New Years, Black-Eyed Peas, & Ham Hocks

[onrushpam]

We'll have white acre peas in place of the black eyed ones, because there some in the freezer that need cooking. (I know, not traditional, but a GRITS woman uses what is readily availaibe!) I haven't yet decided exactly how I'll cook them, but ham will be involved.

Alongside will be some collards and some cheese grits.

We're taking 10 lucky greyhounds to meet the folks from our Atlanta adoption group on the morning of NYD. If time allows on return from that adventure, I will make another batch of yeast rolls. I like them even better than cornbread for soppin' up the pot likker!

[robirdstx]

I just did my grocery shopping today and can not believe I forgot to get blackeyed peas! Fortunately, I have a Tuscan Bean Soup Mix (that came in a gift basket from my father) that lists the peas as the first ingredient, so we will have this soup with andouille on New Years Day. I also have a head of cabbage and some kale, so the greens are covered.

[patti]

Hoppin' John and ham hocks, smothered cabbage with tasso (so good) and hot buttered cornbread. Gotta have two dishes full of porky goodness. Mama always did a cabbage slaw with a vinegar dressing instead of the usual sweet, creamy dressing.

[Katie Meadow]

What's supposed to bring good luck in the new year, the legumes or the pork, or both?

[andiesenji]

What's supposed to bring good luck in the new year, the legumes or the pork, or both?

The combination of cowpeas, rice and pork, and the greens bring money!

There is an extensive history on this page of the food timeline you have to scroll down nearly to the bottom of the page.

My grandfather's cook was a Gullah woman from South Carolina and she cooked this on New Years eve so it could be served right after midnight. All of the children, except the infants were awakened to have a small dish of it.

I know my grandpa and my uncles usually had a tot of bourbon with it.

Edited December 30, 2010 by andiesenji (log)

[Pierogi]

Mine will be with a ham bone from the freezer, and the beans, some veg (celery, onion, maybe a bell pepper or a jalapeno, or both....), some herbs, a leftover andouille sausage from earlier in the week. Maybe some tired tomatoes if they hold out until then. I'm getting mustard greens in my CSA share tomorrow, so there's my greens. Rice, and I'll make some cornbread.

The lottery is way up, and the drawings on New Year's Eve. I'm hoping that the luck from planning the blackeyed peas, greens and rice will carry over to the ticket I plan on purchasing....

[Katie Meadow]

Thanks Andiesenji for your assist. The NYT op ed page this morning amplifies the answer--worth a look, I won't try to paraphrase.

Here's my New Years Day menu for 8. The cow peas are not going to be the star, nor will the pork or greens, but they will all be represented in some fashion.

Cocktails (something with rye, because I don't like bourbon.) Manhattans? In fact, there are no southerners among us.

Cheese straws (Lewis and Peacock)

Carmelized bacon (to satisfy the pork requirement and the tastes of two foodie 20-somethings)

Pickled shrimp (New NYT cookbook)

Roasted tomato soup (One of only two Cook's Illustrated recipes I ever make)

Crab cakes (Gotta take advantage of this year's Dungeness haul; lotta work to cook the crabs and pick the meat, but I feel sad if I don't make crab cakes once a year.)

Beans 'n' rice, a room-temp salad of some type (Good Mother Stallard is all I've got right now, but they will be an upright stand-in for black eyed peas.)

Green salad (friend's contribution; I hate messing with raw salad ingredients.)

Cornbread

Lemon Buttermilk sorbet (my husband's secret recipe)

Buckwheat butter cookies w/cocoa nibs (Alice Medrich)

[Shelby]

Giving this thread a bump -- How are you planning on cooking your canonical black-eyed peas for New Year's? Mine are with smoked sausage, diced tomatos, green chiles, and paprika. If I feel particularly fancy, I may pour them into a baking dish and top with bread crumbs and grated cheese and bake them.

I just got home with my bag 'o black-eyed peas. I like to crack open a jar of my home canned 'maters, add onion, garlic, jalapeno and a nice bit of ham. I let that simmer merrily on the stove all day....I think we're supposed to get a lovely ice storm starting tonight, so just the thought of the peas warms me up!

[toolprincess]

Will definitely be cooking my black-eyed peas with hamhock and serving on plain white rice with a spoonful of chow-chow.

Bought some frozen collards b/c I can't face washing and cleaning and stripping the fresh ones.

will serve with pork chops (so my SO can't complain there is nothing for him to eat).

[Big Mike]

I know a lot of people in Philly who are doing the traditional black eyed peas, greens and pork. My Dad's been making it for as long as I can remember. I'll be making mine with some overly dried pancetta from my pork curing project earlier this month. Nothing like a few pounds of pork belly to start the new year right.

