# New Year's Day, and the cooking has begun **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693 "2015-01-01T18:01:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/1 "2015-01-01T18:01:52Z")
The black-eyed peas and ham hocks are in the slow cooker. Another ham hock is slowly simmering; I’ll put the collard green in much later. The three ribs I cut off of the Christmas roast are in a 250º oven, where they’ll stay who-know-how-long. I may ask the SO to make the cornbread, since she likes it with sugar in it and I find it hard to do that. (I’ll eat her cornbread, of course; but if I put anything extra into cornbread, it’s likely to be chipotle chiles and cheddar cheese.) Last night after escargots and leftover prime rib, the SO said she wished we had some chocolate brownies with walnuts in them. ‘We have walnuts, right?’ We did have some left. But we only had about a quarter of a cup of cocoa. ‘Can you make them with chocolate chips?’ I looked online and found a recipe for making brownies using chocolate chips. Ten o’clock at night, and I’m baking something I’ve only ever made out of a box. There’s a first time for everything, I guess. The brownies were more tan than brown, but the SO said it tasted good. They’re not bad, really. I prefer the ‘fudgier’ ones from Duncan Hines or whomever; but it was a successful first attempt using ‘alternate’ ingredients. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/2 "2015-01-01T19:26:12Z")
Melding the North with the South here. I have a salt-cured country ham which I cooked this AM. Real biscuits to go with that. Black eyed peas , fresh collards and stewed tomatoes. The Yankee contingent will eat pork roast, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and whatever they can steal from my side of the table. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/3 "2015-01-01T22:56:31Z")
The tourtière is in the oven, keeping warm, while the English choco pud is steaming away in a bain Marie on the stovetop. Spaghetti squash as a veg, and chocolate sauce and custard to top the pud. Wish I had a bit of holly to put on it. Vive the Two Solitudes of Canada! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/4 "2015-01-01T22:59:20Z")
**Sam** , do I correctly understand that the ham etc is the southern side of the table? It all sounds yummy. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/5 "2015-01-01T23:00:36Z")
Forgive what may be extreme ignorance on my part, but is a large Christmas or Thanksgiving-type meal traditional on New Years Day? I don’t recall it in my parents house growing up, and I’ve never done it since. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/6 "2015-01-01T23:24:23Z")
Big-ass ham bone started simmering yesterday, the broth went in the fridge, and this morning I skimmed the fat and pulled the bones out. The beans went in a while ago and soon I’ll add the rest of the veg. New Years Day ham-bone soup! I can’t think of a better way to start the year. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/7 "2015-01-02T00:54:14Z")
**Procrustus** , when I was growing up, my parents and some of their friends always went out for supper at the local hotel, and we kids were always invited. It was a “dress-up” event. Since then, New Year’s supper has always been a main meal, tho’ not as fancy as Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/8 "2015-01-02T01:14:37Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Forgive what may be extreme ignorance on my part, but is a large Christmas or Thanksgiving-type meal traditional on New Years Day? > > I don’t recall it in my parents house growing up, and I’ve never done it since. Not in my experience. But ham hocks and black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread are traditional in some parts of the country. (My mom was from Arkansas.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/9 "2015-01-02T01:16:55Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > **Sam** , do I correctly understand that the ham etc is the southern side of the table? It all sounds yummy. Yep. Growing up in Virginia, a country ham was what my relatives had either for Christmas or New Years. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/10 "2015-01-02T01:35:15Z")
Interesting. We always had turkey for Christmas, never ham. No set menu for New Years. **Procrustus** , forgot to mention I come from a strong Scottish background, although a Canadian. Since Hogmany is a big deal in Scotland, that may have influenced our family traditions. ---
**Author:** ![LouLou7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@LouLou7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouLou7)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-years-day-and-the-cooking-has-begun/708693/11 "2015-01-02T01:39:00Z")
Black eyed peas, cooked cabbage, stewed potatoes, and a pan of cornbread. And afterwards, a long nap. 😉