New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas

Honor Southern tradition by enjoying this New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas recipe, along with collards and pork. -- It may just bring you luck and good fortune for the upcoming year!
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In the South, the traditional New Year's Day meal consists of collard greens, some form of pork, and black-eyed peas.  According to lore, a New Year's meal of these three things brings you luck and good fortune for the upcoming year.

In our house we honor this Southern tradition, including this New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas recipe in our New Year's meal.

But just exactly why does New Year's tradition focus on these three foods as harbingers of good fortune?

Honor Southern tradition by enjoying New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas, along with collards and pork.

According to legend, collards and black-eyed peas represent money ~ the collard greens meaning dollar bills and the peas, coins.  Eating these on New Year's day ensures wealth and luck.

Some form of pork is traditional for New Year's Day according to About.com because "pigs have also long symbolized progress. A pig can't turn his head to look back without turning completely around, so it's believed that pigs are always looking to the future."  Eating pork on New Year's Day, therefore, symbolizes making forward progress in the upcoming year.

For our traditional meal, I prepare a batch of collards & cabbage and make a big pot of these New Year's Day black eyed peas ... including good ol' fat back and hog jowl bacon to season both. Hey, we've got to get the traditional pork into the New Year's Day meal, right?

A Note About Using Fat Back in New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas:

A word of caution when seasoning your New Year's Day black eyed peas recipe with fat back ... a lesson I learned the hard way ...

Rinse your fatback.  And if it's really salty on the surface, soak it in cool water for about 15 minutes to draw out some of the salt.  Believe me, your taste buds will thank you.

Salt in food to season it = yummy.  Way  too much salt in food to over season it = not good.  Not good at all.

See all the grains of salt on the surface of the strips of fatback in the photo below?

Well, I made a big cooking error.  And threw those fatback strips just as they were ... unrinsed ... into my pot of New Year's Day black eyed peas.

Unfortunately, because of all that salt, this rendered them pretty much inedible.

So if you see all that salt?  Rinse.  Or soak.  For sure.

How to Make New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas:

To get a pot of New Year's Day black eyed peas started, heat some olive oil in a Dutch oven or other large pot. Add in onion, garlic, diced carrots, and some fat back and saute this all together until the veggies are soft.

Add in the remaining ingredients -- chicken broth, black eyed peas, and seasonings -- and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer everything, uncovered, for 2 hours.

Now when preparing this New Year's Day black eyed peas recipe, you may think it's too soupy when everything is first put in the pot ... looking about like this ...

But as the black eyed peas simmer, the liquid cooks down ... looking about like this at the end of the cooking time ...

And yielding the perfect bowl of New Year's Day black eyed peas, all ready to help bring luck and good fortune for the upcoming year.

Check out these other classic Southern sides:

• Southern Sweet Potato Casserole
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Vidalia Onion Casserole
• How to Cook Collard Greens
• Southern Collard Greens
• Collards & Cabbage Mixed Greens
• Southern Cornbread Dressing
• Pineapple Casserole
• Spicy Pickled Okra
• Fritter-Fried Okra
• Southern Deviled Eggs
• More side dishes

Thank you for stopping by The Kitchen is My Playground. We'd love to have you back soon!

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Side Dishes

Yield: about 10-12 servings

Author: Tracey | The Kitchen is My Playground

New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas

Honor Southern tradition by enjoying this New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas recipe, along with collards and pork. It may just bring you luck and good fortune for the upcoming year!

prep time: 15 Mcook time: 2 H & 10 Mtotal time: 2 H & 25 M

ingredients:

• 2 (16 oz.) packages frozen black-eyed peas, thawed
• 1 large red onion, diced
• 3 or 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 (3-inch) hunks fatback, rinsed {or about 1/4 lb. hog jowl, or 2 strips regular bacon}*
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth
• 1/4 c. dried parsley
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1 T. fresh lemon juice {1/2 of a lemon}
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 2 T. olive oil

instructions:

How to cook New Year's Day Black Eyed Peas

1. Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots, and fat back; saute until veggies are soft, about 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 hours.
3. Taste. Add a bit more black pepper or a touch of salt, if needed. Most likely, the fat back will add enough seasoning and salt won't be needed ... but adjust seasoning as needed to your liking.

TRACEY'S NOTES

1. *If your fatback is super salty ... as in, you can see and feel the salt crystals on the surface, be sure to rinse the fatback. You may also want to soak it in cold water for about 15 to 20 minutes to remove some of the salt. 
2. If you use hog jowl or bacon, cut it into large pieces.

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