Where is the Next Bend?

Each year on New Year's Day, no matter how hung over I am, I host a brunch. Continuing a long family tradition, I serve black-eyed peas, collard greens and pork chops. In my family, these foods are considered lucky when you eat them to start off the year. The greens represent dollar bills, and the black-eyed peas symbolize coins. The pork is supposed to be for health, but I've always found that claim rather dubious.

There are other stories explaining why Southerners eat black-eyed peas, greens and pork on New Year's Day. One scenario blames it on the "War Between the States," during which Union soldiers regularly burned crops and raided Southern kitchens. Black-eyed peas were considered livestock feed, so the soldiers ignored fields of them. When they were finished taking or destroying everything they considered edible, Southerners made do with the rejects, which meant black-eyed peas, greens and hog jowls. So, for some Southern families, these foods are served in remembrance of their Confederate ancestors.

Each year on New Year’s Day, no matter how hung over I am, I host a brunch. Continuing a long family tradition, I serve black-eyed peas, collard greens and pork chops. In my family, these foods are considered lucky when you eat them to start off the year. The greens represent dollar bills, and the black-eyed peas symbolize coins. The pork is supposed to be for health, but I’ve always found that claim rather dubious.

There are other stories explaining why Southerners eat black-eyed peas, greens and pork on New Year’s Day. One scenario blames it on the “War Between the States,” during which Union soldiers regularly burned crops and raided Southern kitchens. Black-eyed peas were considered livestock feed, so the soldiers ignored fields of them. When they were finished taking or destroying everything they considered edible, Southerners made do with the rejects, which meant black-eyed peas, greens and hog jowls. So, for some Southern families, these foods are served in remembrance of their Confederate ancestors.

Here’s the beefI love steak. All kinds of steak. But steaks vary tremendously in flavor, texture and tenderness. The steak I might recommend may not be the best one for someone else's taste. For just that reason, I put together a "steak personality primer" to identify some of the differences between the different cuts and the people who like them.

For the purposes of this article, the term steak will refer to a choice cut of beef. While steaks are cut from many different kinds of animals, this is the most common. The best steaks come from the short loin, sirloin and rib sections of a cow, where muscle movement is minimal and fat content is high.
My favorite steak is the rib eye. Cut from the rib section, this is the juiciest of steaks. Also known as Spencer or Delmonico steak, this cut is a great piece of meat to throw in a blackening pan, since its marbling turns to juice when it touches the sizzling hot iron. If you're in the rib-eye camp, you (like me) think flavor is everything. You probably tend to shy away from frou-frou presentations and towards simple, rich foods.

Here’s the beefI love steak. All kinds of steak. But steaks vary tremendously in flavor, texture and tenderness. The steak I might recommend may not be the best one for someone else’s taste. For just that reason, I put together a “steak personality primer” to identify some of the differences between the different cuts and the people who like them.

For the purposes of this article, the term steak will refer to a choice cut of beef. While steaks are cut from many different kinds of animals, this is the most common. The best steaks come from the short loin, sirloin and rib sections of a cow, where muscle movement is minimal and fat content is high.
My favorite steak is the rib eye. Cut from the rib section, this is the juiciest of steaks. Also known as Spencer or Delmonico steak, this cut is a great piece of meat to throw in a blackening pan, since its marbling turns to juice when it touches the sizzling hot iron. If you’re in the rib-eye camp, you (like me) think flavor is everything. You probably tend to shy away from frou-frou presentations and towards simple, rich foods.