Greens and salt pork

Collard greens....my favorite!

Before you say "YUK!" have you tried them cooked with salt pork?  It is divine!

I start with three.....yes, three....bunches of collards for the hubster and myself.  Yep.  Three whole bunches for one meal.  That is how good these are.  We will have some type of meat dish with this, and fill our plates with collards.  Tonight it will be leftover pork from the shoulder I cooked the other day.

First, I dice and brown some salt pork.  Bacon will do, but I really like this with salt pork.  Besides, bacon is too precious when I have a bunch of salt pork in the freezer.

While that is cooking, I cut the stems off the leaves. 

Next, I wash each leaf and stack it for cutting.  You can certainly toss the whole leaves in the pot, and I will do this when in a hurry, but I also like to pre-cut the leaves into bite-sized pieces.

I add the cut leaves to the browned salt pork and the grease that has rendered out.  Be careful....the leaves are wet and it will splatter when you add them to the pot.  Hot grease splatters HURT!  Use caution and good sense for this step.

Then add some water, maybe a half a cup, and put the lid on.  Leave this to simmer on low for....well.....maybe 40 minutes to an hour.  Lift the lid on occasion and turn the greens, making sure the water has not cooked out.  If it has, add a bit more.

Be sure to chop the stems for your goats (or pigs or rabbits or whatever you might have...or your compost pile.)  Goats LOVE collard stems!

For a video instructional, check out my quick collard cooking tutorial on youtube.

Life is good!

Have you had your greens today?