New Years, Black-Eyed Peas, & Ham Hocks

[Mabelline]

Well, allright, as a fairly reasonable person, I'm gonna change that stuff this year...give up the handful of coins for a dark guy with some Scotch(can he be tall and handsome, too?) I also got to thinkin' about something-how long have we had green money? Seems that one would go that far, huh?

[Mayhaw Man]

I don't know about the purple underwear thing though. I will have to give that one some thought.

Come on. You've got to get out more and try new things

[joiei]

my grandmother always had a dime in the pot of black eyed peas. Who ever came up with it was supposed to have financial gains that year. And the greens were on the side. The peas were always seasoned with the ham hock. Rice was also served along with a big cast iron skillet of corn bread. This makes me miss my grandma a lot. THat is what we always did in Northwest Florida.

[Adam Balic]

In Scotland, for Hogmany (New Years Eve) the first person through he door should be a handsome dark stranger bearing a lump of coal, shortbread, (or an oat bannock or black bun depending which region), salt, whisky and in some traditions a silver coin. Other traditions leave the silver soin outside until next day.

Some explain that the visitor should be dark, since a fair person might be a Viking marauder, nor should he be a doctor, a mimister or a gravedigger since they were also were of ill omen. The coal is for warmth, the food for sustenance and the silver coin for wealth for the year. Later whisky was substituted for the silver coin.

Tradition dictates that the First Footer can claim a kiss from every female in the house

Still quite a popular tradition amounghst the middle-classes in Edinburgh. The first time it occured I had no idea what these (mostly English) people were doing.

[elyse]

In Scotland, for Hogmany (New Years Eve) the first person through he door should be a handsome dark stranger bearing a lump of coal, shortbread, (or an oat bannock or black bun depending which region), salt, whisky and in some traditions a silver coin. Other traditions leave the silver soin outside until next day.

Some explain that the visitor should be dark, since a fair person might be a Viking marauder, nor should he be a doctor, a mimister or a gravedigger since they were also were of ill omen. The coal is for warmth, the food for sustenance and the silver coin for wealth for the year. Later whisky was substituted for the silver coin.

Tradition dictates that the First Footer can claim a kiss from every female in the house

I should move to Scotland. But if I don't, where can I get my hands on one black eyed pea? And can I substitute olives for greens?

[lovestocook]

I just read the other day that the reason we season our New Year's Day black-eyed peas with ham hock is because pork is symbolic of the future. Pigs root forward while chickens scratch backwards. We want to look towards the future rather than back into the past. The peas symbolize coins and the collard greens symbolize paper money, you need both, but I have never heard of a true southern recipe that combined greens and black-eyed peas.

[FistFullaRoux]

The Cajun tradition, which I was taught - your mileage may vary - kind of bridges north and south. The morning of Jan 1, everyone trundled off to one of the relative's house. The location was decided ahead of time. Black eyed peas were served, and only "black eyes" will do. Cabbage also, usually in the form of slaw, but sometimes smothered. Then the rest was a kind of traditional holiday meal. Since we didn't really do turkey at Christmas (we did gumbo), the turkey was saved for New Year's Day.

Men and boys were outside, if the weather was cooperating, the ladies sat around the kitchen table and told terrible lies on the men, and whoever was interested was propped up in front of the TV for the Rose Bowl Parade and/or whatever football game was on.

Last year I was DJing a party in a Mexican restaurant. This year we'll interrupt the poker game to yell and whatnot. I'll still choke down one and only one small spoonfull of black eyed peas, and some cabbage. I'm thinking of making stuffed cabbage leaves, garnished with a few black eyed peas. Just for January 1.

[Mayhaw Man]

Hey Man!

You can make these and be glad you did.

There is another recipe for these that is vegetarian that appeared in the January 2001 Gourmet that I can't pull up for some reason, but it is vegetarian and really good. THe bell pepper sauce that goes with them is awesome.

I have made both of these recipes, however, and they are both good.

DO NOT USE FRESH PEAS FOR THESE RECIPES> THEY MUST BE DRIED PEAS OR YOU WILL BE CURSING THE DAY YOU WERE BORN (Do you think I might have tried it? )

[Lawen]

"Black eyed peas for luck.

Collard greens for money.

Corn bread on principle."

