I can feel it, my luck is going to change. Why? Because I made Hoppin’ John this year and it is supposed to bring good luck.
What the heck is Hoppin’ John you might ask? If it makes you feel better I didn’t really know much about Hoppin’ John before I made it either. I just knew it had black-eyed peas and greens like collards and maybe some pork. I just knew I better make some for this New Year.
It actually started last year, when I wanted to make some for the New Year 2016. But there seemed to be a shortage of frozen, canned and dried black-eyed-peas at the grocery store.
Now you are saying “Oh, so 2016 was your fault. You didn’t make Hoppin’ John!” Kind of like when I lost the world series for you in 1986. Thinking it was a done deal, I opened the champagne just before Bill Buckner made the infamous play that cost the team the game.
Sorry ’bout that.
Well, I did try with the Hoppin’ John. Just blame the store. After New Year in 2016 my friend Nancy bought me some dried black-eyed peas. They have been at the ready in the pantry ever since.
I combined a few recipes I found on the web that worked with the ingredients I had. Fresh pork, sausage and some leftover ham, onions, celery, collard greens, dried black-eyed peas that I parboiled for a while, bay leaf, cumin, garlic, onions and chicken broth. I cooked it in the slow cooker for several hours. It came out very hearty and tasty.
My friend Dale filled me in on the meaning of Hoppin’ John, after I posted it on Facebook. She said, according to Southern lore… black-eyed peas represent “coins,” collard greens represent money or “green backs”, corn bread represents “gold,” and if tomatoes are added to Hoppin’ John it symbolizes “health.”
So now you know.
May we all have some good luck this year, Hoppin’ John or not.
— LUCY
Great way to start the new year.
For years we went to a friend’s home where she made a traditional New Year’s Day meal of Hoppin’ John, collards, corn bread and deep-fried okra. She is from Alabama and knows whereof she cooks. Delicious.
I have some collards in the fridge and now I guess I have to go track down some black-eyed peas.
Wish me luck. Wish everybody luck. Good luck that is.
Let’s hope 2017 is not as the song goes,
“Born under a bad sign, been down since I began to crawl
If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have no luck at all.”
– LOU