Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Collard Greens.....Advice Southern Guys

I love them! Being born and raised in Nebraska I don't think I even tried them until I was in my 30's and the first couple times I was underwhelmed. Then I had them at a little diner in GA. Holy crap I thought I'd died and gone to food heaven. I know there are a million recipes on line for them, but I'd love to hear some "how grandma did it recipes".

Mike

I learned to eat the greens in the US Army. The best I can do now is canned.

I am like wabigoon. I just buy a large can of collards and add two ham hocks to them and put them in my smoker and let them simmer for a couple of hours. I did these for my mothers birthday cook a couple of weeks ago and all the guests who tried them ask where I got the fresh collards at.

Mike we eat so many Collard Greens when I was growing up that we had to tie coal oil rags around our ankles to keep cut worms from eating us up. I still love them. Most grocery stores carry them. Wash them good a couple times. Cook them with a couple pieces of salt pork. Cook them down good till tender. I like onion cut up in chunks in mine also. What make them really taste good is find you some good cracklings and make your cornbred with a handful of the cracklings in the mix. Fix some candid yams {sweet taters} and enjoy. Fried ham goes well with them also.

Thanks glosto. We have a little cajun restaurant about ten minutes from our house. The owner was born and raised in LA and his greens are money. Fact is they know now when I order a side of greens I mean a soup bowl full, not that little 6 oz. side cup crap.

Mike

I put some ham chunks and sliced jalapeños in my big stockpot, along with 3-4 inches of water. Boil it a little while, then pack the pot full of greens, top with some salt and a few tablespoons of melted bacon grease, and put the lid on. Add crushed red pepper toward the end if the pot liquor needs more heat. I do cabbage much the same way, but greens are my favorite.

If you have the equipment, you’ll probably want to cook them outside your house! Also, we always add some vinegar into the mix after they begin to cook down and get tender.

All of the above methods are good. However, I would add that it is best to remove the thicker stems from the leaves before cooking with a sharp knife on a cutting board or just use some scissors. This makes them more tender. And, don't leave out the ham, ham hocks, hog jowl, or bacon when cooking. Got to have some sort of hog seasoning. As Alton Brown would say, Good Eats!

I have some still growing in the high tunnel. Picked enough to eat the other day, but too much going on over Christmas, so they're still sitting in the fridge.

Render some bacon. Save the bacon to add back in. Wilt then saute your stemless greens in your drippings along with onion, garlic, a pinch of red pepper flakes and black pepper (no salt yet). When all are soft add a good quality chicken broth. Add bacon back in. Once simmering I add the zest of a lemon a squeeze of it's juice. Cook till tender. Taste for salt. Enjoy with cornbread.

BP...

There are also beet tops, mustard greens, Swiss chard, and some more I forget just now.

The best greens I ever ate were at Mary Mac's Tea Room in Atlanta, Georgia. The restaurant itself is incredible and the food is amazing, never met a Mary Mac dish I didn't fall in love with.

Lynn

Also, when I eat greens of any kind I love to pour pepper sauce over them.

Pepper sauce is a must!

This recipe is outstanding. Of course I used fresh collards from my garden, so I am sure that helped! Splash em with apple cider vinegar!


https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/grandma-s-collard-greens/

Mustard and collards are my favorite greens.

Buy a fresh bunch or two. Remove the spine. Cut to whatever size you like. I like about 1”x2”.
Wash in a bowl of cold water and set aside.

Heat up a stock pot and put your meat in. I often use bacon but andouille or polish sausage works great too. Salt pork, ham, whatever you want. Toss in a chicken wing, mix and match..... Fry it up and put a little color on it.

Drain excess grease and thow in a whole diced onion. Cook onion for 5 minutes or so. Just until translucent. Add 2-5 whole cloves of garlic. I don’t chop it, just kinda smash it a bit. Add in your greens.

Add about 3 cups of chicken stock, a pinch of sugar, a bit of red pepper flake, salt (maybe. Taste first.) and a dollop of white vinegar. Simmer for about an hour. Season to taste and eat.

A chopped carrot in with the onion is also great! Lends a bit of natural sweetness.

When I was in elementary school the lunch ladies used to cook greens the day after maintenance ran the big mowers over they playgrounds. Some sense of humor.

I've been cooking them for the New Year for (and other times) for 28 years. There are five of us families that have gathered this day for all those years....I do the peas, greens and cornbread. For my greens I have used frozen or fresh and have never followed a specific recipe but what I typically do is several cups of water, hamhock (scored a bit), greens, fresh cracked S&P (this year I had some alder smoked salt), a good spoon of bacon drippins, about 2-3 Tbsp's of raw cane sugar, 2-3 pores of some pepper sauce (I have a bottle of homemade that I started for this event 28 years ago in a Grolsch flip top bottle), about half an onion, maybe a few dashes of crystal hot sauce, and some garlic. Most of the spices are added in along the way as it cooks, testing the taste and adjusting according to taste. Enjoy!...YMMV It's not hard, you just have to tend to them for an hour and a half or so.

I have been eating collard greens for 70+ years and I will share a little secret. Collard greens are 100 per cent better after they have had a heavy frost or light freeze on them. That makes them much sweeter and develops much better taste.