Soul Food Collard Greens

Collard Greens and Ham Hocks

Found in Soul Food Recipes Learned On A North
Carolina Tobacco Farm by Willie Crawford
http://Chitterlings.com/cookbook.html

and
One Inch From The Top by Cajun Clark
(used with Willie's permission in Caj's book).
Text her is from Caj's book...
http://chitterlings.com/cajun.html

Collard greens are a very nutritious and inexpensive treat.
When I was growing up, my grandmother would buy about 50
cents worth of collard seeds and this would grow enough
collard greens to feed us for the entire year.

That 50 cents worth of seeds would produce hundreds of
collard plants in our North Carolina backyard garden.
-- "Soul Food" Brother Willie.

Ingredients:
-2 or 3 medium smoked ham hocks, or 2 pounds smoked pork
neck bones
-5 pounds of collards or several large bunches (If you can't
get them fresh, frozen will do.)
-2 teaspoons of salt

Note: If you used frozen collards, simply pour them frozen
right from the package to the pot. If you use smoked neck bones,
they usually don't take as long to cook as ham hocks.

"Soul Food" Brother Willie continues: "My favorite way to cook
collard greens is very simple. I take 2 or 3 smoked ham hocks
and put them in a large (6 quart) pot of water.

Bring the water to a rolling boil and let it boil for about
1 1/2 hours. Add more water as it boils down. The idea is to
boil the ham hocks until they begin to fall apart. You want
the ham hocks to be falling apart before you add the collard
greens. You should always cook pork very thoroughly and use
proper food handling techniques.

"Take the collard greens and separate the leaves (if fresh).
Now rinse each leaf individually under cold running water.
After you rinse the collard greens thoroughly, stack several
leaves on top of each other. Roll these leaves together.
Then slice the leaves into thin strips using a cutting board and
large knife. Rolling them together speeds up the process as you
are slicing through several leaves at once.

"Next, add your collard greens to the pot. Since this is a lot
of collards, you will need to add them until the pot is full.
Then allow them to wilt as they cook -- then add more. Add your
salt, cover and cook for about 30 minutes on medium heat. Stir
every few minutes to distribute the smoked meat taste evenly.

Taste to confirm they are the tenderness you prefer. Serve with
your favorite meat dish such as chitterlings. Eat the ham hocks
or neck bones right along with the collards.

People in my neck of the woods usually sprinkle lots of hot
sauce on their collards. I like them that way. Give it a try.

"Also, since this is a large pot full, just save the extras in
the refrigerator. They should keep for a long time and actually
get better as the juices settle in."