Theme Recipe: New Year Good Luck Black Eyed Peas With Hog Jowl

Again because of Internet trouble and the new year's gremlins delivering a nasty virus my way this past week, I wasn't able to get up a theme recipe for last week's New Year's celebration.  Correctly that now.  PS--these are good any time of year!!

I don't know why or where it came from, but here in the South it is considered very bad luck to not eat certain things in on New Year's Day.  Among them are Fried Chicken, Fried Hog Jowl and Black Eyed Peas.  In some places it is served with rice as a dish called Hoppin' John.  In our house, since we serve rice and gravy with the fried chicken, we serve the peas on the side.  Serving them over rice is for the day after (extra luck!).

New Year's Good Luck Black Eyed Peas

1 bag of black eyed peas per every 4 people 
Water
Salt to taste
5 slices of hog jowl, slice into serving pieces


1.  Place the dry beans into a sauce pan and "pick them over"--you are looking for small rocks that get into to the bag from the processing and bagging of the peas--these can break teeth!!.  Cover with warm water and leave for 20 minutes.  Place them on the heat and bring to boil, adding the hog jowl while they heat.  Keep adding water as needed.  Start with 1 tsp. salt.


2.  When boiling, reduce heat to simmer and cook over lowish heat.  Cook, adding water as needed until tender and the peas acquire a smoky flavor.  The peas can be cooked according to thickness.  Some people like them extra thick and a little mushy; I personally like mine with lots of broth and intact, with loads of hog jowl.  If you want them thick (this way they are easier to serve on a plate), then reduce the amount of water you are using, stir frequently, and cook until the peas start to break down a little bit.  For brothy peas, add extra water, cook on lower heat, reduce cooking time and don't stir as much.  Either way these are really, really good with hot sauce added at the table.  Just use our favorite.

Photo by Marcelo Wain, from a very interesting slide show in Good Housekeeping on the subject of New Year's Day Good Luck Foods

VARIATIONS:

Of course there are almost endless variations on cooking these little field peas from Africa.  Variations on cooking them for New Year's include:

You don't have use Hog Jowl if you can't find it, or it's just not your thing (but if you eat meat or pork, don't knock till you've tried it!).  Bacon is a perfectly acceptable substitute, or ham, or any type of smoke pork product.

If you don't eat pork, but eat meat, use smoked turkey wings.  This is almost as popular in my house as the hog jowl.

If you don't eat meat at all, try to find some smoked tempeh, which is a great smoked vegetarian product!  It's not always easy to find, though.  So Fakin Bacon or smoked soy sausages, which are available in most supermarkets, will work.

For another vegetarian presentation, add cubes of home smoked tofu.  I have a smoker and like to add some block of tofu to the top tier when it's being used for other, bigger stuff.

Fried Hog Jowl, it does look a bit like something from a horror movie!