It’s time to eat that famous southern dish to assist in your New Year’s good fortune. All the best superstitions are gastronomic. Most American’s know that black-eyed peas and cabbage are a must for good luck and good fortune for the New Year. I don’t think that I’ve ever had a New Year’s Day without them.
For the New Year’s good fortune, a plate of black-eyed peas or other beans is considered auspicious, forecasting wealth and prosperity. We all need luck and money! In the American South, they are traditionally to be enjoyed either just after midnight or sometime on New Year’s Day. Adding cooked greens (the color of money) is said to make them even luckier. Simmered with onion and a meaty ham bone (other options are salt pork, bacon, pig’s feet, hog jowl and ham hock), black-eyed peas are often seasoned quite simply, with just salt and pepper. They may also be made highly seasoned with hot pepper and spices.
Black-Eyed Pea and Cabbage Soup
- 1 smoked bone-in ham (about 10 lbs)
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 2 red bell peppers, diced
- 1 garlic, minced
- 1 lb dried black-eyed peas, rinsed and picked through
- 2 quarts water
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 T whole cloves
- 1/2 C honey
- 1 C coarse German style mustard
- 1 large head of cabbage, cut into 8 even pieces
- salt and pepper to taste
- In a large bowl, soak beans overnight covered by at least 2 inches of water. Drain and rinse beans.
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place peas, onions, garlic, salt, and bay leaves in a large pot and add water to pot just to cover beans. Place the ham on top of the black-eyed peas. Combine the honey and mustard, and brush a small even coat on the surface of the ham.
- Transfer to the oven. Baste about every 45 minutes with the remaining honey mustard mixture. Bake for about three hours.
- Season the cabbage with salt and pepper and add to the pan with the peas. Cover and return to the oven, cook until the cabbage is tender, about 30 minutes.
Every New Year’s Day, my mom would have a pot of black-eyed peas, cabbage and ham cooking on the stove. Aside from their potassium and fiber, the beans impart a bit of luck and the ham and cabbage…the promise of prosperity. This hearty dish delivers dreams in a bowl. Even if you’re not superstitious, having a batch of this soup on hand will feel like a stroke of good fortune.
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