Going back as far as I can remember I always woke up on New Years day with a hop in my step. To a football junkie it was the ultimate smorgasbord of football and food, all packed in to one day. Over the years there has been variation in the peripheral details of the day but there have always been 4 constants. Football, Greens, Black Eye Peas and Cornbread. This year was no different!!
New Years Eve was rather tame for us this year. I worked a 12 hour day and arrived home at 6:45 in the evening. My wife wasn't feeling well so it was decided I would go get carry out Chinese. Lucky for me there is a bar just down from the Chinese place and I can have a couple of Sam Adams Winter Lagers while I wait. I called in my Chinese as I walked in the bar and heard the familiar voice on the other end of the phone. I don't really understand how a man that spent his life communicating with thousands of people weekly and dealing with some of the most difficult people on earth can have an anxiety attack over calling in an order of Chinese food but it happens every time she answers. It shouldn't matter that she was a General in the Peoples Liberation Army before coming here, she now owns a Chinese place and I go there of my own free will. It all started when she asked "how long til you be here mister!?" I meagerly said 15 minutes and she shouted back in question form "10 minutes!?" Now I know she knows, I can always be there in 10 minutes but I thought she might give me a break since the roads were getting bad and the snow was coming down. I repeated 15 minutes and she says "OK, I see you in 10 minutes!!" My first thought was, man I can't even drink 1 Sam Adams in 10 minutes and I was wanting 2, after all it's Happy Hour and they are 2 for 1. Well I sit down at the bar and get my beer and several of my buddies are there and I'm beginning to feel like it is New Years Eve. All the folks are asking where Peggy is and are expressing concern that she isn't feeling well. I tell them I'm waiting on Chinese from just down the sidewalk and we are having a good ole time. About the time I order my 2nd beer one guy looks at me with concern, I mean real concern and says "aren't you suppose to be picking up Chinese?" At that moment I knew he had been there and had dealings with the General. I said, it's all good man I've only been here about 10 minutes and we agreed on 15 minutes. He says, no man you've been here like 25 minutes. So I start drinking fast and with about 1/3 of a beer left my phone rings and I answer to a, WHERE ARE YOU?? I stutter 3 or 4 times and say, " I got stuck in a ditch but I'm almost there, I'll be there in 1 minute, I promise!" I left my beer on the bar and headed out to my truck to drive the 3 doors down so she wouldn't question my story. As I walked towards the counter she was staring at me and I felt like I was going in front of a military tribunal. As I paid for my food and got my hands inside the handle on the sack,I smiled big and tell her, "I wasn't stuck in a ditch, I was stuck in a bar!!" Then I asked one of my normal questions like, "are you going out partying tonight? You work to much, let your hair down and have some fun!!" Then she hisses like an old mad cat and I say, see ya soon and I'm on my way.
As I'm watching some football New Years Eve I asked Peggy if the Black Eye Peas are soaking and she says no, she had let it slip her mind. So I get my tray out to cull through the peas and start my first preparations for New Years Day, while watching various awful New Years Eve Celebrations and thinking man, this is perfect. Peggy and I decided 11:30 was a good time to sign off on this New Years Eve as we will welcome in the New Year tomorrow. I put the peas to soaking over night and it was off to bed to watch TV until probably 11:35. Of course I opened my eyes to see a shot of 12 midnight on the TV and a shot of 1 a.m. so I probably took in and remembered just as much as I did on some previous New Years Eves where I partied til 5 a.m.
This will be a collaborative effort with my wife being in kchawgskitchen. Why you might ask? She makes the best Greens on this planet. Normally Peggy makes her Greens using a mixture of 4 fresh greens. Spinach, Collard, Mustard and Turnip Greens. This year being special, it will be a 5 green mix as she is adding Kale. The greens have to be washed good and cleaned by hand. Initially it looks like there are enough Greens to feed an army but they cook down so don't be alarmed by the sheer bulk if you are doing a mixture of several kinds of greens. The great thing about good soul food is it is relatively simple with basic seasonings and patience being the only thing that needs to be added. There will be no 2 page recipes here. Peggy's Greens will cook in approximately 1/3 of the pan of water, be seasoned with a Sliced Salt Pork, Burgers Smokehouse Black Pepper Seasoning Pork, a couple of pinches of salt and approximately a 1/4 cup of sugar. They will start wilting instantly under the steam and eventually all settle into the simmering liquid. They simmer until tender. We like to simmer very slow and for extended time to let all of the seasonings and flavors meld together.
Meanwhile Peggy is allowing me to fix her Black Eye Peas. We both have Black Eye Pea recipes and we both like each others recipe but certain occasions call for certain recipes. Peggy's recipe is simple and relies strictly on the merit of a good piece of seasoning meat and salt. I had a nice small, meaty chunk of ham bone from a ham I smoked this fall that will be perfect. The peas have been washed, soaked over night and are ready to go. Some kosher salt, some cracked black pepper and they will babysit themselves while I watch football. Once again that is the shear beauty of soul food, once the prep work is done all you have to do is come up to the glorious smell of the kitchen, pick up a wooden spoon, glance at the pans to make it look labor intensive, grab a beverage of your choice and go back down to the couch!
