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Poquito Loco

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 12:32:34 -0400, wrote:

On Tue, 24 Jun 2014 10:40:55 -0400, Poquito Loco
wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 20:58:41 -0400, wrote:

On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 13:12:18 -0400, Poquito Loco
wrote:

...or just 'collards' as they're properly called are a tasty green. You like 'em or you don't. My
wife is in the 'don't' category. She can't stand the smell of them cooking. I like 'em - a lot. So,
here's a way to cook 'em that tastes pretty doggone good:

Collard Greens

Grocery store bag full of Collards
Large onion
4-5 cloves garlic
5 slices bacon
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 cup Balsamic vinegar
½ tsp red pepper flakes (or something hot)

Wash and de-stem collards (don't worry about small stems).

Roll collard leaves and cut rolls about 1" wide. Boil about a cup of water in a pot and put all the
greens in the pot with the boiling water. Cover and let cook for about 12 minutes. Drain.

In the pot, fry the bacon after cutting into 1" pieces. Don't let it get done, as it will cook in
the collards.

Chop onions and garlic, add to balsamic vinegar, sugar, and hot pepper. Put collards back in pot and
add the ingredients, onions, etc. Stir, being sure to get the bacon pieces and fat mixed in well.
Cover and simmer for about one hour. Add a little water if necessary.

I use the meaty parts of hog jowls (rinse off the excess salt).
Brown them well along with the onions and garlic then deglaze the pan
with some bourbon and use beef broth instead of water. Dump in the
greens and simmer.
I have decided turnip greens are better than the collards. They are
very similar tho.

I love turnip greens too. I think they're a tad milder than collards, but not as mild as kale. If
I'd had any fatback, I'd have used that. But, real thick sliced bacon works pretty well. I usually
add only about a quarter to half cup of water - not enough to open a can of beef broth. A beef
bouillon cube may work pretty well in that mess though.

You must be getting a smaller bag of greens than they sell here.
I usually buy the broth in the resealable cardboard container tho so i
just add what I want.

I like the meaty part of a hog jowl and cut back on the fat a bit. If
you cube it up and brown it well, (on the edge of burning) you get
plenty of flavor. Then deglaze the bits up off the bottom of the pan
to get that back in the mix. I keep a bottle of cheap bourbon around
for that.

It is also good for putting in the pan when you braise ribs before
smoking on the grill. The alcohol seems to separate the meat from the
bone better than water and it adds some flavor.

There can't be much difference, flavorwise, between hog jowl and fatback. Fatback might have more
meat. Don't see hog jowl often in the local Safeway.

And, I don't keep *any* kind of bourbon around!