Black Eyed Peas and Cabbage: A New Orleans Traditional January 1 Meal

January 1, 2015
New Year tradition New Orleans style: Cabbage, black-eyed peas, ham hocks.

Chances are if your family lives in New Orleans this is one of the meals you ate on this first day of the year.

Lucky me…my host Rubia Solis, New Orleans born and bred (Ninth Ward), now living in Lafayette with her husband Bernard Ussher (Lafayette via Dublin and Boston), cooked the dish.

Rubia’s late mother, Momma Jane, cooked this dish without fail for her family every New Year. According to Momma Jane, the black-eyed peas are for good luck and health and the green cabbage represented wealth, money.

Whether you liked the ingredients or not, this was tradition - and in New Orleans tradition has the gravitas of the Dead Sea scrolls. Rubia recalls that Momma Jane herself thought black-eyed peas tasted like dirt. And her children wrinkled up their noses when the cabbage stunk up the kitchen, but no matter. Tradition would be honored.

The recipe includes ham hocks. Momma Jane grew up in the Depression years when any kind of meat was a luxury. She remembered when women would tie a string to a ham hock and dip it into the makings of red beans and rice, the traditional Monday meal in New Orleans. They’d remove it, let it dry, and dip it in the makings of the rest of the week’s meals until that little piece of ham had given up every smidgeon of flavor it had.

Sautéing the cabbage in garlic, black pepper and cayenne boosts the taste of the cabbage. A liberal drizzle of Tabasco gives the black-eyed peas a New Orleans jolt.

Add this New Orleans First Day dish to the good company of my hosts and I’m off to a dandy start in 2015.

An informative explanation I found on January 5, 2015!

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Comments

[Deb]

Happy New Year friend! Glad to hear you got to enjoy black eyed peas and cabbage today - you're going to continue to live healthy and wealthy:)

[Jeff]

After a New Year's Eve of drinking which already would have me married to the commode, eating this dish in the morning would ensure that the marriage would last a day or so.
HAPPY NEW YEAR..we made it through another one!

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Jeff,
My host Rubia advised me that the dish would be served during the day, more likely at lunch or dinner, if that makes the tradition any more palatable...thanks for the making me laugh.
Happy New Year!

[Chris Ives]

Happy New Year! Looks yummy to me.

[Ann Baker]

Good to know what you are up to . A man of varied tastes ! Enjoy the New Year.

[May Louise White]

Absolutely, all of us in Louisiana firmly believe that a new year must be started off with black eyed peas and cabbage.......many, many ways to prepare but if you want good luck during the year then you must eat these two things on New Year's Day!

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

The "Good Luck" part works - my beret and reading glasses went missing, lo and behold, found them under the passenger seat of rental car when I departed on January 2!

[Rebecca Wilson]

When I was growing up, the traditional NY meal was ham, black eyed peas, and mustard greens.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

In Baton Rouge where you grew up, the kind of greens might have been different but the symbol was the same...wealth, money.
Thanks for adding to the story!

[K. Burton Jones]

Our tradition was black eyed peas and collard greens. I made sure I had this in Mobile this year. Great story, Paul.

[Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. aka pt at large]

Your home state is Florida so i take it this is a southern tradition. Just found this website that explain the where and wherefore of the matter!
http://gosoutheast.about.com/od/restaurantslocalcuisine/a/blackeyedpeas.htm

[K. Burton Jones]

Great explanation from that website. I am glad I had the cornbread too. Next year I will include the stewed tomatoes - must have the health part of this too.

Happy New Year!