Dec 29, 2021

Cooking at Hibiscus House for the New Year!

 

Do you have what you need to cook for New Year's Eve or Day?

We have certain traditions here in the South and I like to follow through with them like my parents and grandparents did. The menu would have to consist of fresh greens preferable collards!  The dried blackeye peas would need to be soaked and you must have a few other ingredients to cook these vegetables with as well.  That would be a little bit of salt pork or fatback, some bacon or hog jowl sliced, or a ham hock.  You must of course have a piping hot pan of cornbread! Hey, if you're like us you may just want to put on a pot of rice to go along with all of it!

Are you ready for 2022?  It's time we get ready!  

Check out the link below and be sure to read the History behind these traditions!

Let's talk collards and you can see how I, my grandparents, and great-grandparents cooked them in the post: Dolly is Cooking Collards.  

You can find more tips about washing and in this post A Mess Of Greens.




Genolia

Genolia's Collard Greens recipe is a little different.  She cooked them together with cabbage and then chop them up so very fine. They were good, especially with bitter collards.  We like that too sometimes we just don't chop them up as finely as she did.


Cora

The post: Grandma Cora Collards, Blackeye Peas Hog Jowl, and Cornbread has more information if you'd like to check it out.

Blackeye Peas you can hit the link above for the traditional way of preparing and cooking plus a quick way mama used to fix in a pinch.

Check out the BREAD PAGE for recipes you might like. There is a recipe for Broccoli Cornbread over there too.  We like that here too!  I use one of Paula Deen's Cornbread recipes at times that lady can cook and sometimes use White Lily Buttermilk Cornmeal Mix for a pan.  So good all brushed with real butter!


Look at these precious boys!  They always enjoyed going on trips to the local fields or farmers' markets. 

You can cook rice on top of the stove but did you know you can also cook in the microwave?

RICE 

Simple Cook  and  Rice in the Microwave


BLACKEYE PEAS IN THE SLOW COOKER/CROCKPOT

You don't have to pre-soak if you cook them this way.

  • You may cook overnight if serving for lunch/dinner or in the morning if serving that night for supper/dinner.
  • Look through the peas to find any rocks or debris.
  • (I have indeed found rocks in the bags and we don't want to have to go to the dentist, do we?)
  • Wash and put into the slow cooker.  Add water to cover the beans and then add about that much more because overnight the peas will indeed swell.
  • Add either salt pork/fatback, ham, bacon, or a piece of hog jowl into the pot with the beans.
  • Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt 
  • Add cracked black pepper a few turns
  • (you can always add more but the meat you add may be very salty)
  • Close the lid and cook on low overnight.
  • In the morning check to see if tender you don't want to overcook for sure and have pure mush.  If tender put on warm to hold some heat until you serve but it is advisable to serve within a few hours.
  • Season more if needed.

Dag-Gum
Dadgummit
Dag-Gone-it
However, you want to say it

I'm hungry now!
Got to get my money-making menu ingredients together now!


Happy Prosperous New Year 
May God Bless and Keep You



4 comments:

  1. This will be the first time in 15 years we will not be doing a big family New Years Dinner. I’m already missing it. The preparation and excitement of cooking for 15 people. But the cost of meat has gone up so high around here, and 8bags of collards are hard to find, and well, I’m just tired. Yes, we would cook up 8 bags of chopped collards. We used to get them in bunches and wash and cut them ourself but that got overwhelming especially when I found a live spider in a bunch.
    Not sure what we will do. Maybe just a sweet little dinner for 3. Happy New Year.

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    Replies
    1. Whatever you do I know you'll have a great day! A lot of things are different now for sure. A spider! Wow now today I'll be checking closer hate those things!
      Ours will just be us, sadly we don't have the crowd we used to have either. I miss it.
      Happy New Year to the three of you!

      Dolly

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  2. No one I know here has ever eaten collards...nor do any of them like grits (which we can't find in any restaurant anyway). They don't know what they are missing. Lovely post, Dolly- xo Diana

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and I don't doubt it. They don't know, but we love.
      A long time ago on a drive up to New York we stopped a lot along the way. Randy and I were at such a loss at the time every restaurant we stopped at knew nothing about sweet iced tea, or grits. Oh and then fried chicken blew their minds that was just not done.
      They looked shocked about it all and asked what all of it was especially iced tea then said, "Well, we can bring you a cup of hot tea and some ice. I said, "heck yeah bring it on"!. Then they proceeded to stay with us at our table just to hear us talk and marvel at our southern accent.
      xoxo
      Dolly

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