Whew, I'm a little back logged on blogs because I, like others, have been fighting a nasty cold! But I'm feeling back in the game tonight so here goes....
It's southern traditions like this that make me a "wanna-be southern belle" and LOVE the south. The Traditional New Years day meal of hogs jowl, collard greens, and black eyed peas. Hunters family first introduced me to it about a year after we started dating and we haven't missed it on New Years day yet! Call me superstitious but I would really worry about having a bad year if I didn't have my health, wealth, and good luck on New Years Day. Here's the meal we serve, a brief description and some pretty pictures for those visual learners :)
Bull Shots
Relish Tray
Deviled eggs
Ham
Hogs Jowl
Collard Greens
Black-eyed peas
Jiffy corn muffins
First and most important you have to start your morning off with a Bull shot, thought to cure your hangover from NYEve! Bull shots are similar to a Bloody Mary but instead of tomato juice you use beef broth.
Bull Shots
1 part Vodka2 parts beef brothcelery saltdash of Worcestershiredash of Tabascoblack pepper
Next, with bull shot in hand, you can do lots of things in the morning to prep your meal. If using fresh collards de-stem them and cut up the leafy part. Cut your tomato and onion for your black-eyed peas, make your deviled eggs, and get your ham marinating in a casserole dish. I also set the table way ahead of time and get out all the platters, butter dishes, salt/pepper, gravy boat etc that we will need...this way your not scrambling when the food is hot to put butter on the table.
Relish Tray - This is also a Lunsford thing. At every holiday dinner Hunters family always has a relish tray complete with celery, pickled okra, pepperchini peppers and a variety of pickles.
Deviled Eggs - I never follow a recipe when making deviled eggs and if I do say so myself they always turn out pretty good. Hard boiled egg yoke, sweet relish, mustard, mayo, salt & pepper....mixed together until it tastes right! BUT most importantly....and I promise Hunter would not eat them if I forgot this step....a sprinkle a seasoned salt on top once they are complete.
Ham - You need to do a meat other than Hogs Jowl as your main dish. Hogs Jowl is very salty and not very appetizing to some, so just take a taste to get your health and then veg on the ham as your main meat. We've done ham the past couple years but have also done pork tenderloins in the past as well.
Hunter bought a fairly large bone in Ham. In the morning he cut it into large thick slices, placed the slices in a casserole dish and poured a marinade over them that consisted of 1 cup brown sugar, 8oz of horseradish, and 1/2cup orange juice. (save some of the marinade to use as a gravy for when you serve the ham).
Hogs Jowl (Health)- pronounced hogs "jole" if you read how to cook them online you'll find most recipes tell you to slice them and fry them in a pan like bacon. Hunters family has never done them this way. The way we cook them takes about 2 hrs as do the collards, so be sure to plain according and start these two things about 2hrs before you want to eat. Unwrap the jowls and sear them on the stove top for about 5 minutes on each side. Then take them stove top to a 350-375 degree oven for about an hour and half. Depending how big your jowls are they may need a little more or a little less. You'll know they are done when the skin on the bottom just peels off. Take them out of the oven, peel the skin off and cut off most all the fat. Next score the tops and place them in a roasting pan to broil for about 10 minutes until the tops are nice and crispy. Remove and once cooled enough to handle, cut them into small pieces. We'll place pieces of the hogs jowl on one side of our serving platter and ham on the other. (More ham than Hogs Jowl) :)
Collard Greens (Wealth) - Hunters collard greens this year where the best yet! He followed a Paula Deen recipe and we really think the key is to season the water for an hour!! :) Of course if your not into that big of a production you can use frozen collards.
Black-Eyed Peas (Good Luck) - We use frozen bagged black-eyed peas...we really think they're the best. Just follow the cooking directions on the back of the bag. The key to making black-eyed peas yummy is serving them with either tomato and onion on top or a homemade chow chow that you can pick up at your local farmers market. I personally have NO IDEA what black eyed peas taste like with out lots of tomato and onion in them :)
Jiffy Corn Muffins - The blue jiffy box...just follow the directions on the back and you'll have yummy corn muffins in a jiffy...laaaaamo i know :) Helpful hint though....it works well to bake the muffins while you are cutting the fat off and scoring the jowls, since you'll need to have the oven on broil for the jowls after that.
There ya have it, The Lunsfords traditional, southern, New Years day Lunch (or dinner). Its a fun meal to tag team and cook together.
Hunter does the bull shots, ham, collards, black eyed peas and relish tray, I do the hogs jowls, deviled eggs, corn muffins, and of course set the table pretty :)
Speaking of pretty...a picture of the hubby and I ready to head out for a little New Years Eve party the night before!
Next up, our Monday night Orange bowl game day menu....despite it bringing back terrible memories or a horrid loss :(
