Collards!

I cooked a huge cast iron skillet full of them yesterday for the families that joined us.

1. Boiled some country ham hocks sliced up into small diced cubes for a couple hours first and saved the broth with the cooked ham pieces.
2. Washed collards several times to remove all dirt and any possible pesticide residue left clinging.
3. Poured about a couple inches of the ham broth into my 15" cast iron skillet and started on high heat while cramming the skillet full. As they wilt simply keep cramming them into that huge skillet. (I'm convinced we were able to get at least 6 lbs of shredded collards in there.) They will keep wilting and when you have as many as you can get in there, put in the rest of the country ham broth. I put the lid on to help them wilt faster and cook down.
4. Keep cooking them on medium or a little higher if you can watch them closely and keep stirring them over and over in the skillet.

Some add onion, garlic, sugar, etc., but we usually stick with the process above and get quite a few hugs afterwards.

Collards in cast iron skillet 11.23.23.jpg
 
1/2 lb bacon, cooked, WITH grease, 1/2 lb smoked ham, three sweet onions, three cartons of chicken broth. Don’t get the store brand.
Wife corrected me. Four and A HALF pounds of collards before washing and cutting them up.

Wife prefers to cook them open.
 
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I never even liked collards until my wife set out to fill her mom’s shoes, who had gotten so old she stopped cooking maybe 8-9 years ago. The secret for us was, “keep cooking ‘em.”
 
Most of my family loves collards along with other greens. I enjoy the smell when there cooking but can't stand them. Same with spinach and other such rabbit food. You might as well grab a handful of the slimy trimmings under your lawnmower and eat that it's the exact same thing. And throwing any sort of meat in there is a complete waste of good meat. But to each there own. I'll eat all kinds of green beans and peas and such but just can't do the leafy stuff. I do like cabbage if it's deep fried in a shrimp or pork egg roll lol
 
Brangus said:
You will also need to grease up another cast iron skillet and cook a cake of corn bread in the oven while the collards are going through the process.

@fieldgrade
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Her mom made these magical little corn fritters that were more like “pancakes”. They were just wonderful. I think my first meal at her mom’s house after we had been dating two weeks was the reason I asked her to marry me a week later..
 
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Love collards, and always go heavy on the vinegar. What I did not realize until last time I made them was just how huge a difference it makes to take whole collards, remove the stems, and rough chop vs buying the bagged stuff that still has the stems on them. I can't really describe the difference, but the whole collards are always incredible and the pre-chopped stuff tasted like absolute dog water.
 
Supermatch said:
Love collards, and always go heavy on the vinegar. What I did not realize until last time I made them was just how huge a difference it makes to take whole collards, remove the stems, and rough chop vs buying the bagged stuff that still has the stems on them. I can't really describe the difference, but the whole collards are always incredible and the pre-chopped stuff tasted like absolute dog water.
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Same here. The ones I cooked yesterday were cleaned and shredded before I received them and some of the larger stem pieces were mixed all in them.

I too prefer whole collars and let me clean them myself as I fully intend to remove that big spine stem which is bitter and takes away from the flavor the collard leaf is famous for. Rough chop is the way to go.
 
HandyDave said:
Most of my family loves collards along with other greens. I enjoy the smell when there cooking but can't stand them. Same with spinach and other such rabbit food. You might as well grab a handful of the slimy trimmings under your lawnmower and eat that it's the exact same thing. And throwing any sort of meat in there is a complete waste of good meat. But to each there own. I'll eat all kinds of green beans and peas and such but just can't do the leafy stuff. I do like cabbage if it's deep fried in a shrimp or pork egg roll lol
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off to the ignore list you go
 
Wife cut that big spine out of all of them.

I know it’s rude to eat in front of y’all but I just got a couple of spoonfuls. This pot liquor might be the best batch yet. These greens might not need to cook so long.
 
Supermatch said:
Love collards, and always go heavy on the vinegar.
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Now ya talkin' my friend. I love to keep some hot pepper canned in vinegar close by and I always keep some genuine Lumbee Indian homemade chow-chow on hand for collards, Dixie Lee peas, etc.

Put all of that on the table with some hot cornbread and have at it.
 
Supermatch said:
Love collards, and always go heavy on the vinegar. What I did not realize until last time I made them was just how huge a difference it makes to take whole collards, remove the stems, and rough chop vs buying the bagged stuff that still has the stems on them. I can't really describe the difference, but the whole collards are always incredible and the pre-chopped stuff tasted like absolute dog water.
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Along with the vinegar, got to add some heat! I prefer crushed peppers but in a pinch, hot sauce will get me by.
 
We were at the Farmers Market in Raleigh today and the guy who normally has “baby” collards had none. This was new to me, baby collards.

Would I need to feel guilty cooking them, like the veal thread?
 
fieldgrade said:
We were at the Farmers Market in Raleigh today and the guy who normally has “baby” collards had none. This was new to me, baby collards.

Would I need to feel guilty cooking them, like the veal thread?
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They never get a chance to really live life....

Delicious!
 
I love collards. My grandmother thought me to cook when I was 5 or 6 .. She would go out to the farm their friend had and get what we call cabbage collards they bunched up like kind of like a cabbage but they were so good we took them home washed them good stripped all the veins out of the collards and washed and rinsed them 3 or 4 times. Then put the greens in a very large pot and covered with water. Boiled for 2 or 3 hours on low boil and then drained them. The put all of it in cast iron pan and cooked them till most of the to water was cooked out. Then added bacon grease and crushed red pepper 🌶️.and as they were cooking I used a hand chopper to chop them up. Added a dash of hot sauce and some vinegar. Cover pan and turn off the heat and let em sit. Then plated up what we wanted to eat and ate em till we were about to bust. Oh and used another cast iron pan to fry some corn bread. 52685.jpeg
 
They sell collards chopped in a bag? I thought the only way they came was in a field where you go out and cut the heads off them!
 
After the young tinder leaves cook down 5-10 minutes max, cut them with two knives, like scissors, no chopping, and enjoy with homemade hot pepper vinegar.

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Everything at Red Neck BBQ Lab outside Benson is great, except the rough cut, cooked to al dente, collards. Collards are meant to be sliced fine, and cooked with fatty pieces of pig until just above mushy. They smell great, taste even better, the pot liquor is wonderful, and the health effect on me is noticeable. In fact, I have to run right now just thinking about it.

Oh, wait. That's the Johnston County collards from yesterday my first mother-in-law cooked for me kicking in.
 
I will only eat collards if they've been processed correctly:
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Thanks FG! Now I want some collards! And I don’t have time to make and eat them today!
 
Love 'em. My mom made the best. I miss her cooking.

I have cousins with a large garden, they'll just pull them, wash them, and right into the pan. Soooo good.
 
I just cooked 11 lbs of cabbage collards right before Thanksgiving. Got them at the Farmer's Market. I buy the whole leaves that are sold in bunches rubberbanded together. Cook my hamhock and country side meat for about 3 hours. Wash the collards several times and rough cut them so they will fit in my pot and cook them for about 2 hours. I do take out the meat before I add the collards. Add some chicken broth, red pepper and a table spoon of sugar. I found that if you let them sit in the pot liquor overnight they get really tender. Then I chop the collards.
 
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