Is how my grandmother always described it. I hate collards but make a point of eating them every New Year's and have for as long as I can recall.

[Jaymes]

Right before the new year, the staff hurriedly passed out little bowls of ham and beans. No one seemed surprised, but my man & I raised our eyebrows at each other and politely ate them.

Is this- not to sound juvenile- a thing?

Hey, Y'all. Wasn't it weird to see the heading of this thread -- "Mystery Tradition" -- and to read that the big unusual "Mystery" so startling and unheard of was black-eyed peas on New Years?

Really a lesson there, in how often something as customary to one segment of the population as breathing in and breathing out is a "mystery" to another segment.

Makes one realize how marvelous is a forum such as this for getting to know each other better. Long live eGullet!

[Jaymes]

I just read the other day that the reason we season our New Year's Day black-eyed peas with ham hock is because pork is symbolic of the future.  Pigs root forward while chickens scratch backwards.  We want to look towards the future rather than back into the past.

Not to mention that Black-Eyed Peas & Chicken don't taste as good as Black-Eyed Peas & Ham Hocks. No matter WHICH way the chickens and pigs scratch and root.

Edited December 30, 2003 by Jaymes (log)

[Basilgirl]

In Italy they eat lentils with sausage as they say the lentils symbolize coins. I wanted to do this last year and this year, but was unable to find a cotechino sausage in Northern Virginia or on-line. This year we will go with our usual tradition: pork loin, sauerkraut, Texas caviar, cornbread. This successfully bridges The Boyfriend (Yankee) with the Texan's daughter.

Happy New Year to All E-Gulleters!!!!

[Mabelline]

I'm just real glad some Texan did not decide it ought to be armadillo and blackeyes....Happy New Year, Hogmany, and all the others I cannot spell right !!!

Edited December 30, 2003 by Mabelline (log)

[joiei]

The three biggest sellers on the New Years Eve buffet for the party I did last nite were

Fried chicken wings

Black Eyed Peas with ham (I used Neuske's Applewood smoked)

Brussel Sprouts with Crispy Proscuitto

It seems no matter the income level, those black eyed peas are a hit for this one day.

I do not know what that mystery referred to. From the area south of Mason=Dixon I came from, that was mandantory. But they do eat scrapple in other places and I do not get that at all.

Happy New Years.

[lovebenton0]

  Is this- not to sound juvenile- a thing?

Hey, Y'all. Wasn't it weird to see the heading of this thread -- "Mystery Tradition" -- and to read that the big unusual "Mystery" so startling and unheard of was black-eyed peas on New Years?

Really a lesson there, in how often something as customary to one segment of the population as breathing in and breathing out is a "mystery" to another segment.

Makes one realize how marvelous is a forum such as this for getting to know each other better. Long live eGullet!

We're eating black-eyed peas with ham this year as in many others. (Although we have done leg of lamb in some years past, there is always some ham in the peas.) But always the black-eyed peas since I've been the one cooking. We did most of our growing up in Texas, but parents were from the Midwest, and they had friends down the block, from New York, I think, that always served pickled herring at midnight. Black-eyed peas are pure heaven after that! I guess you either eat 'em and love 'em or you choke 'em down. We just love those peas with cooked with ham, plenty of onions, tomatoes, and jalapenoes, served with rice, greens on the side and corn bread.

Anyone know where the pickled herring . . .thing . . .originates? Pork and sauerkraut is a standard in the Midwest, though maybe not ubiqitous?

Happy New year, y'all

[scottie]

I have thankfully always known about the black-eyed peas. Only on moving to New Orleans did I learn about the greens- seems obvious, on reflection.

My mother never put ham in the peas, she's a bit of a health-nut, so I never learned until recently that the traditional New Year's pork product round where I'm from is smoked hog jowls. My husband and I drove from North Carolina up to Blacksburg, VA for the holiday, along a really windy back-country road, which was lined with signs advertising B.E. Peas, Collards, and Hog Jowls. Am really kicking myself for insisting on fixing it myself and not stopping along the way...there's always next year, I guess!

[marthapook]

In Italy they eat lentils with sausage as they say the lentils symbolize coins. I wanted to do this last year and this year, but was unable to find a cotechino sausage in Northern Virginia or on-line.

We do the cotechino and lentils on New Year's Eve when our cousins from Bologna make their yearly visit.

