Southern tradition....

[Bob Wright]

Most of y'all know that the traditional Southern delicacy for New Year's Day is hogshead and blackeyed peas. I remember the very first I learned of that.

I was very young many years ago, spent most of the first years in childhood. One day shortly before New Year's Day, I went to our corner grocery and peered into the meat counter. Now the meat counter there was a glassed-in affair, the glass sloping back to give customers a good view of the selection.

Peering into the counter, I saw, looking back at me, a blue-eyed, flop eared hog's head!

Mama assured me we were having ham!


Bob Wright

 

[Mike J]

I believe I would rather have ham myself. LOL. I don't think I'd care to feel like something was watching me eat it.

 

[bogus bill]

Ever try pickled pigs feet?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Ever try pickled pigs feet?

Yep. Yum! :wink:

 

[blume357]

Never have heard of the hog's head part.... we do greens and peas...

but being the pinko wild eyed liberal commies that we are not collards & black eyed peas but usually kale and field peas.

nappy new year!

 

[JFB]

cooking my own this year
Black eye peas with fried fat back, chopped red, green peppers and white onions
greens with fat back
and
corn bread

pennies
dollars
and
gold

hope my cooking doesn't make me sick

 

[Bob Wright]

Ever try pickled pigs feet?

Many times as I left early on a Saturday morning to go hunting I would stop at a convenience store to fill up a Thermos. Out side would be a pimp with three or four of his girls. He had treated them to pickled pigs feet after "work."

Bob Wright

 

[Rick Courtright]

Hi,

Went to the supermarket to get some of the three "good luck" foods we've had each New Year as long as I remember: sauerkraut, black eyed peas, and menudo (used to be home made, canned has to suffice now.) That covers most of my friends' traditions. Horror of horrors: I couldn't find any black eyed peas anywhere in the store, canned or dry! I put the can of menudo back to get a bigger one to fill in. Happy New Year however you do it!

Rick C

 

[RoninPA]

Here in PA the norm is pork and sauerkraut. It's considered good luck for the year ahead. Pigs root forward, a symbol of moving ahead into a new year. The cabbage used in sauerkraut can symbolize money, prosperity and long life.

Had that last year and look how it turned out!

Tonight, we're having 1 1/2" thick ribeyes with a big baked potato, salad and a bottle of wine. Appetizer will be tortilla chips with bacon and crab dip. Dessert will be rice pudding.

 

[Poco Oso]

Hi,

Went to the supermarket to get some of the three "good luck" foods we've had each New Year as long as I remember: sauerkraut, black eyed peas, and menudo (used to be home made, canned has to suffice now.) That covers most of my friends' traditions. Horror of horrors: I couldn't find any black eyed peas anywhere in the store, canned or dry! I put the can of menudo back to get a bigger one to fill in. Happy New Year however you do it!

Rick C

Good call on the Menudo.

 

[bogus bill]

My dad used to smoke carp. He was the best at it and had to turn down offers on smoking on half as it was fun spearing our own. It tasted as good as lobster to me.

 

[Muley Gil]

My dad used to smoke carp. He was the best at it and had to turn down offers on smoking on half as it was fun spearing our own. It tasted as good as lobster to me.

Glad to see you're still here posting, BB.

 

[bogus bill]

Thanks! I dont get off the bed. Unable to stand up. Thank God I dont have any real pain. Just discomfort from laying here in a bad bed. I have zero apatite and have lost a ton of weight. Live on the computer. Sold my truck, trailer and Polaris XP 900. All but a couple handguns gone. The rest all went to daughter and son in law and friends. I waited too long to properly dispose of all my toys.

 

[Skoopski]

cooking my own this year
Black eye peas with fried fat back, chopped red, green peppers and white onions
greens with fat back
and
corn bread

Wait, no fatback with the cornbread?

 

[Skoopski]

My dad used to smoke carp. He was the best at it and had to turn down offers on smoking on half as it was fun spearing our own. It tasted as good as lobster to me.

My dad had a recipe for carp- fillet one skin side down on a cedar plank that had been soaked in water. Put that on a grill until the edges of the plank start to char. Then take that off the grill, throw the fish away, and eat the board.

Our little family tradition is a smorgasbord of appetizers. Potato skins, crab Rangoon, jalapeño poppers, spinach dip, etc.

