Black-eyed peas, anyone?

[CalamityJanet]

Happy New Year!

To insure good luck in the new year we'll be serving up ham and black-eyed peas for lunch today. I think this a southern tradition, as my family originates in Virginia and North Carolina, and I think it's actually supposed to be HOG JOWLS (gag) and black-eyed peas, but ham is a nice substitute.

If we all got together today for a good-luck New Year lunch what traditional fare would you bring from your neck of the woods?

[hukari]

Here in the Tyrolean area of Italy, there is no real specialty, but in Italy proper it is zampone (http://en.yndella.com/ZamponefromModena_2_0_904.aspx) and/or cotechino (http://en.yndella.com/CotechinofromModena_2_0_903.aspx) with lentils. Not my cuppa...too fat, and I hate lentils.

[CalamityJanet]

Reka, it's interesting that the traditional Italian meal and the southern U.S. meal are very similar! Especially the very (to me) unappetizing pork parts...hog jowls and pork paws.:eek:

I've never heard a pig's feet called paws...I thought they were hooves.:confused:

[hukari]

I think it was just a bad translation. I always heard them referred to as "pig's feet".

I think I will make pasta today. Last night we had radicchio risotto, steak, scalloped potatos and spinach salad. A friend brought fruit salad as dessert, which we finished off today as a "tideover" between our brunch and early dinner. :):):)

[Skywriter]

Hi Janet,

Here in Pennsylvania our traditional New Year's Day meal has always been sauerkraut and pork.

I guess I must be a real Yankee, because I have never eaten black-eyed peas.

Happy New Year and happy eating!

[bwolford]

Black-eyed peas (health), pork (luck), and cabbage (money) for us. My mother wouldn't let us leave the dinner table as kids until we had two bytes of each. Only exception was my brother who hated black-eyed peas. All he had to eat was two of those.

My uncle used to gnaw on a pickled pigs foot for a treat on new years. Did that into his 80's.

Brice

[billz]

We had pickled herring for luck at midnight last night. I love black-eyed peas, so Janet and Brice ... maybe expect a bit of company:).

Brice we had a neighbor in Milwaukee years ago who made her own pickled pigs feet ... wonderful stuff! (Her head cheese was good too!) Too bad your uncle couldn't have joined us.

And Reka ... those look outstanding!! Getting VERY hungry.

Bill

[CalamityJanet]

Brice, I've never heard the cabbage part. Maybe I'd better send Dave to the store. Good health and good luck are a whole lot more fun if you have lots of money. But I'll pass on the pickled pig's feet.

Bill, come on and get some peas! There's plenty to go around since not many have joined us for our pot-luck lunch. And if you have any more pickled herring bring it along, but I'll probably pass on that too!

Skywriter, I love sauerkraut! I'll trade you some of my black-eyed peas.

[msbrad]

Happy New Year,
We are doing: ham, black eye peas (have the fresh ones this year) and asparagus. Brought up eating greens, but I just can't like collards or turnips and I figure asparagas is green enough!
m

[CalamityJanet]

Happy New Year, Michele! I'm glad you dropped in while you're waiting for answers about your PSE5 hassles. A few years ago I tried fresh peas, just knowing they'd be better. Well, I cooked and cooked them and they never softened up. I had a pot full of inedible pea-gravel! Now I stick with the frozen ones.

Good luck with your upgrade! Take lots of breaks and don't let it get the best of you. We're so lucky to have this forum to keep us out of too much trouble!

[Rusty]

When I was growing up in Alabama it had to be hog jowl and black eyed peas. If you didn't want hog jowl (my mother would not prepare that) putting a piece of fat back in the pot with the cooking peas was an acceptable option :)

I didn't know about the cabbage; maybe I can slip some kraut onto my plate today :)

Rusty

[msbrad]

Yup the fat back sure works.
Janet~did you try soaking the peas for at least 12
hours before cooking them?? I do it that way for all beans (red, black, navy)
I am making progress on the 5 dilema. The only part that does not seem to want to load in now, are the things I got from Panos' . It says its there....but it isn't.:(

Off to the gym, because I must start the year off right!
back later.
m

[karen donnybrook]

Michelle,

If I remember correctly, the actions do not have icons like they do in PSE4.

Karen :)

[kevq]

Hi,
our family tradition for New Year is Roast Beef with all the trimmings - roast potatoes, root vegetables - carrots, swede, cauliflower and of course, Yorkshire Pudding. Served with a good gravy.
In the UK we call them Pig's Trotters.
Kev.

[chas3stix]

Bill,
My folks always ate pickeled herring at midnight New Years Eve. I never acquired a taste for it. My grandmother also made home made head cheese,sausage,horse radish and sauerkraut. The last three items were just plain yummy....:D
Chas

[virgo1]

Pickled herring, both kinds, cream and wine sauces and cheeses are our tradition. And smoked trout or whitefish when available. And local wine from the winery in Sauk City/Prairie du Sac. There is mead in Wisconsin and we have added it to our celebration.:D
Eva;)

[CalamityJanet]

Hi Eva! You're a couple of days late for lunch, but there's leftovers still in the fridge...;)

I've always wondered...what exactly is mead?

