Cookin' the black eyed peas?

I've got my pot of BEPs going as well as a pot of mixed greens (turnip and curly mustard). Tomorrow, we will have our traditional southern New Year's Day good luck dinner, consisting of smoked hog jowl, ham, BE peas, rice, coleslaw, sweet potatoes greens and lime pie. For those of you who haven't eaten hog jowl, it's a bit like thick, smoky bacon and we only eat a small piece for good luck. Does anyone else have a traditional New Year's Day dinner?

After New Year's, I render the fat out of the rest of the jowl, add some peanut butter, grits or cornmeal, oats, sunflower seeds, dried fruits and make it into suet for the birds (and squirrels). I cut it into suet-feeder sized hunks and put it in the freezer. Last year, the winter was so warm, I couldn't use all of it, because on some days, even in mid-winter, it gets up to 65 degrees here in N. Georgia. This suet is very popular with wrens, for some reason. When I lived in the NC mtns, a family of Carolina wrens made a nest in our utility room, using the cat door to come and go. We finally propped open the door for fear the cats would get the parents as they flew in and out. Anyway, they raised a family of babies on our suet, then they stayed on and raised another family later in the summer. Next winter, there were several wrens hanging around the suet feeder.

treated to creamed herring. Now I wish I'd bought some.
We could all use lots of luck in '06!

I liked your charming recollections, jap!
I'll bet nature's critters
appreciate you!:thumbsup:

home made

its tradition in casa d'h²s

but not tonite ... cuz Iyain't yet right

happy new year!

H2S, I hope you get to feeling better soon.
May you all enjoy a healthy! 2006.

I'm off the vicodin and the antibiotic has the swelling down to nothing ... hence no more pain.

Now ..... on Tuesday I hafta call the oral surgeon ........ I am **not** looking forward to that.

When you wake up it's all better. I promise. You take care and Happy new Years to you and yours!

So I can really relate. I am really glad your pain is gone for now. I had oral surgery on the 22nd and it really cramped my style in the eating department over the holidays. The best part is that it's over. ;)

It's appetizers and football around here on NYD. I usually go "birding" which this time of the year means driving to the bay to see who is bobbing around.

Your Wren family has given me a smile to head into 2006!

I had a recipe for suet made with P-nut butter and corn meal that the critters around here were fond of. I use the store bought stuff these days: lazy me...

after reading that you mixed the jowl fat with peanut butter and grits, to get to the part where you said it was for the wildlife.

taking hold!:crazy:

All it was missing was the lime jello and Dr. Pepper. :)

we'll have a huge supply for us and the critters!

Thanks for the laugh and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL..

and fried cornbread last night - delicious! My husband ate the cornbread like cookies....:D

We can't get the proper greens over here (mustards, turnip greens, etc. ) so I used Kale and it turned out good enough!

DemEx

The greens I got at Kroger were not very good. In past years, we've always had homegrown greens, which are the best, but this year when we planted them, it was too dry for them to germinate. They might come up in the spring, though. I like them best after a frost when they get strong and bitter. Next time we get a good crop, I'm going to freeze a bunch.

Your corn cakes sound delicious. My husband used to make something like that. He would pour boiling water over cornmeal and salt, let it sit for an hour, then pat it into patties and fry it, usually in bacon fat. I would only eat one once in a while. I might make these again, but fry them in a little bit of veg. oil.

BTW, where do you live?

I never ate Kale until I came here (The Netherlands)......

Fried cornbread is delicious. I make them just as your husband used to make them, except I fried them in some good organic corn oil. Recipe from my Mom - she used vegetable oil too.
Being over here I noticed that sauteed polenta is also an Italian dish - something the southerners in the US must have adapted from the Italian recipe....

My daughter loves them with a little butter and maple syrup!
So, my kids get a little bit of southern American cuisine over here too...:D

DemEx

My mother used to make tamale pie with grits on the bottom, meatsauce in the middle and cheese on the top. My Dad is from Seguin, TX so my GA mother made several concessions with her recipes to give them more of a tex-mex flavor, esp. pinto beans, chili, cornbread. :-)

Just asking, you know?

Our family tradition was always turnip greens or mustard greens (or a mix), but I think that was mostly because that was what our mothers cooked for New Year's Day. My mother never cooked collards because she couldn't stand to smell them cooking.

Edit to add: ANY GREEN VEGETABLE COUNTS. It's supposed to represent green money. I don't think green jello counts, though.

are a must on Jan 1 for good luck!!

I guess it's a German and/or Pennsylvania Dutch thing. Sometimes the meal could be built around ham instead of pork roast--I don't remember for sure now, but in that case, sauerkraut probably wasn't included.