I like collard greens. I grew up in the South and disliking collard greens was not an option. Collard greens have been a staple of the southern diet since the beginning of time. My family prepared collard greens in the typical southern fashion, that is, fat back (called salt pork by city folk) or ham hocks. Until recently, this was the only method I had heard of. But collard greens and soul food have ‘come up’ in the world. Recently Saveur magazine did an article on collard greens and the many ways to cook them (http://bit.ly/fVdlVt). It seems that people in other parts of the world have their own ideas about cooking collard greens. Even though I am partial to my version, I enjoyed reading about other methods.
You are probably wondering what all this is leading to. My student recently told me that she would like to learn to cook collard greens my way. She currently cooks them the Asian way. So, I challenged her to a collard green throwdown. This Thursday we will be cooking collard greens two ways – The Asian way and the Southern way. If you happen to be at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln anywhere near Ruth Leverton Hall, please stop by room 206 at 10 a.m. You may participate by voting or bringing your version of collard greens. Next week we will post the recipes for both methods.
