It's funny, but in the United States, New Year is also celebrated (and not only Christmas, Thanksgiving and Independence Day), and the holiday is home and even with a traditional family feast.
The only thing is that New Year's dishes vary from north to south. So today - about the traditional dishes of the New Year's table of the southern states. Moreover, most of them are "tied" to luck, that is, they can even be attributed to some ritual dishes (and in the USA there are superstitions, yes).
So let's go (and you may start to wonder).
Dish number times
On the New Year's table, the presence of peas and (or beans) is required. It is believed that in appearance they resemble coins, and therefore symbolize wealth. In the listing of such dishes and recipes, the name black-eyed peas is very often found - black-eyed peas. I confess I thought for a long time that it was black peas (or black beans, otherwise), but then, studying the recipes, came to the conclusion that this is most likely the beans, which in our stores comes across under the name "fish eye".
A classic dish made from it is Hoppin 'John (Jumping John).
We take:
- 450 grams of black-eyed peas
- 100 grams of salted pork (since we don't have corned beef in the area, you can replace it with a cut meat layer of bacon, for example, even if it's smoked, it turns out delicious)
- A large, not very hot onion - white is best
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- 200 grams of ham
- A couple of celery stalks
- Half each sweet pepper of different colors - red and green
- Salt and seasonings to taste. In the original, you need to take the Cajun (Creole) herbs. I don’t see them on sale, but it’s not so difficult to assemble the mixture: 1½ tablespoons of sea salt, 2 tablespoons of garlic powder, 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of paprika, 1 a tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of cayenne pepper, 1 tablespoon of onion powder, 1 tablespoon of dried thyme, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, 1-2 hours l. ground red pepper
Cooking:
We wash the beans, soak them overnight. When we start cooking, salted pork, ham, celery, onion, peppers - in general, cut all the ingredients into cubes, chop the garlic.
Fry salted pork or its replacement in a skillet with onions. When it becomes rosy, add chopped garlic there, fry for another minute. Then we drain the beans and rinse them again, put them in a saucepan, mix with fried pork, with the rest of the ingredients, fill with water so that it only covers everything in the pan and send it to Fire.
We simmer for two hours, or maybe longer - it all depends on how dry our beans are. Season with salt and Cajun mixture. If the water boils away, add a little boiling water.
Dish number two
Greens are a must! Don't laugh, but green vegetables also symbolize wealth. No wonder the dollar is green after all. You will laugh, but green vegetables include such a terrible dish as boiled cabbage.
We take:
- 1 small head of cabbage
- ½ teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
- 3-4 tablespoons butter (melted)
- Black pepper (to taste)
How we cook:
Cut the cabbage into slices of the watermelon type (into six pieces). We put it in a saucepan, in a fireproof dish, in a roasting pan or in a frying pan, and fill it with boiling water, well salted - about one and a half centimeters of water, as little as possible.
Cook over low heat, covered with a lid, from 8 to 10 minutes, then turn the slices over, cook for another 8 minutes. Then we drain the water and put the pan on the stove, warm so that the remaining moisture evaporates, and then carefully we coat it - spill it with melted butter, bring it to mind in salinity and, if someone wants, season.
Dish number three
The presence of corn bread on the New Year's table is a must. It symbolizes gold. Actually, I often see him in stores, but for authenticity you can get confused.
We take:
- 60 ml butter, melted
- 2 cups white or yellow corn flour (remember that an American measuring cup is 240 milliliters, if you focus on wheat flour it is 120 grams)
- 1/4 cup (60 milliliters) plain wheat flour
- Two and a half teaspoons baking powder + half a spoonful of baking soda
- Three quarters of a spoonful of salt
- Three hundred milliliters of buttermilk
- One egg
How we cook:
First, we grease the mold (here we need cast iron) and send it to the oven at a temperature of 180-200 degrees to heat up.
First, we mix all the bulk ingredients in a horde bowl, liquid in another, and only then we combine, getting a rather liquid dough.
We take out a hot mold, pour the dough onto it and bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
The New Year's table is almost ready (well, no one bothers to supplement it).
Bon Appetit!