On Tue, 08 Feb 2005 16:19:00 -0500, Kate Connally >
wrote:

>nancree wrote:
>>
>> I need advice on cooking various greens, such as Kale, Collard Greens,
>> etc. Recently they have been included in some orders at nice
>> restaurants, and I find them delicious. Tonight I cooked Collard
>> Greens for the first time, but they seemed a little bitter. I sauted
>> them in a small amount of bacon fat, garlic, olive oil--stir-fried
>> them. How do you cook them? Is one kind better than another? Should I
>> have added a bit of sugar to the mix? Would appreciate any advice.
>> TIA
>> Nancree
>
>Welll, I'm of the "boil the hell outa 'em" school
>of greens cookery. Dump them in a big pot of water
>and through in some smoked ham hocks and cook until
>they surrender. I've tried them cooked other ways
>and it just doesn't do it for me.
>
>Kate
In the southern US where collards and such are commonplace, we do tend
to cook vegetables to death. For greens, the aim is to use enough
liquid to keep them wet, but to limit the liquid so that it is almost
cooked away by the time the greens are done.

I remember that my grandmother would cook collard leaves whole. When
they were done, she would cut them up with kitchen shears. I never
quite figured that out. Unfortunately, she's not around any more, so I
can't ask her why she did that. My mother still does this, but she
does it because, "that's the way my mother did it." I guess I've
broken the chain, because I chop them very coarsely before cooking.

Leonard