I usually put a piece of rye bread in the pan and then place a burger on the bread, then I put some cheese on the burger then add a slice of rye on top. (It is my opinion that normal size burger buns are a bit thick and make these burgers a bit bland). Flip and brown the rye bread on both sides.
6. Add additional salt pepper and preferred condiments to burger on the non-cheesed side. You are set to go with a spicy BEP cheeseburger on toasted rye bread.
Enjoy with a good porter or stout!
This recipe will make at least 4 or 5 patties. I usually keep the leftovers in the fridge in a sandwich bag for lunch at work. They re-heat well!
This weekly food column is curated by Tracie Broom, who serves on the board at Slow Food Columbia (http://www.slowfoodcola.org), publishes The Yum Diary (http://www.yumdiary.com), and is a founding partner at Flock and Rally: Events + Communications for a Brave New South (http://www.flockandrally.com). Follow her at@theyumdiary on Twitter.
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