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Real Southern Collards

Source of Recipe

From "Country Cooking From a Redneck Kitchen" by Francine Bryson


Recipe Introduction

"Collards ought to be the one thing that everyone is required by law to know how to make if you have any state in the South listed on your birth certificate or you move below the Mason-Dixon line. They are so under-appreciated and yet are a truly wonderful vegetable. I hope you enjoy the way that I was taught to make them. That is to say, may you hear angels singing as you eat them - sprinkled with vinegar or pepper sauce, of course."

List of Ingredients

• ½ pound fatback, sliced (optional)
• ½ pound smoked hog jowl, cut into chunks
• 2 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 large bunches collard greens, center ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
• Salt and black pepper
• Pepper sauce or more distilled white vinegar, for serving


Recipe

In a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, cook the fatback (if using) and hog jowl until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the fatback and jowl from the pot and set aside on a plate. Reserve one quarter of the drippings in the pot.

Pour 4 cups water into the pot with the drippings, add the white vinegar and sugar, and bring to a boil. Add one third of the greens to the pot and cook, stirring frequently until wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Fish out the greens and put on a big plate. Repeat twice using the remaining greens.

Return all the greens, the fatback, and jowl to the pot and reduce the heat to low. Add 1 cup water and simmer very gently, stirring once or twice, until the collards are tender, about 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper. Serve ladles of the greens with hot sauce or vinegar for sprinkling on top.

Serves 8 to 10