Stewed Collard Greens with Ham Hock

Deep Run Roots

Collards are the standard winter green vegetable in eastern North Carolina. It's on just about every table during the holidays, for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Like many, this recipe has some cured pork in it, in this case, ham hock. Let's see what we think of the recipe and its result!

I found this recipe here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/recipe-vivian-howard-stewed-collards-with-ham-hock-in-potlikker/

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[00:00]: [Music]
[00:04]: hi and welcome to cooking the books with
[00:07]: Heather today we are working again from
[00:10]: deep brown roots vivian howard's
[00:11]: cookbook and we are going to make stewed
[00:14]: colored greens with ham hock collard
[00:18]: greens are something that are always on
[00:22]: a holiday table Thanksgiving Christmas
[00:25]: here in North Carolina it's very rare to
[00:29]: not have those because it's the season
[00:33]: for collards conventional wisdom is
[00:37]: collards already after the first fall
[00:39]: first frost so they're not ready until
[00:42]: then so usually about Thanksgiving you
[00:44]: can you have a good set of collards so
[00:48]: in my Dutch oven here I already have
[00:54]: measured out the water and I've put in
[00:58]: my ham hock I bought a smoked ham hock
[01:00]: just from the grocery store and you can
[01:05]: use that or you can use any other kind
[01:07]: of smoked pork flavoring meat fatback
[01:10]: salt pork whatever I'm gonna go ahead
[01:14]: and put in some crushed red pepper
[01:21]: chilli flakes if I can get it open and
[01:36]: then I'm going to put in some pepper and
[01:43]: now all I have to do is dice this onion
[01:48]: and put it in there
[01:53]: [Music]
[02:03]: [Applause]
[02:05]: [Music]
[02:12]: [Music]
[02:22]: [Music]
[02:27]: it doesn't have to be too small here
[02:32]: [Applause]
[02:52]: [Music]
[03:04]: onion now the interesting to me thing to
[03:07]: me about this recipe is that she calls
[03:11]: for bringing this up to a boil and
[03:12]: boiling it with a lid on for 30 minutes
[03:16]: before you put your collards in so I'm
[03:18]: gonna go ahead and get this on the stove
[03:20]: and boiling okay so now I've got my my
[03:26]: water and aromatics boiling or getting
[03:30]: ready to boil and I like to take care of
[03:33]: my collards I've got them in a sink of
[03:34]: cold water just rinsing them off
[03:38]: basically it kind of that's what I
[03:41]: usually do with large greens but I'm
[03:44]: gonna show you what you need to do with
[03:45]: these you need to take off the large
[03:48]: stems one second so if you're unfamiliar
[03:51]: with collards this is what they look
[03:54]: like they come in a head it's kind of
[03:57]: like cabbage except leafy instead of
[03:59]: compact and it's in the same family so
[04:02]: you need to cut out this large stem so
[04:05]: what I usually do is sort of fold it in
[04:07]: half run my knife along it there's no
[04:13]: need to get my knives chuffing and that
[04:17]: kind of cuts off the large stem keep a
[04:23]: trash bag nearby we don't have to cut
[04:25]: these up very much so I'm just going to
[04:27]: roughly chop them and put them in a bowl
[04:35]: to wait for everything else to be ready
[04:38]: for me to add it I'm gonna keep going
[04:40]: with a whole head of collards or about
[04:44]: two pounds and I'm gonna do the same
[04:47]: thing with all of them and then there'll
[04:50]: be they will be ready to go into the
[04:54]: liquid and start cooking so I'll be
[04:57]: right back okay so this has been going
[04:60]: for about 30 minutes
[05:02]: on pretty high and uh kind of see that
[05:06]: the the water has taken on some of the
[05:10]: porky color and flavoring we've got this
[05:12]: huge stack of collards that we now put
[05:15]: in here hopefully without dropping too
[05:19]: many of them and they will wilt down a
[05:22]: lot you'll be able to fit them all in
[05:26]: here eventually I'm just gonna get him a
[05:34]: little bit
[05:35]: make them wilt so I can fit more in
[05:49]: right
[05:51]: so that is mostly in the pot so we're
[06:02]: gonna cook this on a heavy simmer I
[06:09]: think is what she calls it so a little
[06:13]: bit below a full boil for an hour and a
[06:16]: half I think this is all we put in here
[06:20]: let's make sure yeah just the coloreds
[06:26]: will add any salt or other flavorings
