Ham, Beans and Greens

In the south, there is a New Year’s tradition of eating certain things. Black-eyed peas are supposed to bring good luck. Greens are for money. And of course pork is the meat of choice. There are more that are specific to individual families.

At Foodtasmic we certainly didn’t want to violate tradition or risk bad luck and no money all year long. So we had our share of approved eats.

The black-eyed peas were most always to be prepared from dried ones. You probably weren’t fortunate enough to have any you canned or froze yourself. These days little cartons of fresh ones appear in the produce market around Christmas yet the stores still have stacks of dried black-eyes on sale for a couple of weeks.

Our peas were cooked from frozen ones. Onion and smoked hog jowls made for tasty stock flavorings. The peas were simmered in the seasoned stock for around 2 hours. The key to good tender southern vegetables is never to boil them. A nice slow simmer will impart flavor from the cooking liquid and make them tender without destroying the texture.

For green we chose turnip greens – also frozen. These are easier and quicker than collards and have a milder taste and smell. Ham hock went into the stock for the greens and some crushed red pepper. At our house a spoon or two of sugar goes into turnip greens, too. Those simmered a little longer than the peas. Be careful. It’s easy to get too much water into turnip greens and they are wet when served.

For the pork to eat, and not that for flavoring, we went for that southern staple country ham. This is a pork leg that is cured in salt and then smoked before aging. We got the real thing – from the folks at Smithfield.

The trick with country ham is to barely cook it at all. Just like Prosciutto, it can be sliced very thin and eaten “raw.” Regularly sliced and just warmed on each side will do the trick. You won’t lose the salty smokiness and the ham will be tender and moist. The pan drippings make their own sauce.

Our New Year’s dinner was well – foodtasmic worthy. Hopefully we will have good fortune and prosperity all year long.