 

[turd]

My dad used to smoke carp. He was the best at it and had to turn down offers on smoking on half as it was fun spearing our own. It tasted as good as lobster to me.

My dad had a recipe for carp- fillet one skin side down on a cedar plank that had been soaked in water. Put that on a grill until the edges of the plank start to char. Then take that off the grill, throw the fish away, and eat the board.

Our little family tradition is a smorgasbord of appetizers. Potato skins, crab Rangoon, jalapeño poppers, spinach dip, etc.

Around here that recipe was for snow geese. :mrgreen: I tried one once with an apple and an onion inside. The cedar plank would have been better. :mrgreen:

 

[WendyZXZ]

This thread makes me hungry! I never cared for the black eyed peas myself, but hogs head yes! Also great for mincemeat and tamale meat.

 

[kentucky yeti]

Had our dinner of black-eyed peas, hog jowl, turnip greens and homemade cornbread. Nearly every thing comes right off our land- we don’t rent (tribute to Lonesome Dove) raise pigs anymore. Oh yes- and pineapple cake. I love my wife, a lot!

 

[6GUNSONLY]

We had black eyed peas with a ham hock cooked in them, turnip greens with cut up turnips, cornbread, and bbq chicken wings just because.

 

[wheelgun1958]

Here in Texas tamales are an option.

 

[Muley Gil]

I lived and worked in a small city in Alabama with a population that was majority black. My (step) dad came to visit one time. He was born south of Chicago in 1925 and then moved to the Washington, DC area at age 14. Other than service in the Navy during WW II, he had spent most of his life in and around DC. He went with me to a local grocery store and as we were walking by the meat counter, he saw an entire hog's head, waiting to be bought. That was something that he had never encountered before. I told that in the Deep South, everything on a pig can be eaten, except for the squeal!

This New Year's was kind of subdued, as my wife was been having stomach problems. So, I fixed canned black eyed peas, canned mixed greens, beef patties and a batch of fried cornbread. Surprisingly, Bush's BEPs, flavored with bacon, are pretty tasty and Margaret Holmes greens taste almost home made. Don't mean to brag, but my buttermilk fried cornbread is usually real good and this batch was a keeper. I made enough to go with the chili I'm going to cook over the weekend.

 

[bobski]

oye.
trafe.

 

[contender]

I was a good southern boy yesterday. When we went to dinner last night, at our favorite country cafe, we had the pork, the collards & the black eyed peas. Well, I did,, Miss Penny hates the black eyed peas.

 

[wheelgun1958]

oye.
trafe.

Kosher tamales

https://mag.jewishinseattle.org/eat-and-drink/2016/06/the-perfect-tamale

Add a little shredded chicken, beef or lamb if you like.

 

[protoolman]

My dad used to smoke carp. He was the best at it and had to turn down offers on smoking on half as it was fun spearing our own. It tasted as good as lobster to me.

I haven't ate a carp but would try one. The rest of the world consider them a game fish but in the USA most people don't. I wonder why? In England they even fly fish for them!

 

[Daveboone]

I would have to think hogshead would simply taste like...pork. I am going to pass on the brains and eyes if they are part of the menu, but otherwise....chow down.

 

[Crazy Horse]

I cooked black eyed peas, cabbage, fried cured ham and corn bread on new years. Added a little vinegar pepper sauce while eating and man it was good.

 

[thewiz828]

On the subject of eating carp, when growing up in South Omaha in the 60's, overlooking the mighty stockyards, there was a place called Joe Tess'. 90% of what they served was fried carp ( most popular was the sandwich, but they had dinners too ). The lines on Fridays during Lent were about 2 blocks long and still steady most of the rest of the year. Wasnt until my teens that I thought of carp as something that normal people didnt eat. Not sure if they are still in business, but I wouldnt mind a "fish" sandwich from Joe Tess' again.

 

[sfhogman]

Usually I make something along the lines of hoppin john, using blackeyes, hamhocks and such...this year we ordered a pizza and called it good. There's a really good Mom and Pop pizza place about four blocks from us, so we didn't suffer. There are three or four small restaurants within walking distance of us, and given the times, we like to help support them.

Jeff

 

[bogus bill]

Sheepshead was another fish most people wouldn't eat. They had a "Lucky stone" in their head that looked likw a white piece of quartz about the size of a fingernail. When I was a kid us boys would carry them for luck'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_stone