Ever wonder why Southerners eat certain foods to ring in the new year? Or, what are the traditional foods that make up a Southern New Year's menu and how they came to be? Read on to find out!
I don't know about 'round the rest of the country, but most Southerner's wouldn't dare allow the New Year to pass without eatin' some kind of pork, often a roast, sometimes a ham, a big ole mess o' black-eyed peas (or some other form of southern cowpeas) and greens of some kind, often either collard greens, turnip greens, or good ole, basic southern fried cabbage.
It's a tradition, steeped in both superstition and hope for better days ahead that we participate in the first of every year, and important enough that even people who don't particularly care for greens or black-eyed peas - such as The Cajun himself - make sure that they at least have a bite of both of 'em - though to be honest, tradition says it is best to ensure that you get at least 365 peas in your body on New Year's Day just to account for the whole year. Might as well just eat a "mess of 'em" I reckon, just to be on the safe side!
Click on the links within the post below to check out the individual recipes, but be sure to pop over to visit my super list of New Year's Eve party foods too, with appetizers, hangover helpers, brunch items and much, much more to help you ring in the new year, Southern style! Happy New Year y'all!!
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Click here for the full range of New Year's Eve and classic New Year's Day recipes! |
Southern style collard greens or turnip greens, are pretty traditional greens for New Years. I adore them!
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Southern Style Turnip Greens |
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Classic southern fried cabbage. |
Another cabbage favorite is this chopped cabbage, smothered down with the trinity of vegetables, ground sausage and tomatoes. I prefer using a nicely seasoned breakfast sausage, like Jimmy Dean or Tennessee Pride, although a good Italian sausage or bratwurst will work nicely too. Just don't use a plain raw ground pork unless you bump up the seasonings. The most important thing about this dish is don't drain off the fat. Most pork sausage is pretty lean these days and you'll want the little bit of fat that you do get to season the cabbage.
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Smothered Cabbage with Sausage and Tomato |
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Smothered Pork Roast |
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Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Veggies |
For New Year's Day, pork represents health and wealth, and continued prosperity. Some say also that a pig also represents progress - and, since pigs pretty much can't just look backward without completely turning around, a pig represents forward progress. Some folks just do ribs, a roast, or pork chops or even pulled pork, but you can bet that Down South, pig is gonna show up in some form.
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Pork Roast with Spicy Onion Pan Sauce |
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Gumbo Z'herbes |
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Deep South Hoppin' John - Black-eyed Pea Jambalaya |
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Southern Style Black-eyed Peas |
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Greens and Black-eyed Pea Soup |
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Southern Skillet Cornbread |
Of course there are fireworks, sometimes parades and certainly champagne is a favorite for toasting. In Spain there is a tradition to consume 12 grapes at midnight, the sweetness of each grape to indicate what each month of the new year will bring to you. I like this! Just toss the grapes into the glass when you pass out the bubbly (or sparkling cider for the kids and non-drinkers) and at midnight everybody toasts to the new year and then eats the grapes, one on each stroke of the clock. This tradition has been picked up in the United States especially around Texas and the southwest.
Click right here for the full listing of New Year's Eve appetizers, party foods, New Year's Day Brunch items, including those ever handy hangover helpers, and of course, all the traditional New Year's Day goodies, we all love.
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