Yes, I was always told that for every pea you eat on New Years Day you would have one day of good luck in the coming year. The greens (collards in our house) represent your folding (paper) money that will come to you in the new year. My Grandpa called it his “walking around money”.
The more greens you eat, the more money will come your way. The ham hock cooked with the peas was our tradition because we had just eaten ham on Christmas and we used the leftover ham bone. We usually eat rice with the peas and cornbread on the side.
Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, ya’ll.
We also never, ever do laundry or sweep on New Years Day. That’s an Irish thing, I believe.
This, almost exactly. (Except that we eat mustard greens and/or cabbage, but only because my family members prefer their flavors to collards.) Pork is also considered a “good luck” food, but I don’t know what the origins are for that belief. And rice, in some form, is another requirement - also considered lucky in many cultures. And the traditional lucky meal is eaten on New Years Day, not Eve. (Although we ate it on NYE this year at Mom’s, since my brother’s flight leaves at Oh-Dark-Thirty this morning. I’ll eat it again tomorrow, 'cause there were enough leftovers to feed two more armies when I left to come to work!)
For what it’s worth, I was born and raised a few miles south and west of your hometown of Savannah. My paternal grandmother (as Irish as Guinness) also disallowed laundry, sweeping, and most other forms of housework on New Years Day - and on Sundays - but I was never sure whether it was a traditional Irish superstition or whether she just hated housework.
A bowl of my simple-recipe ham hocks & black-eyed peas, and a bowl of ham hock & collard greens. I pronounce it good.
Later I’ll make the chipotle-cheddar cornbread and have it with dinner – which will be the same as breakfast.
I really like the beans and the greens. It’s a shame I only make it once a year. Of course the reason for that is that I get entirely burnt out on them by the time they’re finished. When I think of making them again, I remember how much there is. So it gets put off until New Year’s.
I’m in the south, and I’ve always eaten black-eyed peas and cornbread on New Year’s Day, but I skip the greens - guess I’ll never be rich.
My mom would never wash clothes or dishes on New Year’s Day and I try to keep the tradition, although in my case it’s more out of laziness than superstition.
My newly-purchased crock pot has a batch of BEP going in it right now. Peas, ham, onion, red bell pepper, serrano peppers and a bit of garlic. They have bagged fresh peas at the supermarkets here, so that’s what I’m using.
This will be served up with sauteed cabbage, later tonight.
I’m getting ready to head over to the parents’ shortly for cornbread and beans (and, hopefully, oysters!) When I still lived with my husband, we’d always have black-eyed peas, cornbread and oysters…Yeah, that really brought us some good luck! :rolleyes:
My father and my mother’s mother were Virginian, so I grew up with black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day. We never ate collards (I still never have), and I never heard the 1 pea=1 day of luck theory before.
There must be a fair number of Southerners up here, because the local groceries will often set out a display of BE peas or put them on sale, or both, the week before New Year’s.
I soaked mine overnight and ate them for breakfast this morning, with bacon. There’s some left over (there always are; if I’m going to soak & boil beans I’m going to get more than one meal out of it). I’ll probably have those with tomato sauce.
Yes, I’ve had a couple of bowls today, and will have a couple of bowls each day until they run out. I made mine with ham hocks and some diced ham and diced onion. And they’re very good.
Every now and then I’ll make a pot of beans, and the kind of beans depends on my mood at the time, except that I do make it a point of making and eating them on New Year’s Day. My husband and daughter also will eat a couple of bites of them on NYD, but that’s superstition, both of them hate blackeye peas.
We’re native Texans, and my mother also had this tradition. She has a lot of superstitions, and she’s convinced that we will have bad luck if we don’t eat at least a spoonful of BEPs on NYD.
Well, I’ve had my chipotle-cheddar cornbread, baked in a cast-iron skillet.
Not so much a ‘meal’ today, as ‘browsing’. I made the beans yesterday, so those were for breakfast. Greens came later. And finally the cornbread. Maybe in a couple/few hours I’ll have a little of each at the same time.
And plenty of leftovers. Usually I follow the bachelour tradition of eating the same thing until it’s gone. But tomorrow I think I’ll have a ham, bean, and cheese sincronizada (garnished with sour cream, guacamole, shredded cheese, and diced tomato) just to break things up. Even if it is still beans’n’pig.
Growing up in the midwest, we usually ate oyster stew on NYE (tradition, AFAIK, no superstition associated with it) and cabbage for NY (green for money). Since moving to the midsouth fifteen years ago, I’ve feasted upon the traditional black eyed peas, turnip greens and cornbread.
Started a pot of Black eyed peas soaking last night, added a pound of bacon this morning & I’ve eaten 2 bowls already today. I didn’t get any greens this year, guess I’ll have to go back to the store for them.
haha–I mentioned this on the crockpot thread. We had black eyed peas (dried and soaked overnight) cooked in the crockpot for 9 hours on low, along with a chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, garlic, and ham shanks. I also served cornbread and greens with sport pepper sauce, and a little Mrs. Renfro’s Hot ChowChow on the side. Chess pie for dessert. Mmmmm!
I’m originally from Memphis, with quite a few years spent in Mississippi and now, Texas. Already looking forward to the leftovers!
Rather than hoppin’ john we eat a black-eyed peas recipe my SIL found, the peas ore or less intact with sort of salsa-ish ingredients. She calls it Texas caviar. I’ll forward this thread to her. Maybe she’ll give us the recipe.
I found a nice collard greens recipe from Gourmet, I think, via Epicurious–Wash the greens, cut out the stalks, cut them in half, roll them up and cut them into thin strips. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil until hot but not smoking, throw in the greens, and turn them with tongs until they’re bright green (1-2 minutes). Served it with a little splash of balsamic vinegar and liked it much better than my usual 2-hour boiled recipe.
