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well, the photo says it all - jump in a freezing ocean for New Year's Day!
I'm not kidding - we did it Jan 1 2000 and I can tell you it is an extraordinary hangover cure.

Then go home and eat some blackeyed peas for luck.

We're talking about getting tamales at my house, because we want to set the tone for the rest of the year to be full of tamales . . . or we might go out for dim sum . . .

really, it's not as peculiar as it sounds

I was just working on New Year's Day food myself. My family legend has it that you shouldn't eat chicken on New Year's Day or you'll scratch and scratch (for money) all year.

I like to make pigeon peas and rice with bacon. I think I got the recipe from the Times.

Chris,

Can you give us the recipe? That sounds delicious, and quite like one of the recipes I'll be suggesting.

I just found the recipe! The article explains that eating this on New Year's Day is good luck. Silly, but delicious just the same.

It's called Hoppin' John. It's from Matt and Ted Lee from The New York Times (1/1/03):

HOPPIN' JOHN
1 hour 30 minutes, plus 4 hours' soaking

1 cup dried black-eyed peas or field peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 smoked hog jowl, or 1/4 pound (3 strips) thick-cut smoked bacon
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt
5 or 6 peeled whole tomatoes, or half a 28-ounce can, drained (optional)
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice.

1. Wash the peas in a strainer, and soak them for 4 hours in ample fresh water. When ready, heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a 4-quart pot, and brown the hog jowl on both sides. (If using bacon, omit the olive oil, and simply render the fat in the pot for 5 minutes.) Add onion, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add 6 cups water, black pepper, red pepper and salt, and bring to a boil.
2. Let mixture boil 10 minutes, and then add peas. Maintain a low boil, uncovered, until peas are nearly tender (25 minutes for black-eyed peas, 30 minutes for field peas). In a bowl, lightly crush tomatoes, and add to pot. Add rice to pot, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 20 minutes.
3. Turn off flame, and allow hoppin' John to steam in pot, lid on, for 5 minutes. If using hog jowl, remove from pot, and shred meat. Fluff hoppin' John, and add shredded jowl. Serve.

Yield: 6 servings.



They also have an option for Saigon Hoppin' John that includes ginger, lemon grass and cilantro.

blackeyed peas and rice for luck; collard greens for money.

neither one is very breakfasty, though--you just put those on the pot to be ready by afternoon, when you're hungry again. (yes, the greens, too. in the south we cook everything to death...at least twice over. you might just want to saute the greens quickly in a little bacon fat with a sweet vinegar and red pepper to get something a lot more appetizing.)

a mexican omelet (black beans, tomato, and cheese filling) spiced with lots of cayenne and cumin would be a great way to cut through a hangover....

Stuffed French Toast. French bread, cream cheese, homemade fruit syrups... Also, it can be made the day before, all but the cooking. That's always helpful for me.

if i had room to entertain, there was a recipe in the latest domino that i am dying to try
simple eggs benedict
basically you put canadian bacon, eggs and an english muffin in each individual cup of a silicone cupcake "tray" bake and then serve with hollondaise!
sounds delish, open to improvisation, and MUCH easier than poaching 12 eggs individually!

i think i would do it with crab meat as opposed to canadian bacon, or maybe little individual omelettes, with cheese and bacon mixed into the scrambled eggs, or chives and feta, or salsa and cotija, or, or! oh my god, the possiblities are just ENDLESS!
mmm.. hungry!

My family was famous for new year's day brunches when I was growing up.

We'd borrow a bunch of waffle irons from everyone we know, make up a huge batch of batter, set out OJ, bacon and sausage, and a big bar of waffle fixings (syrup, whipped cream and strawberries, ice cream, etc.) and fire up the irons. For some reason, it was always the men who were in charge of waffle-making.

Perhaps not the highest-brow brunch, but it was a good way to feed a big party and it tasted good, too.

Hmmm.... what a great idea.

Start off with really small bloody mary's or mimosas for people as they arrive.

First course could be a tiny portion of (runny) scrambled eggs with caviar. This is a great festive brunch food to get the juices going. Wash this down with a good Champagne.

While I'm usually into multiple savory courses, since this is a New Year's day brunch, I'm going to propose something slightly different.

For the second and main course, serve a Seven-Hour Leg of Lamb (Molly Stevens and Anthony Bourdain both have great recipes for this fork tender lamb dish). Serve it with some wonderful fruit Moroccan cous-cous and a large Greek Salad. Drink this with a big, fruity red.

