Side Dish -- Southern Style Cooked Greens
Submitted by dvdlee on August 27, 2004 at 10:15 am

DESCRIPTION
Side Dish -- Southern Style Cooked Greens

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Family / Ethnic / Regional

INSTRUCTIONS
This recipe (or in old-fashioned parlence - recipt) is from "A Taste of Country Cooking" by Edna Lewis (Kopf Pub.) a great cookbook in many ways. I bought my copy 2nd hand on-line at half.com.

Mrs. Lewis is a renowned black cook who grew up in a "free-town" established by former slaves after the Civil War in Virginia. Her recipes and book is a cultural treasure, not only of what they ate, but also of the culture. Her family was fairly well-to-do (as was the town) so much of what she describes IS part of Southern country cooking -- but it was not the hard-scrapple sharecropper cooking of the Deep South (the so-called "Black Belt"). Her cooking is a good place to start learning about Southern ethnic cooking since it displays a great understanding of the seasonal pattern of life of the Southern Farmer. Many of her "receipts" seem a little uncertain as to quantities, etc, but that's because there was no one right way to cook that preparation. Each cook tasted, and added more of this ingredient or less of that until they liked the taste they achieved, and then that was 'their' recipe. Usually the ingredients and food preparation technique remained the same; people just played with the proportions.

The same basic procedure is used for all greens. This quantity is listed as serving 4 to 5 people.

1. Remove large bitter stems and any old or discolored leaves.

2. If the greens are middle-aged or old, blanch them in a large pot of boiling water for 2--3 minutes. Plunge into cold/ice water to arrest cooking after the blanching.

1/2 to 1 lb. of pork (preferably smoked shoulder) (DvdLee: smoked ham hocks are also used, but only use 1/2 lb.)
1 quart water (32 oz)
2 1/2 to 3 POUNDS leafy greens

Cook the pork in the water (bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer) in a 2 to 3 quart saucepan for around 30-90 minutes - depending on how long you have and how tender the pork is. (For hocks, I would cook 30-40 minutes.)

When done, remove the pork, bring the liquid to a boil, and then add the greens into the pot. Pack it into the pot as it will shrink massively as it is heated and cooked. Cook uncovered over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until greens are done. Remove pot from the burner and partially cover the pot with a lid. Let the greens steep in the juices until serving time (at least 2 to 3 hours, more is fine.). To serve, reheat greens, drain and serve. Have the "pot likker" (liquid from the greens) available on the side for those to add to their own greens. Also have a small cruet of cider vinegar available for those who like to add that.

Whenever you serve greens, you should serve cornbread as well. (Lots of people put the pot likker on the cornbread), or use the cornbread to sop up the greens with vinegar juices.)