New Year’s Day Supper 1 '14

According to Southern Living Magazine, this traditional Southern  New Year’s Day supper will bring you fortune in the year to come: Pork, Greens and, Black-Eyed Peas, Cornbread, Hoppin’ John, and Pot Likker Soup.  Southerners embrace this tradition in a big way... Restaurants feature it on their menus; produce sections of markets are piled with fresh collards, and by New Years Eve, all the ham, and even all the canned black eyed peas are sold out.  Since the South is now our home... guess what we had for New Year's Supper

 You got it...

Pork, Pork, and more Pork
The more pork in your meal, the more luck you will have. So don’t just use ham hock and fatback to flavor your veggies; eat a baked ham or pork chops as a main dish.  I used a Blade Chop, lightly braised in a frying pan, that had been season with bacon drippings and garlic (these were used later in the collards greens), then roasted the blades in the oven at 325 for 30 minutes.  They came out as tender  as butter,

Collard Greens and Black-eyed Peas
These two Southern classics all but guarantee a prosperous year. Some say the greens represent dollar bills and the peas, coins, ensuring wealth and luck.

According tof Southern Living Magazine, "this auspicious New Year’s Day tradition dates back to the Civil War, when Union troops pillaged the land, leaving behind only black-eyed peas and greens as animal fodder. Rich in nutrients, these were the humble foods that enabled Southerners to survive. Details of stories differ, but each celebrates a communion of family and friends bound by grateful hearts and renewed hope for good things yet to come."

Cornbread
Cornbread, which some say symbolizes gold, completes the Southern New Year’s triad. Native Americans were the first to bake a cornmeal mixture, and Southerners made it daily when wheat was a rarity in the region. It is still a regional favorite, although We prefer ours a tad less sweet than the South Carolina  natives

Southern-Style Collard Greens
Slow-cooking collards with pork makes them mouth-watering and tender. I added ham  scraps,  onion, garlic and fresh crowder beans to mine.  It was really good and very nutritious.


Hoppin’ John
This Carolina Lowcountry dish pairs black-eyed peas with rice. The rice and beans are cooked slowly with bacon, fatback, or ham hock along with onion and salt.   Bruce found this dish too dry for his liking... I thought it might have been more flavorful if I had used a genuine Sounth Carolina Golden Rice instead of a California long grain.


 
Pot Likker
Pot likker, is the juice left in a pot after collards cook, and is traditionally valued as a delicacy and aphrodisiac.  I added  turnips, okra, and some fresh shrimp to mine and served it as a first course soup, while I was waiting for the pork chops to cook down enough to serve.  Sorry, my camera batteries failed me , so I didn't get a picture of this course.

Be sure to save a few uncooked greens to tack to the ceiling for good luck or hang over the door to ward off evil spirits.