Greens and Pot Liquor

Mary Mac's Tea Room (http://www.marymacs.com/) in Atlanta is one of my favorite Southern restaurants. The food is wonderful, the prices are reasonable, and the staff is gracious. One of the restaurant's traditions is to serve first-time guests a piece of piping-hot cornbread with a cup of pot liquor. Most Southern-food lovers are familiar with the term, but for those who aren't, pot liquor is the savory broth that results from cooking greens Southern style. Next time you're near Atlanta stop by Mary Macs and try some for yourself. Until then, try cooking up a pot of greens in your kitchen.

Whether your favorite is kale, collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, or, my personal favorite, a mixture of several kinds, adding a steaming bowl of greens can only improve a meal. They are filled with vitamin K and iron, so if you keep the sodium and fat low, they are good for you, too. Speaking of sodium and fat, I'm going to give you two ways to cook them. The first is my way, adapted from my grandmother, and has a bit less sodium and unhealthy fat. The second way I'll post is the I-don't-care-about-my-arteries-or-blood-pressure old-fashioned approach. Frankly, my taste buds actually prefer the healthier method. And don't forget the cornbread (see my earlier Favorite Cornbread post. The Mexican Cornbread is my favorite with greens!) and Pepper Sauce (post coming soon!). Do you have a favorite way to cook your greens? If so, send us an email or post a comment.

Greens, Southern Style

1/4 c. butter or buttery spread such as Smart Balance, in chunks
1/2 lb of greens, washed and sorted with the toughest stems trimmed out
1 can low sodium chicken broth or your own homemade stock
water

In a medium to large stock pot, heat the fat until it melts over medium-high heat. Drop a large handful of greens into the pot. Do not dump all of them in at once. You want to let the greens wilt down until they look like sauteed spinach. This happens fairly quickly; it takes a minute or so. When the ones you put in are wilted, leave them there and add another large handful. Repeat this until all greens are wilted down. You may need to turn the heat down depending on your stove. Stir almost constantly during this process. Scorched greens are very bad. If you notice the bottom of the pot getting dry as you are wilting the greens, add a few tablespoons of broth. You don't want too much liquid at this point, though.

Once all the greens are wilted, add all of the stock, about 1 can per 1/2 lb. of greens. Increase heat to bring to bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. You'll need to check periodically to make sure you have enough liquid. You don't need to keep the greens covered in liquid but you want enough that you're not in danger of having the pot boil dry. Add water 1/2 c. at a time as needed during the cooking time. Taste the greens after 45 minutes to check the seasoning, if you feel they need more salt, remove the lid and let a bit of the water evaporate. That will increase the salt ratio just using the salt found in the broth. Be sure to leave enough liquid to have some of that good pot liquor with your cornbread.

Traditional Method
Rather than using Smart Balance or butter, use reserved bacon fat to wilt the greens. Or fry pork fat back until you have 3 T. or so of drippings. You can leave the fat back in the pot to flavor the greens. Use the method described above to wilt the greens in the fat. Because the sodium content of the processed meats is so high, I suggest diluting the broth you'll use to simmer the greens or else you may end up with a salty mess. One way to avoid that problem altogether is to use plain water. You might find the greens a tad bland if you do that, though. Homemade stock without added salt is a good option if you're using bacon grease or fat back, but that can turn this simple dish into a time-consuming one. Try a ratio of 1 part store-bought broth to 1 part water if you're flavoring with processed meats. Cook as described above. Enjoy!