When I plan a meal I always take into account the activities of the day and how the meal preparation is going to fit around the centerpiece of the day. I've planned meals that took a wrong turn due to the logistics of preparing the meal. You don't want 3 things requiring the oven at 3 separate temperatures in the last 45 minutes of preparation. Likewise, I don't want to be in the kitchen for an hour and a half during the best game of the day with my son screaming come here, you've got to see this play. The beauty of this meal is, by the 10 a.m. kickoff of the first game we've got our Greens on, have our Black Eye Peas going and I've prepared my ingredients for my dry brine for a Rack of Pork. The Green and Peas will be done long before the meal will be served and can sit in their pool of flavors and be reheated in the last 15 minutes before dinner.
My dry brine will help the pork retain moisture and it will impart a nice subtle flavor. I have 1/2 cup of Kosher Salt, 1/4 cup of Brown Sugar, 1/4 cup of Cracked Black Pepper and 1/4 cup of Herbs de Provence. It is a wonderful mixture of herbs commonly used in French cooking and readily available in grocery stores. In this case we were out so I made my own. It has marjoram, thyme, savory, basil, rosemary, sage and fennel seed. I would highly recommend it on one of your next herb roasted meat dishes.
As things were going on in the kitchen I saw the absolute perfect picture. Maggie the smaller of the two and the matriarch of our Animal Kingdom at age 15 + had laid down to get a peaceful nap and Lily, the big baby of the bunch had curled up behind her with her paw resting against her back and looked over her with a watchful and protective eye as she drifted off to sleep. Three weeks previous we thought we would not have Maggie for this New Year due to a light stroke or neurological event that at first appeared much more serious than it turned out to be. For this reason in itself, this is a very special New Years Day!
After 2.5 hours I remove the pork from the refrigerator and see the results I was hoping for. There is syrup dripping off of the bones and I should get the flavor profile I was anticipating. I will wash the brine off and pat it dry for the next stage of preparation.
This will be a very simple seasoning to compliment what we have already done. Minced Garlic and Cracked Black Pepper with a very light dusting of Sea Salt are all that will be necessary. A nice cut of meat can be absolutely outstanding in flavor and texture without having a perfect appearance. The key to overwhelming your guest with the cut of meat you are serving is for it to be love at first sight as well as being full of flavor with perfect texture. I rub on a light coat of grape seed oil to help me get that dark caramel color I will be looking to achieve. I rub in my Minced Garlic, hit it with the pepper grinder and make a quick pass with the sea salt grinder and it is ready for the oven. The other variable in achieving my color is some high heat. I have the oven pre-heated to 475 degrees for convection roasting (475 for non convection ovens as well). The Rack of Pork is placed bones down in a roasting rack with a remote thermometer probe inserted into the thickest part. The 475 degrees is extremely high heat, being used for initial browning of the roast. We don't want to overcook it or dry it out so at the 15 minute mark I reduce the temperature to 275 degrees to quickly get the oven temperature down. I will be using a variable temperature cooking method while watching my internal temperature on the remote thermometer to make sure it doesn't cook to quickly. I never cook by time, I use time as a general reference. The general time reference here is 15-20 minutes per lb @ 350 degrees so I will use the 15 minutes per lb as my reference because under cooked can be corrected, over cooked cannot. I only use this to target the time for dinner to be served and I never sweat being 30 minutes late. I have trained diners at my house that you show up early and wait on good food. This is not a restaurant, we are on the foods time schedule, the food is not on your time schedule. Have a beverage and relax. My plan after the initial 475 degree segment is 20 minutes at 275, 20 minutes at 300 and turning the the roast bone side up and finishing at 350 until the internal temperature is at 150 degrees. This cut of meat is safely cooked at 145 degrees. We prefer ours at 155 which is tender, juicy and has a nice texture.
The stars of this show have been done for quite some time and soaking in their flavorful juices. As dinner time approaches I turn the heat on low and let them start warning back up to serving temperature. I will need the oven for one finishing touch to this meal and the timing will be perfect. Approximately 10 minutes before the Rack of Pork comes out of the oven I start my cornbread. Long ago I settled on a simple cornbread recipe that I find very hard to beat. My Jalapeno Cheese Cornbread Muffins are a Jiffy Cornbread Mix followed to instruction, chopped seeded jalapenos to taste and a large handful of Mexican Cheese Blend whisked very well. It fills 8 muffin cups about 85% full and makes for a moist, rich, flavorful cornbread.
The roast comes out of the oven and the cornbread goes in. The roast will be tented while the cornbread cooks and the internal temperature will rise to that 155 degrees I am looking for. The resting will also allow the juices to redistribute throughout the roast. Always rest a cut of meat for an appropriate time.
The cornbread is out of the oven, the Rack of Pork has rested and is ready for carving. All the work is done and it is dinner time. Today it is a very small family gathering with my wife Peggy, my son John and myself. The Rose Bowl is on and they call it the Granddaddy of Them All. That is the way I feel about this meal!
Being a Southern Boy transplanted to the Midwest I'm ringing in the New Year with 3 things that were core in my upbringing. Family, football and some good ole soul food!!
2012 was a very trying year for my family. We have gotten stronger as a family and we are more united than ever, more Thankful than ever. As we sat down to dinner we all thought about all the things we are Thankful for going into this New Year. That list is very long and one of the important things is Family Tradition. On this New Years Day there is nothing better than Family, Football and Soul Food. There are never enough Family Traditions, so until I see you all again, don't only carry on your Family Traditions, start some new ones!! See you next time.
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