Our dear friend Christine Thomas grew up here in Santa Barbara, but her mom, Judy, hailed from Mississippi. They taught us about the southern tradition of serving black-eyed peas, collard greens, and cornbread on New Years Day. The superstition was that the collards were for money and the black-eyed peas were for good luck in the new year. And according to Christy, the other superstition promoted by the men of Judy’s family was that “it was bad luck to have a woman cross your door first on New Year’s Day… so that was their excuse for all the men in the family to visit each other’s houses while the women cooked.”
The River Road Junior League Cookbooks are our go-to for these recipes, and you’ll notice that bacon features prominently! In fact, Judy passed on the secret to perfect cornbread to her daughter: cook the bacon in a cast iron pan first, then when the grease is bubbling and very hot, pour in the batter. Mmmm, we can smell it now, can you? It sounded so good, we’ve given you two cornbread recipes, both delicious!
These cookbooks offer fascinating glimpses into their time. There’s a section on how men cook (it’s short!); also, they list the names of every woman who contributed recipes, but almost always they are “Mrs. …[fill in husband’s name here.]”
Is it any wonder that Judy (pictured left in 1970) and Christy (pictured right) both grew up to be strong feminists and advocates for women? Now an assistant professor of Hebrew Bible at Hebrew Union and Xavier University, Christy continues her family traditions with her wife Hannah and son William, who will no doubt take over with the hot pan of bacon grease in years to come. Judy would be very proud!
As we welcome the new year, we wish you the best; may your bacon be sizzling, your cornbread be crackling, and may the money and good luck pour in!
Also, we remind you that you still have time to enter our drawing for this year… just comment on this or the previous post and we’ll choose one name at random to receive one of our favorite cookbooks.
- 1 one-pound package dried black-eyed peas (or 1 pound frozen black-eyed peas)
- 2 quarts water or 2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 onion, chopped
- ¼ green pepper, chopped (optional)
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 3 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped, or ham bone
- salt and pepper to taste
- If using frozen peas, skip to the next step. If using fresh peas, wash them and soak them overnight, or at least five to six hours in fresh, cold water. Drain off soaking water.
- Put the peas in a large pot of 2 quarts of water or stock.
- Add onions, green pepper if using, celery, and bacon or ham bone.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper but remember to add less salt if you used stock.
- Cook for about two hours or until peas are tender enough to mash easily.
- Add water or stock as needed while cooking.
- ⅔ cup oil or bacon drippings
- 2 eggs
- 2½ cups buttermilk or whole milk
- 2 cups corn meal
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 3 teaspoons soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Put oil in bowl.
- Add eggs and beat until foamy.
- Add milk.
- Sift in dry ingredients.
- Put in greased pan or 13 x 9" pyrex baking dish and bake at 475 degrees for 20 minutes.
- 1½ cups corn meal
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 1 egg
- 1 cup crumbled crisp bacon cooked in a cast iron pan (this is a lot of bacon... feel free to use a bit less but don't rinse out the pan it's cooked in)
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Sift together dry ingredients.
- Add buttermilk and egg, stirring until well-mixed.
- Season bacon crumbles with salt (optional!) and fold in last.
- Pour batter into the same cast iron pan you cooked the bacon in, making sure it's very hot and well-coated with the bacon grease. You can also use a muffin pan(12 muffins).
- Bake for about 25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Collard greens, rinsed twice then drained.
- Bacon, cooked in a cast iron pan, then chopped
- Before chopping the collard greens, remove the center vein; it will make the leaves more flexible.
- Roll the greens and slice them into ribbons.
- Saute them with bacon in the well-coated pan until wilted.
I love this recipe for cornbread and will use it this week. Thanks.
Glen, we added a second cornbread recipe, similar but a bit grainier..check it out and let us know what you think. Remember, this is a more savory cornbread than we may be expecting! That’s how they do it in the South 🙂
I love this post! And amen to unsweetened cornbread.
Thank you Rhona for all the beautiful things you’ve written and giving me the chance to share my memories of my mother and our New Year’s Days. I’ve talked to all the women in my family and sent them a link to this blog. My mother‘s cousin Kathy told me that my Great Aunt Mary Lee didn’t even use flour in her cornbread. She just used buttermilk, eggs, and corn meal!
I wonder if Aunt Mary Lee had something there… a gluten free option!!