MAKE A Seafood CLASSIC

Kardea Brown walks us through a Lowcountry favorite, Limpin' Susan.

You might have heard of Hoppin’ John, a mix of black-eyed peas, rice and salty cured pork. The dish, introduced by West African enslaved people in the coastal South, dates back centuries and is thought to be named after a disabled street vendor in Charleston, SC. But there’s a lesser-known spin-off made with okra, called Limpin’ Susan, and it’s just as tasty. Kardea Brown’s take— featured in her debut cookbook, The Way Home—includes shrimp too. The host of Delicious Miss Brown was raised on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and learned to cook in the Gullah tradition from her mother and grandmother. “In the kitchen I got to see and hear all about the special ways our families and our way of life went into the way we prepared Hoppin’ John,” she recounts. “It was a feel-good place where love was poured in and stirred and baked and simmered till even more love came out.” Try this dish and you’ll see what she means.