Overall it sounds to me like the OP was asking about noshing snack food under the assumption nobody is cooking any meals on Jan 1, whereas a lot of folks are talking about the feast (or mini-feast) they traditionally make on Jan 1.
Which dichotomy is interesting in itself.
As to me, I’ve never had a traditional meal for Jan 1, nor some special snacks. I’ve never really thought of it as a special day at all. Then again, having spent a career working most holidays, and never having had a big family either as kid or as adult, I have a rather tenuous connection to every holiday. Kind of a shame, but not a cause for angst.
Usually a spread of appetizers - cheese, crackers, dip. Frozen things to stick in the oven, tiny eggrolls, spanikopita, pizza rolls. A fleet of cocktail franks wrapped and baked in strips of crescent roll dough (super salty, but they disappear fast). Soup made previously, turkey noodle or vegetable. My favorite thing is macaroni and shrimp salad (tiny shell pasta, canned shrimp, minced carrot/celery/onion, mayonnaise). There’s always cold cuts for sandwiches, chips, and frozen pizza (or sometimes delivered pizza). Momma don’t cook on NYD.
Yeah. I maybe didn’t make it clear enough but that wasn’t meant as a criticism of the feast-day posters nor as a junior-mod request to restrict the thread to any particular course. I too was enjoying hearing about the NYD traditions, whatever they are or are not.
It’s now Jan 2, but I’m noshing on leftovers from an evening party held on Christmas Day. Hunks of smoked turkey, smoked ham, and beef brisket. The party spread had lots of carbs too but I had the discipline to not bring any home after all the damage they did to my pancreas right there at the party.
My understanding is that we usually use the term curing for meats. Pickling is a wet immersion not used for meats as much, pigs’ feet and herring come to mind. Ceviche is an interesting one, more acid than salt.
To me, pickle meat/pickled pork tastes pretty much like a regular spiral-cut ham sans glaze. But I wasn’t sure if there were, indeed, any subtle flavorings going on that would readily distinguish pickled pork from regular ol’ ham.
I compared the ingredients lists of two popular Louisiana pickled pork brands – Savoie’s and Richard’s (ree-SHARDZ) – to the ingredients listed on a Smithfield spiral cut ham (minus glaze). The results:
Savoie’s - Pork cured with a solution of: Water, Salt, Sugar, Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrate).
Richard’s - Pork Cured with a Solution of Water, Salt, Sugar, Sodium Erythorbate, Sodium Nitrite.
So some differences in the curing solutions (chiefly extra preservatives in the ham), but no actual spices or other distinguishing flavors.
There is an important difference between pickled pork and ham, though – pickled pork is made from tougher parts of the pig than ham is. The label of yet another local pickled pork brand actually displays what cut of pork you’re getting:
I’ve tried cooking pickled pork by itself – just heating it up in a pan and cooking it through. It tastes good but is far tougher than ham. Pickled pork is meant to be used primarily as flavoring, cooked low and slow in liquid (as with red beans, black-eyed peas, etc.). Cooked that way, pickled pork gets nice and tender.
My sister lived in Texas and Tennessee during the 1990s, and told us that she could never find pickled pork (by that name) at the groceries in either area. But cubed ham, salt pork, and similar items can be used in the same kinds of recipes as pickled pork.
I don’t really ‘snack’. At least not regularly. From time to time I’ll get a piece of cheese, or maybe even make a sandwich if we have the makings. So on New Year’s Day, there’s just breakfast and then the traditional meal.
I find it interesting that people celebrate new years day. I treat it as a day to recover from celebrating new years eve.
I do have a couple of friends who invite me to New Year’s Day parties, but those are people who tell me they didn’t like staying up late on New Year’s Eve and have intentionally picked the less popular party day for a low key thing.
Eating black-eyed peas and greens on New Year’s Day is an old superstition/tradition. The beans are supposed to represent coins, and the greens are supposed to represent folding money. Some people eat a sausage dish, where the sliced sausage represents coins and the cabbage represents the folding money.
So we eat ‘beans & greens’ for luck and fortune. As superstitions go, it doesn’t hurt… and it’s very tasty.
And while I’m sure it varies family to family … around here, having a traditional New Years Day meal doesn’t make it into a “house full of people” holiday like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Usually just the people who live in a household plus local siblings and SOs when applicable. Running a plate of New Years Day food to the elderly – relatives, friends, or neighbors – is common.
There have been some New Year’s Days when I had no desire to eat anything. As Red Skelton said about tasting lobster twice, “First time on the way down, the second time on the way up”.
I googled “black eyed peas new year’s” in search of what I thought was a Southern tradition. One version has that after capturing a Confederate supply train, Union soldiers left the black eyed peas and salt pork, believing it to be animal fodder.
But I digress.
We have black eyed peas in some form. usually Hopping John. After reading this thread, I will encourage my Wife to add cornbread.
