Evening star. [volume], December 30, 1962, Page 11, Image 107

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
New Luck!
stitions. In the United States, where foods-for-luck
traditions have come from countries around the
world, the dish most favored, likely originating in
Germany, is herring. Then never will you be with
out a dollar in the 12 months ahead.
The late Mrs. Irma Rombauer, author of the
"Joy of Cooking,” told us once that in her mother’s
birth town of Lubeck, Germany, herring salad was
not only a Christmas Eve dish, but remained the
chief cold dish until New Year’s morning.
The delightful tradition of eating the herring
as a lucky New Year’s symbol has been observed
through the centuries among Europeans from Ger
many to northernmost Scandinavia.
In the U.S. the herring is the most accepted of
the lucky foods. No doubt because it is a dainty
morsel worthy of the finest feast. Also over the
yean the taste for herring here has developed along
with the popularity of Smorgasbord restaurants, and
the do-it-at-home Smorgasbord buffet. As you know,
the Smorgasbord is but nothing without herring for
the take-off.
And herring now comes in so many wonderful
ways! The delicacy stores, the supermarkets offer
this tangy, tender fish in a vast variety of sauces:
dill, tomato, lemon, sherry wine, Madeira, oyster
sauce, lobster sauce, vinegar and spice sauce. These
convenient fillets of herring and also the tidbits are
HUHNS SALAD
2 soft barring, H pound each
2Yi cop* cooltad diced poMoot
2 cupt coaled diced booh
lYs cup* cooked dicod corroh
3 tablespoons grated onion
1 utodimn dM pickle, minced
4 tort apples, diced ¥i teaspoon pepper
3 tobfapoonr wpor % cup crease
16 cup vinegar So* Salad greens
2 hard-cooked eggs, finely choppod
IX mm O- -A-- 1
cup nnesy cn oppea oeefi
Hath herring; remove heads. Soak
fish overnight in cold water. Remove
dan and bones. Cut fillets into Ain
strips, 1 Io 2 inches long. Combine
herring, potatoes, beets, carrots, onion,
pickle, apples, pepper. Blend sugar,
cream, vinegar. Season to taste. Add
dressing Io salad. Toss lightly. If
desired, mind may be packed into a
2-quart mold. Chill for several hours.
Serve on salad greens. Camish uiA
chopped eggs, beets. Yield: 12 portions.
ready to serve right from jar or tin. Turn the fish
into pretty glass bowls, garnish if desired with a
sprinkling of chopped parsley. Let the guests help
themselves to a favorable fortune.
Remember too, the imported Bismarck herring,
brightened by the presence of colorful spices. This
is prepared with dill, vinegar, salt, sugar and many
spices that only the tongue can find.
Many delicatessens in the larger cities the year
around carry herring in cream sauce. Smoked spiced
herring is another standard delicatessen item. And
for the New Year, herring salad is made in huge
quantities.
This herring salad (see recipe, below left) is a
pretty thing, pale pink in color due to the red of the
beets. If this isn’t your lucky dish, I’ll gladly eat it.
The LUCKY dish in our own South and all along
the eastern seaboard is black-eyed peas (really a
variety of dried bean). The "peas” may be served
cooked with hog jowl, but are more often done with
rice in what is called "Hoppin’ John.”
To cook hog jowl with black-eyed peas, follow
these directions:
Coper pound of dried peas uiA cold water and
soak overnight. Cook 3 pounds hog jmd in boiling
water for one hour. Add drained peas, and 1 tea
spoon sail. Simmer for two hours.
f ln
M 'Fik ' •~ T . ' L
•■•• • ■ »
Hoppin’ John (see recipe, above right) is a type
of Jambalaya. As Marion Brown notes in her "The
Southern Cook Book,” Jambalaya consists of many
combinations of rice and meat or vegetables, or both.
Miss Brown points out that " ’Hopping John’ is
made several different ways. The most common is to
boil the peas with pork until tender. Steam the rice
separately until dry, then add rice to peas and let
simmer until the consistency is of flaky moiatness.
Many add tomatoes, green peppers and onions to
the peas and serve as a sauce over dry rice.”
By CLEMENTINE PADDLEFORD
Numerous reasons are given for the name
"Hoppin’ John.” One is that the children were
required to hop once around the table before par
taking of the peas. But our Kansas friend Josephine
Hemphill, for many years with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, has come up with a better reason
than any other to date. The information came to
her in a letter from Mrs. Roberta C. Lyne, Charles
ton, S. C.
She wrote: " 'Hoppin' John’ was an old crippled
Negro owned by my great-grandmother. His wife
NOPDIN* JOHN
I pound black-eyed peas Water
I- to 2-pound ham knuctfe
I onion, diced 2 (taMri catory, choppod
I boy leaf 2 cup* rice 2 I 9qH
¥i ttatpoon pepper
Soak peas in water to cover overnight.
Measure soaking water and add addi
tional water to make 5 cups. Addpeas,
ham knuckle, onion, celery and bay
leaf. Cover. Simmer about Ift hours
or until peas are almost tender. Re
mote ham. Add rice, seasonings and
3 cups ivater. Cover. Boil gently
about 25 minutes or until rice is soft .
and liquid has almost evaporated.
Meanwhile, cut ham into small pieces.
Add to cooked mixture; mix gently.
Yield: 8 generous portions.
originated the rice and pea dish and each day old
John would carry it out to sell in the streets. He
would take it in a large tin can with a tin dipper to
measure it out. Five cents a plateful.
"As he limped through the streets (one of his
legs was shorter than the other) he would cry out,
'Here comes Hoppin’ John!’
"My grandmother was born in 1841,” the letter
continued, "and she remembered, as a little girl, old
John selling his peas and rice, so she said this dish
must have originated long before she was bom.”
Today, many buy their good luck peas already
cooked in the can, or quick frozen. However, the
dried peas take but 35 minutes when done in a
pressure cooker. Dried black-eyed peas are cheap
and when rightly cooked are delicious. Whether
they bring good luck or not, they help the budget.
A full measure of good luck! May your Happy
New Year last, and last, and last... tni mb
TAis Reek Food Editor
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