New Year's Luck

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

There are many New Years good luck traditions around the world where the food we eat represents something we strive for in the new year. Most of these good luck symbols represent good fortune, prosperity, longevity, good health, and general luck. Legend has it that legumes are symbolic of fortune because they resemble coins. When they are cooked, dark greens such as cabbage, collards, and kale look like folded money. Pigs are known for rooting themselves forward before they move which is why pork is the symbol of progress and prosperity. Cakes and bread are baked into rings or circles with symbolic good luck charms baked inside.

In the South, we've got our own traditions. They certainly follow the guidelines set by other places and countries, but we, of course, put our own traditional spin on them. We eat collard greens with ham hock, black eyed peas, some kind of ham or pork and a bread.

All my life, my family has celebrated this New Year's tradition, but in our own different but special way. Although she is a Southerner, my mother doesn't eat collards so she would make spinach for us. It was never the same from year to year, so sometimes we'd have a spinach casserole or a spinach salad the next or cooked down in a soup the following year. We'd have black eyed peas either plain or in soup, and a piece of ham, pork chops or pork tenderloin would be the pig. Although the peas and pork were delicious, mom always made sure we filled our plates full of spinach. I guess mom needed to do a little after Christmas shopping.

This year, I decided to do the whole shebang. I made the collard greens with chunks of hearty bacon; hoppin'John which is a Charleston dish made up of black eyed peas, rice, and tomatoes; baked ham, and jalapeno cheddar cheese cornbread. I'm not very proficient at Southern cooking, but I think it came out okay. Adam said he felt lucky already. And mom would be so proud, there were more greens on our plates than anything else. Maybe we'll be extra lucky this year.

Sunday Collard Greens
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Cookbook

6 strips of bacon, chopped
6 cups of water
1/2 tbs. crushed red pepper
salt and pepper
Two prewashed bags of chopped collard greens, 2 lbs.

Heat a stock pot over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until almost crisp, about 6-8 minutes. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Add the water, red pepper, salt and pepper. Stir to release the bacon drippings off the bottom. Bring the stock up to a boil then turn heat to medium-low and let stock cook for 30-40 minutes.

Start by adding a couple of handfuls of greens to the pot making sure to push them down into the stock with a wooden spoon. After a couple of minutes, the greens will be wilted enough to add a couple more handfuls. Continue this process until all the greens are in the pot and covered by stock, about 6 minutes. Keep the heat at medium-low and let them simmer for at least 2 hours.