[sclemmons]

We buy purple hull field peas at the farmers' market in July and freeze them until this weekend every year. We render smoked jowl, make a stock with the meat, add a bunch of green onions, a handful of parsley, a can of RoTel tomatoes, and a couple quarts of peas. This year I intend to add three links of Vaucresson Creole Hot Chaurice which I picked up myself in New Orleans last week. Vaucresson makes the hot sausage for the Jazz Fest and this has plenty of spice for the whole pot, way more than andouille in my opinion.

You can reduce the meat and use chicken or vegetable stock with a couple of strips of bacon, as we do in the summertime, but I think the New Year's luck resides mostly in the hog jowl based on 30 years of data at our house. I recently learned of a Whole Foods (Freida's or ElBurrito I think) product called SoyRizo, a vegetarian chorizo., which people love. I have a vegetarian in the house and we may make him and his circle a small batch. I can't guess how his luck might be however.

For greens we use a hambone to make stock, and use a combination of the green gumbo recipes from Emeril's Real and Rustic, Richard and Rima Collin's New Orleans Cooking, and other books. This year I used greens from mustard, turnips, kale, collards, chard, spinach, celery tops, basil, italian parsley, green onions, bay leaves, thyme, oregano, plus red, black and white pepper, a cup each of onion and celery, and a dash of KPauls Vegetable Magic, and a big spoonful of file. No meat, no roux, just the hambone stock.

I like the cornbread recipe either from Anson Mills or Susan Goin's Sunday Suppers at Lucques, on opposite ends of the cornbread spectrum.

Happy New Year.

[heidih]

sclemmons- that soy chorizo product is not bad considering- it is crumbly like TVP but has some flavor. I need to hunt down various pork products tomorrow- such a chore

[Tri2Cook]

I have some smoked and unsmoked elk bones and some spicy elk sausages that I'm planning to cook the black eyed peas with this year. I'm planning to serve them with wild rice. I know that's not traditional but the elk and wild rice put a local spin on it. I haven't seen a collard green, fresh, frozen or even canned, in over 10 years since I moved to where I'm living now. I miss them but, once again, some other green will have to stand in. I'll work some form of pork into cooking the greens to keep the pork tradition alive. And of course there will be cornbread.

[robirdstx]

Here's hoping for lots of good luck for all in the new year!

Black-eyed Pea and Lentil Soup with Andouille Sausage and Kale, Steamed Rice and Corn Bread

[Shelby]

YUM I wish that was in front of me right now!

[toolprincess]

My black-eyed peas were delicious. Looking forward to enjoying the rest of them for lunches this week.

The collards were ok but I paid the price for being lazy and buying the frozen ones- too many stems!!

[kayb]

I wound up doing mine with trimmings from the Christmas ham, along with tomatos and chiles and some Aleppo pepper. Good stuff.But the cabbage -- I don't do collard greens -- the cabbage was phenomenal! It's a recipe from over on Food 52, called "Suspiciously Delicious Cabbage." You saute onions, garlic and grated ginger in butter until they're translucent and soft, add the shredded cabbage, and let it cook until the cabbage caramelizes on the edges. Then you add salt and pepper to taste, and -- are you ready for this? -- heavy cream! Let that simmer another 10 minutes, covered, then uncover and let it evaporate off any excess liquid. Marvelous!

[robirdstx]

...But the cabbage -- I don't do collard greens -- the cabbage was phenomenal! It's a recipe from over on Food 52, called "Suspiciously Delicious Cabbage."...

Oh - that sounds really, really good. I have some cabbage to use up and I think it would go well with some pork tenderloin for dinner tomorrow night.

[andiesenji]

My Hoppin' John turned out a bit more spicy than I intended, but still good.

I took a couple of photos but have managed to misplace the camera while messing about trying to get my pantry reorganized (took some pics of it too).

Otherwise I spent much of yesterday playing with a new, non-kitchen, toy.

I just made it exactly as in my earlier post - I had a bag of "fresh" frozen BE peas that cook more rapidly than the dried. I used bacon from a partial slab I got at a local butcher shop and it is quite smoky, plus some chunks of ham from the shank of a small ham I prepared a couple of weeks ago.

Lots of childhood memories here.

Edited January 2, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[sclemmons]

I omitted to mention that I process my greens a leaf at a time and cut out the stems from everything but the spinach. It makes for a more refined dish. I bought the pre-processed greens in a bag last year. Never again. Too many stems and that puts people off of greens. With a pot of mixed greens without stems, your guests will be much happier. One thing I have discovered that adds a great touch to greens is anchovies. Just a couple in the pot add a great flavor that people appreciate but can not put their finger on. You might also try worcestershire but the anchovy does the trick for me.