The Black-eyed Pea Poll (Dallas, Alamo: house, to live, food)

[TexasReb]

Greetings friends and fellow Texans...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Now then -- in looking forward to the New Year -- I wanted to post a poll concerning that honored Texas/Southern tradition of eating black-eyes peas on New Years Day for "good luck."

There are a couple of "theories" as to how it originated (which I will share in a follow-up post), with one of them stating it was actually nothing more than a very clever marketing ploy on the part of an East Texas cannery!

Anyway, more on that in a few...but for now, do you make/eat black-eyed peas on New Years Day?

BTW -- if so, please share your own recipes and/or other associated "traditions" (for instance, many prepare some kind of "greens" -- such as cabbage or turnip, or whatever -- along with them).

[malone7384]

Yep - we'll be having Black Eyed Peas with cornbread on New Years.

A tradition that I have brought to this other state and kept up. I do get some funny looks though when I mention it!

[car957]

Absolutely. In my house we add some vinison summer sausage and jalapenos for a little more taste. And we always have cornbread with this meal.

[TexasReb]

Concerning the tradition of eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day in Texas, here is something I thought was worth passing along. I did it last year, but perhaps a few haven't seen it and find it worth reading.

Anyway, the most common and accepted story behind why black-eyed peas are a custom in the Southern United States on New Years Day traces to the late days of the "Civil War", when the Yankee Army was "marching thru Georgia" and had orders to live off the land. That is, carrying off anything they needed and destroying the rest.

This meant taking their hogs, cattle, chickens, and diggin up plots of land growing vegetables. BUT...one of the things that, according to this tale (which, I might add, I will always be commited to, true or not! ) left alone by the plunder and pillage, was a type of "legume" which grew wild in the South, and thought. previously, to be useless for anything but "cow and hog feed". Of course, this legume was the black-eyed pea

With little or nothing left to eat otherwise, many Southern women, left with no alternative in feeding their families, tried those black-eyed peas and found them actually quite fit for human consumption! And -- since all this took place around the first of the year -- it was taken as a "divine omen" that good luck for the South was sure to follow.

Well, of course, every one knows how the War ended, so good luck in that sense didn't transpire. However, many of those in the Deep South unfortunate enough to have enountered the Union hordes never forgot how black-eyed peas had saved them and their families from starvation. This memory spread and eventually evolved into a region-wide custom on New Years Day throughout the states of the Old Confederacy -- as well as certain border states -- as something for Good Luck, during the upcoming year....

Ok. THAT is one theory. And of course the most "nostalgic" one. Can't help but love it!

BUT...this whole legend was challenged not all that long ago by a researcher and writer who says the whole "damn yankee" Old South connection was really just a marketing ploy on the part of one really smart East Texas man. It is a both interesting and humorous. And well worth the read for anyone who enjoys Texas lore and how legends can became accepted as "fact", over time.

Here is the article and the beginning and ending excerpts:

The Great Blackeyed Pea Hoax, Blackeyed Pea New Year Tradition.

THE GREAT BLACKEYED PEA HOAX
by C. F. Eckhardt

Did you eat blackeyed peas for good luck on New Year's Day? Did you do so because it's a 'great ante-bellum Southern tradition?' If so, congratulations. You have been scammed by one of the most likeable con-artists in Texas history.

Elmore's been gone a good many years now, but his 'tradition' continues. He's where all the good flacks end up, and no doubt he's having a good laugh over all the 'sophisticated' big-city-newspaper food editors he conned with that yarn and those 2-ounce cans of blackeyed peas. And, yep-I'll have blackeyed peas on my table come New Year's Day. Not because I think they'll bring good luck in the New Year, but to honor Elmore Torn, Sr.-the guy who parlayed 2-ounce cans of blackeyed peas and a tale cut from whole cloth into a 'time-honored Southern tradition.' Besides, I like 'em.

*******************

I remember when this "revision" came out via a "Letter to the Editor" in the Dallas Morning News who passed on parts of the article. In a "shoot the messenger" frame of mind, a few pi$$sed off Texans and other Southerners wrote in challenging such heresy. A few did so indignantly insisting they remembered the custom from wayyyy back before the so-called hoax days. Several others accused the letter-writer of being a "damn yankee" who needed to be hauled off and shot...

What is the truth about that delicious and wonderful little legume and its connection with Texas/Southern history? Personally? I don't really know. Still, I confess to being one of those who will always prefer to believe the legend. At the same time, if that feller from East Texas stretched the truth a bit? He also created, as the article said, a Southern tradition in its own right.

To paraphrase the renowned historian Walter Lord. Is there any concrete evidence that Travis didn't draw the line in the dust at the Alamo?

If not...then let us believe it.

[malfunction]

I like them cooked with a little bit of pork fat in mine. There's always something about it that brings that extra flavor. Always loved black-eyed peas.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by malfunction

I like them cooked with a little bit of pork fat in mine. There's always something about it that brings that extra flavor. Always loved black-eyed peas.

I always used bacon as the main addition for that purpose. Plus some bacon grease as a seasoning.

A hot batch of crispy cornbread to go with it all is a given in Texas, I would think!

How many of y'all boil up some kind of greens as a side...?

[case44]

Greens sound pretty good right now! When I do black-eyed peas, I tend to do them about the same as I would with pinto beans, as I like to use pork jowls. With black-eyed peas, I can throw in some salt pork, too.

And please pass the cornbread......

Extra whipped butter for mine......

[Pipeweld]

Plenty of bacon!!! You have to have some for the peas, and plenty of the hot grease for the hot cast iron pan!!! That way when the jalapeno cornbread batter hits it the crust sizzles and is just right when it's finished baking!!!
Smoked ham, Husse summer sausage, all kinds of cheese, crackers, dips, chips, and FOOTBAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TexasHorseLady]

Don't know about the story - I wasn't born until 1949. However, I do know that my mother (who was born WAY before 1947) served black-eyed peas every New Year's and said it was a tradition for good luck that she remembered back to the Depression. So I'm stuck between believing Charlie Eckhardt and believing my deceased mother. Hmmmmm.

We have them cooked with either salt joe, bacon, or ham, depending on what's handy, cornbread, and greens.

Lived in Henderson County for a while, by the way. When I lived there in the early 1960's, it was STILL oil and farming and farming and oil.

[TexasReb]

Originally Posted by case44

Greens sound pretty good right now! When I do black-eyed peas, I tend to do them about the same as I would with pinto beans, as I like to use pork jowls. With black-eyed peas, I can throw in some salt pork, too.

And please pass the cornbread......

Extra whipped butter for mine......

What kind/variety, Case? *curious* The way I always heard it was that the black-eyed peas were for "luck", but the "greens" were for financial success! LOL

We do cabbage a lot...but I know others boil up turnip or collard or mustard to go with them..

What about the rest of y'all in the area of "greens"...?