Sunday Table · Autumn and winter
Collard Greens
Bacon, onion, and a long gentle simmer. Collards are done when the stem is tender, not when the clock says so.
1 hour 15 minutes · Serves 6 · One pot
“You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 bunches of collard greens, stems stripped, leaves cut into ribbons
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- ½ tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Method
- 1
Cook the bacon in a large pot over medium heat until the fat renders and the pieces brown. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes.
- 2
Add the collards in handfuls. They shrink. Stir until they wilt and fit in the pot. Add the broth, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- 3
Cover and simmer 40 to 60 minutes, until the thickest stem piece is tender when you bite it. Stir once or twice and add a splash of water if the pot goes dry.
- 4
Taste for salt. The bacon does some of it. Uncover for the last 5 minutes if there is more broth than you want.
From the kitchen
- A bitter pot usually needed more time, or the greens were very large and old. Another 15 minutes and the vinegar already in the pot are the first fixes.
- Wash the leaves in a deep bowl of water. Sand settles. Lifting the leaves out, instead of pouring, leaves the sand behind.
My note
Kept on this device, beside the recipe, for the next time you cook it.
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