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What the heck are collard greens?

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Matlock

Banned
I just had them for the first time today (alongside some great barbecue ribs) and thought they were alright...but what are they?
 

DMczaf

Member
Matlock said:
I just had them for the first time today (alongside some great barbecue ribs) and thought they were alright...but what are they?

WTF?!?!?! Collard greens are life, and life is collard greens!
 
Southerners love their greens. A time-honored tradition in southern kitchens, greens have held an important place on the table for well over a century, and there is no other vegetable that is quite so unique to the region. Greens are any sort of cabbage in which the green leaves do not form a compact head. They are mostly kale, collards, turnip, spinach, and mustard greens.

the South, a large quantity of greens to serve a family is commonly referred to as a "mess o' greens." The exact quantity that constitutes a "mess" varies with the size of the family.

The traditional way to cook greens is to boil or simmer slowly with a piece of salt pork or ham hock for a long time (this tempers their tough texture and smoothes out their bitter flavor) until they are very soft.

Typically, greens are served with freshly baked corn bread to dip into the pot-likker. Pot likker is the highly concentrated, vitamin-filled broth that results from the long boil of the greens. It is, in other words, the "liquor" left in the pot.

The cooking of greens came with the arrival of African slaves to the southern colonies and the need to satisfy their hunger and provide food for their families. The slaves of the plantations were given the leftover food from the plantation kitchen. Some of this food consisted of the tops of turnips and other greens. Ham hocks and pig's feet were also given to the slaves. Forced to create meals from these leftovers, slaves created the famous southern greens. One-pot meals also represent a tradtional method of food preparation, which is linked directly back to West Africa.

In spite of what some consider their unpleasant smell, reaction to the smell of cooking greens separates true southern eaters from wannabes.

According to folklore, collards served with black-eyed peas and hog jowl on New Year's Day promises a year of good luck and financial reward, hanging a fresh leaf over your door will ward off evil spirits, and a fresh leaf placed on the forehead promises to cure a headache.
 
No the greens don't contain pig fat but the broth is often made of left over pig parts feet, jawls, or hocks. Some people now use turkey instead but, it changes the flavor it's not as "rich".
 
Tommie Hu$tle said:
No the greens don't contain pig fat but the broth is often made of left over pig parts feet, jawls, or hocks. Some people now use turkey instead but, it changes the flavor it's not as "rich".

I had some at the Atlanta airport... it was the healthiest-looking thing available at a certain store. I wanted to try out sterotypical southern food.

And WTF is with those rooms full of smokers?
 
eggplant said:
I had some at the Atlanta airport... it was the healthiest-looking thing available at a certain store. I wanted to try out sterotypical southern food.

And WTF is with those rooms full of smokers?


It's about the the hyprocracy of the south. Want the healthiest food in the airport? Then you need to eat it next to the most unhealthy place in the airport second to being inside the fuel depot.
 

sc0la

Unconfirmed Member
I love some greens. We used to live in a house where our neighbor was black and his wife was Philipino. We used to have bad assed double barbecues with Greens, ribs with homemade BBQ sauce, lumpia and a whole host of other philipino treats and we would make potato salad and other stuff.

Bomb as shit. *tummy growls*
 
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