[06:28]: later but that is it so we're gonna put
[06:32]: the lid back on and bring it back up to
[06:37]: a boil turn it down a little bit and
[06:38]: then we'll be back in about an hour and
[06:41]: a half so collards have been done for a
[06:47]: while now at an hour and a half we just
[06:50]: weren't ready for them so I just turned
[06:51]: the burner all the way down and they
[06:53]: haven't changed appreciably since then
[06:54]: so I think we're good
[06:56]: and I've strained them out of the liquid
[06:60]: that's still in the pot we're not gonna
[07:03]: use that for this recipe she does say to
[07:05]: take the foamy stuff off the top and add
[07:09]: it here but I didn't have any foamy
[07:10]: stuff so after you're done shoppings I
[07:14]: didn't have it so I mean I'll check now
[07:17]: that it's all out maybe something will
[07:18]: happen but whatever we are
[07:22]: I took the ham hock out and just grabbed
[07:28]: the meat out of it and have this here so
[07:33]: I'm going to add that in and then I'm
[07:37]: gonna add some salt now optionally you
[07:40]: can add some sugar to this we don't I
[07:44]: don't think they're gonna need it and
[07:46]: now I've got this this is called a well
[07:49]: she calls it a Collard chopper my
[07:51]: mother-in-law uses it for cabbage for
[07:55]: coleslaw I've never seen her use it like
[07:58]: this but but you know maybe she does
[08:02]: this is sort of scalloped edges and it
[08:06]: will chop things so we're just going to
[08:10]: chop all this stuff together and that
[08:16]: will be it that will be done be ready to
[08:20]: serve these are in the south generally
[08:27]: family dinners the collards are usually
[08:31]: pretty small so but she wants you to
[08:36]: leave them a little bit bigger but these
[08:40]: are I mean they're so done that all
[08:46]: right
[08:46]: I think that is it so there we go we
[08:52]: have our collards let me taste it real
[08:55]: quick to see if I think it needs sugar
[08:56]: but I don't think it will no they're not
[09:05]: bitter at all salt level I think it
[09:08]: needs a tiny bit more salt but other
[09:12]: than that I think we're done one second
[09:16]: yeah I don't see I don't see anything
[09:19]: that I can skim off of there to put in
[09:21]: here so I think we're good
[09:23]: that is it we'll let you know how it
[09:25]: turned out
[09:35]: on this episode of cooking the books
[09:37]: with Heather you watched me make stewed
[09:39]: collard greens with Sam hawk from deep
[09:42]: run roots Vivian Howard's cookbook and
[09:45]: honestly it was we've made it before and
[09:49]: it was delicious this time just as it
[09:51]: was before they were very well done
[09:53]: which may have been partially because I
[09:56]: left them on the stove extra long just
[09:58]: sort of waiting at first to be ready to
[09:60]: eat them but we like them that way
[10:02]: and I think that's what these are kind
[10:04]: of supposed to be they're not supposed
[10:06]: to be very al dente they're supposed to
[10:08]: be relatively well-done greens but yeah
[10:11]: they were really good the kids love them
[10:13]: they have a little bit of heat in them
[10:15]: but not so much that my kids won't eat
[10:18]: it which is kind of amazing
[10:21]: there is another recipe you can make
[10:24]: with these if you have leftovers we just
[10:26]: ate them as was as they were you can
[10:29]: make I think yes creamed collards that's
[10:33]: a little bit extra work we weren't up
[10:37]: for that right now but we like I said we
[10:40]: always have collard greens on our
[10:42]: holiday table it's end on non holidays
[10:47]: too but it's a great winter vegetable
[10:49]: that's in season that you can eat in the
[10:51]: winter so at the holidays it's a great
[10:53]: time to have that it was really easy
[10:57]: didn't require any special equipment
[10:60]: besides the Collard chopper which you
[11:02]: could get away without really no problem
[11:05]: and yeah make it if you haven't ever had
[11:13]: collards this is a great recipe to start
[11:16]: with has all of the basics of house you
[11:18]: know the the pork in it because almost
[11:22]: always you have a little bit of cured
[11:25]: pork in it yeah I hope you enjoyed
[11:29]: watching me cook this and if you did
[11:31]: please hit the like and subscribe button
[11:34]: down below and come back and watch me
[11:37]: cook something else next week
[11:39]: [Music]