[msbrad]

We still have leftovers. And this years black eye peas were the best. Hubby even ate them w/o complaining.
m

[virgo1]

Janet,
We have leftovers too. How about a post potluck? I think mead is honey wine, a bit sweeter than semi dry. It mixes well with hard cider. Yumm.:D
Eva;)

[Sissy]

Oh no, I didn't have black-eyes on New Year's Day! My mother will roll over in her grave!! We always had to eat at least two. Now that I'm grown, I love them. But I totally forgot. Sobbing.............

[CalamityJanet]

Wow! Honey wine and hard cider sounds like a good combination! Let's get Sissy a glass to console her...I'll see if I can find some retroactive good luck black-eyed peas in the fridge so we can save her from a cursed 2007.

It'll be O.K. Sissy, your mother will forgive you!:D

[chas3stix]

Eva,
My folks used to eat some form of smoked fish. I know they weren't trout but they were about 10 inches long, rather flat and golden in color. Sound familiar?
smoked whitefish perhaps?
Chas

[billz]

Chas - Those were probably Chubbs! And those are delicious and now I'm suddenly hungry for them. Must find chubbs.

Bill

[virgo1]

Chas and Bill,
Smoked chubbs are available in Wisconsin. The best shore lunch I ever had was at Siskuit Bay on Lake Superior, smoked chubbs, rye bread, butter and black coffee.:D BTW, I don't think the Lake will freeze over this year.
Eva;)

[billz]

Eva - I can't remember seeing them anywhere outside of Wisconsin ... Kohls always had them in the deli case. You guys have some great local foods that are about impossible to get anywhere. Brick cheese for instance ... I'd give my Wacom for a hunk of brick cheese!:D And frozen custard! And Balistreri's impossibly thin pizza! And ... and ... and ...

Bill

[Rusty]

Bill,

Frozen custard is tops on my list, and don't forget bratwurst with red sauce :D :D

Rusty

[SCRAPPYGIRL]

Mead is indeed wine made with honey. It's said that the bride is supposed to drink it at the wedding to insure babies. The story is more complex than that but I have to ask DH how it goes. He brewed beer for a time and somehow made mead also. It was not really great until it has aged a couple of years. But when our youngest son got married, we had several bottles that were about 5 years old and we fed it to the bride at the rehersal dinner and we had a beautiful granddaughter about a year later. If anyone's interested, I'll post back after DH gets home and give you the real folklore about Mead.

We did the sauerkraut and pork thing with friends on New Years Day

[chas3stix]

You know, it's the local foods like we've been discussing that I really miss.
I've mentioned some of these tasty dishes out here in the wild west and all I get is a big scowl and YUCK,how can you eat that stuff? Go figure. The nieghborhood I grew up in had many ethnic dellicasies that just aren't available out here....:( Smoked chubbs....yum!
Chas

[msbrad]

Gotta ask, what's a chub?
m

[billz]

Michelle - Chubbs are fish. They are about 8 - 10 inches long. The way I've seen them, they are cleaned and smoked with the skin and head still on. The skin takes on a bright gold color. They're really very good, especially as Eva suggests with some nice rye bread and butter.

Rusty - There's a Kopp's in Brookfield isn't there??

Bill

[Rusty]

Yes, Bill, Kopp's is less than 3 miles from my house. Before I retired I worked in West Milwaukee, near the baseball park. If I needed a custard fix at lunchtime I could easily hit Gilles on Bluemound.

For those of you reading this thread and wondering what in the world Bill and I are talking about... frozen custard is like ice cream. The significant difference is there is a LOT more eggs in the mix. Milwaukee didn't make the top 5 of America's Most Overweight Cities by accident :D :D :D

Rusty

[msbrad]

Rusty, That's funny
Bill, Thank you for the chub information.
m

[virgo1]

Bill,
How sharp do you like brick cheese? Don't forget the 6 year cheddar, my favorite. BTW, Wisconsin has the "distinktion" of having the only cheese plant in the US that make limbuger cheese in Monroe Wisconsin.:DI thought I'd use the pun first.:D
Eva;)

[billz]

Bill,
How sharp do you like brick cheese?

Eva - You should be able to enjoy the aroma with the refrigerator door still closed.:D

Bill

[chas3stix]

Bill,
We used to get curds from a cheese factory in Utah. Crunchy and sweeky-yes tasty-no. I guess one has to acquire a taste for them..... BTW my favorite cheese is smokey cheddar.
Chas

[Wendy]

Hi ...

.. talking about strong cheese how about Stinking Bishop :eek:

http://www.teddingtoncheese.co.uk/acatalog/de339.htm

Wendy

[billz]

Chas .... love curds! They're starting to pop up on menus fried ... as appetizers. Haven't tried that yet.

Wendy - Stinking Bishop is a cheese I've not heard of ... but the picture and description is somewhat similar to what I've seen referred to as brick cheese. Sounds like it's every bit as good!!

Bill

[Wendy]

Hi Bill ...

Stinking Bishop is made by a small farm in the UK ... it shot to fame when it got a mention in the Harry Potter books :)

Wenndy

[chas3stix]

Bill,
There was a Michigan farm cheese I used to eat quite frequently as a child. It was mild and quite dry. It came in two styles, with or without caraway seeds.
The cheese has the name Andrulis on the wrapper. I believe it is of Lithuanian origin. It was killer on crackers or rye bread. Just for the heck of it I did a google search about the farm cheese and they're still in business in Fountain,Michigan.
Chas