New Year’s traditional food bases, that is. What do you eat for good luck? Prosperity? There are dozens of traditional foods, eaten for luck, or just because it’s something an ethnic group always does. Like our having pickled herring in our German dominant family. I don’t do pickled herring, so I threw out that tradition.
I did succumb to a few. The pork one, for instance. Pork is good luck because it is a fatty animal symbolizing wealth and prosperity. Plus, it roots forward, and that is a good thing. Don’t eat chicken on New Year’s. It scratches backwards to eat, and it is also a winged fowl, which means your good fortune could fly away.
I like researching the traditions, and following ones that fit our style of eating. Today I did make cabbage, greens, beans and pork in the crockpot.
The platter included smoked pork shank, butter beans, mustard greens, and I split a cabbage to steam on top of everything else. Added a bit of beef stock to give it a richness. Lightly seasoned. Garlic, salt, pepper and parsley. Six hours in the crockpot and it was warm, comforting and a good match for a local wine.
A very nice light cellar selection VA wine, from Breaux. It didn’t overwhelm anything, and was light and fruit forward.
We also started the day with a tradition. Bacon and eggs. Only I pared it down to one slice of bacon each, and I made Breezy Willow eggs. Check out the yolk on these eggs. I don’t know if eggs from a chicken are good luck, or bad, but the brunch was wonderful. Mostly local, too. Local bread and butter. Local eggs, and bacon from Boarman’s (source of the hog not known). It counts as my brunch dish for our winter eat local challenge.
Any traditions for the New Year at your place?
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AnnieRie Unplugged 