Try Faicco's Pork Store on Bleecker

212.243.1974

They say they don't ship - some say there are ways around that.....

[gus_tatory]

In Scotland, for Hogmany (New Years Eve) the first person through he door should be a handsome dark stranger bearing a lump of coal, shortbread, (or an oat bannock or black bun depending which region), salt, whisky and in some traditions a silver coin. Other traditions leave the silver coin outside until next day.

hysterical! we always talk about how "exotic" the pan-Asian traditions are.

and here it is...

[tanabutler]

He is so afraid of what will happen if he does not eat them on New Year's day, he carefully counts out 13 (one for each month) , and chokes them down.

Thirteen months in a year?

In Georgia, we always had black-eyed peas on New Years day. One black-eyed pea = one day of good luck in the coming year. No way could you choke down 300+ beans when you're a little kid, though, so more believable, I think, that the one-a-month (13?) theory, but don't tell your kid that.

If my grandmother made greens, I'm blocking it out. I hated them.

[ludja]

When I was home for the holidays, my Mom mentioned that in Austria (where she's from) the traditional 'good luck' food for New Years is a lentil soup with pork in it. I wonder if this was a precursor for Hoppin John?

Another German/Austrian good luck for New Year's thing is a marzipan pig!

edit: sp

Edited January 7, 2004 by ludja (log)

[johnnyd]

I went to five supermarkets and three global-food stores before I found what was probably the last stash of black-eyed peas in Portland, Maine. I should have known better than to wait until the last rays of 2007 slipped over the horizon to begin my search.

But I was successful...

Usually I mix the whole thing up or at least cook rice in the pea/ham hock simmer, but this year I served it kind of deconstructed.

Served with Collards, a half-rack of local oysters, Bloody's and my custom hot-pepper vinegar.

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I did my weekly music show on local community radio on New Year's Day. Since I bought two bags of dried black-eyed peas, I thought it would be fun to give away the second one on-the-air, especially since it was obviously the "last bag of black-eyed peas in Portland, Maine."

After a spirited description of this Southern tradition I offered the audience an abundance of good luck in 2008 simply by dialing the number of the studio and an ability to get to the station by the end of the show. My favorite recipe was added as a bonus offer.

Eventually we got a winner, Meghan, who came by just before noon and gladly claimed her peas. I hoped to get her on-air and talk recipes but, alas, she was too shy.

Other calls weighed in with much merriment and suggestions, the best of which was to invite everybody over to my house for a heaping bowl of awesome Hoppin' John.

It was a great way to start 2008.

[racheld]

Served with Collards, a half-rack of local oysters, Bloody's and my custom hot-pepper vinegar.

--------------

It was a great way to start 2008.

←

And may I add to the festivities by conferring the first honorary G.R.I.T.S. membership of the year. You're now a dyed-in-the-cotton Down-Souther.

A meal like that---

Congratulations, Y'all.

[NYC Mike]

Wow, that looks outside of this world!

We had meant to do that this year for luck and got sidetracking moving houses!

There is always next year!

-Mike

[kayb]

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.

[andiesenji]

Hoppin' John western Kentucky style

6 ounces thick smoked bacon cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup diced brown or yellow onion

1 banana pepper seeded and the ribs removed (this is a hot pepper, Anaheim or similar can be substituted - the banana pepper was what my grandmother used)

2 cups black-eyed peas (if very dry, soak overnight and drain first and they swell so it will be more volume than 2 cups) If you have the "fresh-frozen" peas, skip this.

1 cup of medium grain rice

scant teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 pint of water or more if needed.

In a heavy dutch oven cook the bacon, onion and pepper until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is close to crisp.

Add the next five ingredients and stir so most are coated with some of the fat.

Add the water so it covers the rice and beans, bring to a boil briefly, reduce heat so it is barely simmering, cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Check to see if the beans are tender and the rice is done. If not, add boiling water and cook longer.

Serve on a bed of cooked greens, we prefer beet greens but chard, kale, mustard are also good.

If you don't like it so spicy, omit the red pepper flakes and you can substitute bell pepper for the banana pepper.

We always stirred a shiny new dime into the dish just before it went to the table. Whoever got the dime was supposed to have a very good year.

Edited December 29, 2010 by andiesenji (log)