Eat Your Likker

Now is the time to weigh the importance of the slotted spoon--the kind found on linen-topped tables from Christmas Eve to New Year’s. For, at least in the South, this is the time of year when we serve soups and soup-like things. For New Year’s, for instance, no Southern table would be complete without a generous serving of turnip greens and another of black-eyed peas. The turnip greens are to ensure greenbacks all year, the black-eyed peas good luck.

These two dishes will sit well on the buffet table, ready when you are, to be doled out on fine china or paper plates. And that’s where the trouble starts.

Ideally, the best plates for these two renowned recipes are those ugly little lipped bowls found at cheap buffet restaurants. Made of a material that quickly gets stained by the foods and never seems quite clean, these small bowls nevertheless can be placed easily on a plate with corn bread and ham, and the contents won’t slosh around too much. They prevent the juices of one thing running into another, which I personally don’t mind, though many other people seem to.

But, of course, no one wants to serve soup bowls on New Year’s Day. I believe it was this kind of dilemma that led to the development of the slotted spoon, which is antithetical to good eating. This was brought home to me when I was having lunch recently with my mother’s garden club at the Blue Willow, in Social Circle, Ga.

I love this restaurant. It serves wonderful country food. It has only one flaw: slotted spoons. A slotted spoon on a buffet line means you can’t get the juices of the turnip greens and black-eyed peas. So when you put the greens or peas on top of corn bread, you don’t have any potLikker (the technical name for the juice) to soften the bread.

Fortunately, I have a solution to this muddle. It won’t please the eaters but it will please the cooks. Save the juices from turnip greens and black-eyed peas and other really tasty things. Turnip green potlikker is perfect for a potlikker turnip green soup. Save the black-eyed peas potlikker and cook rice in it to make hoppin’ John, the black-eyed pea and rice dish that is also popular on New Year’s Day.

Here are a couple of my favorite soupy dishes, to give you pleasure and good potlikkers.

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TURNIP GREENS

3 pounds turnip or collard greens, washed and drained

8 cups chicken broth or stock

1/4 to 1/3 pound fatback (salt pork)

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Hot pepper sauce, optional

Remove thick stems from cleaned greens. Rinse several times in cold water until greens are free of sandy soil. Bring 6 cups broth to boil in large pan. Rinse fatback. Cut in slices or cubes and add to broth. Add greens. Return to boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer 2 hours.

Remove greens with slotted spoon and chop coarsely. Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce. Add remaining 2 cups broTh to pan, if needed, to make 5 cups. Just before serving, return greens to broth and reheat.

Serve greens with juice (potlikker) in bowl, or reserve likker for another use. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

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BLACK-EYED PEAS, TRADITIONAL STYLE

4 cups fresh or frozen black-eyed peas or 2 cups dried

4 (3-inch) pieces fatback (salt pork)

2 hot chiles, optional

Place peas, water to cover, fatback and hot chiles in heavy saucepan and bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until peas are tender, about 1 hour. Remove chiles. Serve peas with juice, or reserve for another use. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Note: Place dried peas in enough water to cover, bring to boil, turn off heat and let stand 1 hour. Drain and proceed with recipe.