Now (and here's where the multiple courses come back into play), for dessert, I propose you perpare a small buffet which could include:

Sacher Torte or any good layered chocolate cake
Mini-cupcakes
Small creme brulées set in shot glasses
Apple tart
Small brownies or blondies
Homemade ice cream
... among other things

This gets served with more Champagne or really good coffee for those in need of caffeine.

Cheers!

For the record, folks, yum to all of the above! Thanks so much for all of your responses. If my brunch goes poorly, I'll nothing to blame but inadequate execution on my part. That, and a collective of bleary-eyed, hungover guests, of course.

I too have been tempted to do the simple eggs benedict from Domino...seems almost TOO easy.

A recipe I've been meaning to try for ages now is the "Creme Brulee French Toast" recipe available on Epicurious. I think it'd be a great New Year's Day brunch dish as it can be prepped the day before and is simply baked in the oven morning of. Challah french toast would be such a treat.

This past weekend I just made an overnight coffeecake from the LA Times and it was everyone's favorite at my holiday brunch. It's fairly simple, but extremely elegant and lends itself to lots of different adaptations. Plus, the bulk of the work can be done the day before. Here's a link to a picture on my site: http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6826/1837/1600/PC180005.jpg and here's the recipe: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-overnightdec07,1,3670273.story?coll=la-headlines-food

Would anyone care to post the specifics of the Domino simple eggs benedict recipe? I looove EB and have a great blender hollandaise, but I can't handle poaching eggs for more than two people.

Is the recipe in the issue that's currently on newstands? Thanks!

i am big on getting as much of the cooking done before the guests arrive, so i would probably skip the eggs and make a couple of quiches or fratattas the night before and just pop them in the oven.... but if you go make eggs, I love to scramble them with Grana Padana and chives and put big slices of avacado dressed with a little lemon salt and pepper on top.... it never fails to be gobbled up...... and it is great with some rosted sweet potatoes, just roast them like you would roast regular potaotes with garlic, rosemary olive oil and s and p

Doesn't the waffle idea sound great? We'll be doing that for Christmas morning, can't wait. Or maybe the challah french toast somebody mentioned, that would also be wonderful.

As for New Year's brunch, dim sum might be a good idea -- best hangover food I've ever had. We actually make ours (just a few things) and it's a bit labor intensive but really worth it. You could go pick some up in Chinatown on Dec. 31st and just re-steam everything the next morning... Yum, maybe cha-siu-bao, I can't make that one.

Just as a head's up... I made the EB recipe from that issue of Domino and didn't like it. I think that the time is over estimated in the magizine. It tasted okay and would have been just fine if we weren't expecting the deliciousness of Eggs Benedict. Plus, it sort of looked like I had cooked it in a muffin tin, since, well...

My recommendation-- if you want to go breakfasty (and none of the very tasty suggestions above sound quite right) try simple baked eggs. You can make them in ramekins a bit in advace and just pop them into a bain marie sort of set up when people start arriving. Chives, good cheese... Serve with good bread and salad... and lots of Bloody Marys.

We go for Dim Sum in Chinatown. Vitamin grease to help us off the liquored up festivities from the night before.

here you go! (to tell the truth, i'd just take this idea and run with it!)

fake eggs benedict (from a magazine)
makes 12 (serves 6) *shrug*

the stuff:
-non-stick cooking spray
-12 eggs
-12 slices canadian bacon
-6 english muffins, split
-6 tbsps butter, softened
-bennie sauce
-snipped chives for garnish
-silicone muffin trays

--fake hollondaise sauce
-1/2 c. mayo
-2 tbsp. dijon mustard
-1 tsp. cayenne
-1 tsp. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
combine all ingredientsin bowl and mix well

for eggs
1. preheat oven to 375. put two 6-cup silicone muffin trays on a baking sheet, coat with no-stick spray. crack an egg into each cup
2.cover each egg w/canadian bacon
3. butter the english muffins and palce them buttered side down on top of the bacon. bake for 15 mins.
4.remove from oven and rest 5 mins. cover muffin pan with platter, flip over. squeeze each muffin cup to release, the carefully remove
5.rtop each egg with spoon of fake hollandaise
6. garnish w/ chives

In my neck of the woods, the traditional good luck dish is pork and saurkraut.

Any guesses as to where I'm from?

its gotta be somewhere around the great lakes!
what kind of pork?
is this somethign like chocroute, my favorite dish in the world????

I bet you are from Pennsylvania. That's what we had for dinner today--for good luck. :)