Here are 5 recipes for ‘good luck’ foods to eat on New Year’s Day

We all want to start the New Year off the right way. And for many, that means eating certain food to usher in good luck in the coming year.

Some examples of “good luck” food traditions include eating 12 grapes at midnight to ring in the new year, a Spanish custom that is hundreds of years old, according to Vogue, or eating black-eyed peas or lentils, as these round symbolic foods are said to forecast a financially prosperous new year. In the same vein, people often eat leafy, collard greens at the turn of the New Year, as the green color is supposed to evoke money.

You can also find people chowing down on cornbread (the gold color is supposed to symbolize wealth for the coming year), ham (which is related to “forward momentum,” derived from how pigs root forward with their snouts) and other “round” foods to help bring good luck their way.

Here are five recipes for “good luck” foods from the Courier Journal’s extensive archives that you should try ahead of New Year’s Day:

Table of Contents

Black-Eyed Pea Salad with Grilled Vegetables

Serves 4. Provided by Churchill Downs, 700 Central Ave., Louisville, Ky.

1 can (15 and 1/2 ounces) black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 large tomato, diced
1/3 cup roasted red pepper, diced
2 green onions, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced and grilled
1 yellow squash, sliced and grilled
1/2 red onion, sliced and grilled
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, minced
1/3 cup cumin vinaigrette (see recipe)

In a large serving bowl, combine all the ingredients; toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Cumin Vinaigrette

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted in a dry pan and then pulverized
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Place the Dijon mustard in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil, then the lemon juice and cider vinegar. Add cumin. Season with salt and pepper. (The vinaigrette will last for 10 days in the fridge.)

Braised Greens

Serves 6. Courtesy Barn8 Farm Restaurant, 10500 US-42, Goshen, Ky.

2 bunches of collard greens
2 bunches of mustard greens
2 bunches turnip greens
1/2 cup diced Broadbent bacon or other thick-cut bacon
1 yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 smoked ham hock
5 ounces apple cider vinegar
5 ounces red wine vinegar
3 ounces brown sugar
2 cups chicken stock
3 ounces Kentucky sorghum
1 splash of Louisiana-style hot sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 splash of soy sauce

Wash and stem greens thoroughly. Crisp the bacon in a pan on medium heat. Once the fat has rendered, add onions and garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant and beginning to turn translucent. Add all remaining ingredients and 1 cup of the chicken stock and simmer, covered, for 2 hours. Stir and check on liquid level regularly. If it begins to dry out, add more chicken stock. Season with salt and a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper.

Country ham wrapped pork chop and braised greens

Serves 2. Provided by the now closed Red Barn Kitchen.

Chop

2 center cut bone-in pork chops
6 slices of country ham
6 ounces of cheddar cheese curds
4 fresh sage leaves
Salt and pepper

Start by cutting a tiny slit in the side of the pork chop, then wiggle the tip of the knife back and forth to create a pocket for stuffing. Stuff roughly 3 ounces of cheese into the opening and squeeze back together. Lay out thin slices of ham with the edges overlapping slightly. Pat the chops dry with a towel and lightly season with salt and pepper. Before wrapping the chops with ham, apply one sage leaf to each side of the chop. Lay the chop down on the ham and wrap tightly. It’s best if the ham overlaps all the way around.

Get a saute pan very hot and add a touch of cooking oil. Sear the chop hard on one side. Preset the oven to 350 degrees. After searing the chop on one side, turn it over to sear the other side and pop the pan in the oven to cook until the chop is done. With a thermometer, it should be 155 degrees in the center.

Greens

1 bunch of kale
1 bunch of collard greens
1 Spanish onion, julienned
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pint of ham broth
4 ounces Ballotin Original Chocolate whiskey
2 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper

Pick both the collards and kale from the stem in bite size pieces and wash very well. Julienne the onion in thin strips. In a hot saute pan, add a touch of cooking oil, then add the onion and chili flakes and sweat about two minutes until the onions are translucent. Add all of your greens to begin to wilt them. Add the ham broth and the liquor. Season with salt and pepper and let simmer for about 30 minutes until they are tender. Finish with a bit of butter.

Apple butter

4 ounces of Amish apple butter
2 ounces Ballotin Caramel Turtle whiskey

In a cold pan, add the liquor, turn on the heat and let the alcohol evaporate. After it evaporates, add the apple butter and mix it together and set it aside to top the chop with at the end.

Sauce

4 ounces of Ballotin Bourbon Ball whiskey
2 tablespoons butter

Using the pan the chops were seared in, add the liquor with the heat off and allow the alcohol to evaporate. If you want your sauce thicker, add a touch of the apple butter. After the sauce has formed in the pan over medium heat, add a bit of butter to the sauce.

To plate: Pile greens in the middle of the plate. Place chop leaning against the greens. Add a spoonful of the apple butter on top of the chop, then drizzle the sauce over the chop.

Hot water cornbread with pimento cheese

Makes 12 to 15 pieces. Provided by the now-closed Science Hill Inn

Cornbread

2 cups white cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon solid shortening plus more for frying
1/4 cup half and half
1 and 1/2 to 2 cups boiling water
Butter

In a bowl, combine cornmeal, salt and sugar. Cut one tablespoon shortening into the cornmeal mix. Add cream and boiling water; mix well. (The consistency should be like thick pancake batter).

In a skillet, melt shortening. Bring heat to 325 degrees or test to be sure shortening is ready to use for frying by dropping a piece of the cornbread mixture into the shortening. If the shortening sizzles, it’s ready for frying. Shape the cornbread into small disc shapes. Fry five minutes per side. Serve with the pimento cheese.

Pimento Cheese

Makes 4 cups

2 tablespoons chopped pimento
8 ounces white cheddar cheese, shredded
8 ounces yellow cheddar cheese, shredded
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced
4 green onions, green and white parts chopped
2 cups or more mayonnaise
White pepper

Mix together all the ingredients. Refrigerate.

Thelma Bancroft’s Jam Cake

Reprinted in The Courier Journal by food writer Cissy Gregg in 1959. This Jam Cake also most closely resembles the one that can be found at Shirley Mae’s Cafe, 802 S. Clay St., Louisville, Ky.

6 eggs
1 cup butter, melted
3 cups flour, sifted before measuring
4 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup blackberry jam
1 cup English walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 cup raisins
2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Bourbon to taste (Maker’s Mark is the favorite at Shirley Mae’s Cafe)

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Mix whole eggs, which have been beaten with the melted butter, buttermilk, brown sugar and blackberry jam.

Add flour, which has been sifted with the cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Add nuts and fold in. Bake in a 9-inch tube pan greased with a mixture of one-part flour and two parts shortening rubbed together. Bake at 325 degrees for 1-and-1/2 to 2 hours or until done.

Let cool slightly, about five minutes and turn cake out onto a rack. While still warm, add bourbon to the bottom of the cake.

Caramel Icing

1 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Bring to a boil. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes. Pour in milk and stir until boiling. Cool until lukewarm and add vanilla. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, beating at medium speed until it reaches spreading consistency.

Bourbon sauce

1/2 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1 egg
1/4 cup bourbon

Soften butter and beat in gradually. Add egg and beat well. Add bourbon. Serve with slices of jam cake. This is a potent sauce. If you don’t love the taste of bourbon, reduce the amount or substitute brandy or apple juice.

Reach features editor Kathryn Gregory at [email protected].

link