Collard Greens

I left work early and came home to cook some collards. I bought the family pack from Walmart which contains enough collards for four people. They are already chopped and destemed. Is that a word?. I added chicken broth, onions, garlic, jalapeno's, ham and bacon and cajun spices. I cooked for four hours and they were still tough.

I guess it is something I did, but dadgum if I know what.

I also made some Tennessee Fried Cornbread and did some yams with orange marmalade and pineapple and made some strong sweet tea.

I wonder if the collard greens I bought were faulty or was it me? I don't know and maybe you do.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

Covered ? Lid on the Pot ?

Where's the smoked ham hocks?

Sundance. I don't know what you could have done wrong. Maybe you purchased "collard-flavored oak wood" by mistake?

Seriously, I can't imagine that you did anything wrong. Cooking any greens for 4 hours would have to make them tender, so I have to wonder about the bag you bought. I cook collards, fresh or frozen, much the way you described, and 1 to 2 hours is all it ever takes.

Beyond that, your overall meal sounds heavenly.

Instead of Ham hocks, I used bits of country ham which doubled as fat and salt and I used a pound of sugar cured bacon that I fried before I added to the collards plus I added the grease. I cooked it down with the lid off for three hours and the last hour or so, I put the lid on. Still tough.

The collard Gods are against me.

Paul E. Smith

They might be tough....but that sugar cured bacon does sound mighty fine to me........

Well, I am sorry to say that a can of collards with enough Pepper Sauce poured on them are normally just fine for me!

I have found that my collards are best after being cooked for a long period of time. In addition what I add to them improves the flavor. I have tried a combination of ham hocks and bacon, onions, garlic, jalapeno's, soul food seasoning, I cooked them initially for four hours. I did not like them and let them set overnight. I cranked them up the next morning for another hour, cooked some Tennessee Fried cornbread and when it was crispy, I cut it and poured the greens over them.

I did good

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN

I don't know for a fact, but have been told that the tenderest collards are ones harvested right after a quick freeze, and that some cooks will, as a matter of course, put their in the freezer for a while before cooking & chopping to insure their tenderness.

Michael, seems reasonable to me as we plant greens the last thing in the fall and they grow very well in the winter. We plant several kinds including collards, turnip and a few others.

The ones that I bought were at Walmart and were out of a huge company out of South Carolina and there could be summer hardened.

Paul E. Smith
Knoxville, TN