“Peas for pennies, greens for dollars and cornbread for gold,” is a common saying in Southern lore, and a reminder that you have to eat all three on New Year’s to ensure good luck and prosperity in the year to come. Growing up in Mississippi, I’ve been subject to the region’s many and longest-held superstitions, but this may be the only one I still practice. Not because I believe it will truly bring great fortune, but because it’s a showcase of the best Southern cuisine has to offer, and it starts with my mom’s black-eyed peas.
While New Year’s Day celebrates the prospect of new beginnings and stories, oddly enough, mine is the same old song and dance each year. Waking up, I feel a little worse for wear given the previous night’s festivities, but I’m always greeted by the scent of earthy, smoky simmering peas and pot likker drifting through the hallways. I help my mother with any outstanding dishes or prep, and then we eat her black-eyed peas for lunch. Afterward, I fall asleep on the couch watching When Harry Met Sally—it’s a comforting routine that ushers in the next chapter of my life, riches or not.
My mother makes simple, Southern-style black-eyed peas that are simmered low and slow until the peas are tender and creamy, but not mushy. The key to any Southerner’s pot of beans (and pot likker) is a ham hock, which is part of the pig’s leg that is cured and then smoked. It takes time and patience to unlock a ham hock’s full potential—it’s mostly skin, bone and connective tissue, but when simmered for hours, it transforms into gelatin to add body to the bean broth. That’s why my mom employs the set-it-and-forget-it method, using a slow cooker for convenience so the beans infuse with the smoky, meaty depth of the ham hock over their long cook time. Of course, the dish isn’t complete without aromatics like bay leaves and Cajun seasoning, and smoky flavors from Conecuh sausage. Trust me, your patience is rewarded with a deeply comforting dish that you’ll want to make all year.
Beyond the dish’s importance in my yearly routine, there’s also a historical significance. Black-eyed peas represent the penny, which itself represents good luck, and have a longstanding history in the American South. Black-eyed peas were originally brought to North America by enslaved people on ships from West Africa, where they’ve long been associated with good luck, a belief that perhaps traveled with the bean itself. These peas are believed to have been eaten in celebration of the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, when enslaved people were declared free. Some believe that the tradition grew from there, while others believe it sprouted during the Civil War, when Confederate soldiers survived on peas left behind by Union soldiers. There is also evidence to suggest that the tradition was introduced to Southerners by Sephardic Jews who ate black-eyed peas for Rosh Hashanah.
However the dish originated, it’s become a symbolic one to be eaten on the first day of the year, and an annual tradition I look forward to. Serve my mother’s black-eyed peas with some greens and cornbread, and you’re all set to tackle the new year.
