New Year's Day...What's Luck Got to do with It?

Well, its been a while since I have posted anything, but I thought why not start with something to bring in the New Year. I tried to figure out what I wanted to cook today as I didn't want to end up all day in the kitchen especially since I have been cooped up in the house due to me being sick. Luckily, this go around, I ended up cooking pork loin, cabbage, and some black eyed peas. On another post, I will share how I cooked them.

When I was much younger, I truly believed that you needed to cook something good in order to bring luck at the start of the year.

What would those lucky foods be? Well I read up a little about what we believe either through the various cultures or what we grew up with. I never knew this, but apparently pork is considered good luck because it brings in prosperity. My grandmother used to tell me that eating pork was good for the soul (sometimes she would make porkchops, carne guisada, or some other good pork dish). Today, I dressed up a pork loin with beer, spices and onion. This was slow cooked for about 5 hrs on 250. It ended up falling apart.

Legumes and cooked greens are also supposed to help with good luck. I read up that some people eat collards, chard or kale. Legumes such as lentils, black eyed peas, and beans could be cooked and eaten on this day. Today, I opted to cook some cabbage with bacon and onions. I placed a whole can of beer along with spices to the cooked cabbage. For the black eyed peas, I also sauteed some onions and bacon with the peas. 

 
Another good luck food are cakes or anything that is round or in a ring. My grandmother never made Rosca de los Reyes, but we were still exposed to it. Despite this, we instead always made buñuelos during Christmastime and on New Year's Day. For these buñuelos, I have used Guerrero's ready made tortillas. They are lightly fried in vegetable oil. Once taken off the pan, sprinkle with cinammon, sugar, nutmeg and allspice.

As for the meal, we had such a great dinner. It wasn't too heavy and hopefully the luck will come our way. Here's having a great day and many new opportunities for this year!