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The Eater asks: How Do You Cook Your Collards?

eaterlogo1A good many replies to a recent inquiry by The Eater on collards.
Here are some of the responses:
Here are the replies The Eater received to the question ‘How Do You Cook Your Collards’

Kevin Callaghan — To start – saute onions in fat. We use bacon fat but any good cooking oil will do. And probably more onions than people think and plenty of salt. Cook for about 10 – 15 minutes. Add red pepper flakes at this point and cook for an additional minute to infuse fat with the heat. Add water or chicken stock (1/4 of the pot that is being used) and bring to a strong boil. Taste liquid for salt. Then add collards. They should fill the pot. The leaves must be unstemmed and chopped – but not too finely. Stir the greens into the liquid and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until greens are becoming tender. Note: fresh, local greens will cook more quickly than larger leaved, commercially grown collards. Remove cover and continue to cook to let water steam out.When greens are cooked to desired tenderness and water is mostly gone, add cider vinegar. You can, of course, not add vinegar and let people add it themselves at the table. Serve hot with cornbread and buttermilk fried chicken! Hope this helps.

Bryon Settle — I remove most of the stem. Rough chop. I actually put in shredded smoked/cured meat of some sort. Chop up an onion, saute until soft. Add the meat. Brown somewhat. Add the collards. Cover with water by about two inches. Here’s where I differ with the traditional cooking method: I boil them for about thirty minutes instead of an hour or more. I like a lot of fat on the meat so I can get that greasy flavor/texture in there. I don’t salt until they’re cooked. The cured meat will usually release a lot of salt. Smoked meat, not so much.

Susan Tice-Lewis — cooking collards does require good ventilation! I love them but they’ll stink up your house…

Gary Phillips — Just like my mama I parboil my greens for a few minutes and then saute them in bacon grease (or olive oil if Ilana is watching) and onions. If I do the vegetarian version I like to crumble some feta cheese over the collards.

Mark Marcoplos — Before sauteeing, boil the greens briefly to take some of the toughness out.

Wes Armstrong — Depends on whether you want a traditional recipe or a apologist’s recipe. I favor the apologists recipes above. Mr. Reibers recipe is good, if you want chiffonade. Bill Smiths is good if you like whole or torn leaves. Formerly, I would have said steam, using the beginnings of Bill Smith’s recipe. However, now I would follow it completely. I enjoy the leaves cooked, not warm and raw.

I am working on a recipe that uses the chiffonade but treats the collards as the base of a seaweed salad recipe.

Something different for a cold day.

Oh, and please don’t use olive oil.

Sally Heiney — Um, I’m carefully studying Bill’s recommendation, but what about the lots of butter part?

Bill Smith — Wilt rough chopped onions in bacon grease in a large pot. Meanwhile, stem and shred collards by hand and wash in hot water. Shake water off collards as you add them to the onion pot. Cover with cool water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, season with salt, crushed red pepper and a ham bone if you have one. Cook until tender but not mushy, usually around a hour and fifteen minutes aftedr they begin to boil, but check.

Holden Richards — a long time that is for sure…

Dave Perry — i ask my mom to.

Amy Collier Elinoff — I cook em with dulse instead of pork, a la Ann Jackson. It works, it really does –

Julie Sneed Moore — with a big ole ham hock.

Chris Riser — Boil together water, a few sliced onions, a couple cloves of chopped garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper pods (or flakes), a little bit of sugar, and a few tablespoons (at least) of bacon fat. Let all that boil up real good while you prep the greens. If the leaves are big, cut out the stalk/center vein. Chop/slice/whatever. Throw the greens in the … See Morewater, turn down the heat, and cook them til they’re the way you like them – I like them cooked long enough to get the pot likker reduced pretty good and kind of a gold/green/brown color.

Penny Rich — Being a Jew from New York City, who has only been eating collards for about 15 years, I cook them in a big soup pot, olive oil, tons of onions and garlic, salt and pepper. Cook just until wilted – don’t over cook. Right before serving splash with a nice balsamic vinegar. YUM! I love southern food traditions.

John Rieber — rinse ’em and stack ’em up. slice the ribs out. pile the half-leaves on top of each other and slice ’em thin. heat some olive oil in your pan, and throw in a chopped onion and some chopped chiles, or several tbsps of dried red pepper flakes. when the onion’s right, add some form of pig. hocks, bacon. fill pot with water and add collards by the handful. cook until the leaves are soft and the pot likker’s good…an hour at least. serve with pepper vinegar sauce.

Mike Nelson — sautee ’em in a large skillet with garlic, french style. don’t over cook, leave ’em with some ‘tooth’

Bett Wilson Essen — I take a pair of scissors and cut collards into skinny little strips and drop them into whatever I am cooking, ie soup, scrambled eggs, etc. Adds flavor and depth. Yum!

Buddy Kelly — cut ’em long ways, add water & salt, pepper, spices of your choice, big flat pan, simmer on low for an hour, stir every now & then, eat ’em w/ pork & black eyed peas on New Years Day, and hollar @ us when ready !