Collard Greens

Name: Collard Greens
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Soul food
Ingredients: 3 lbs collard greens, stemmed and torn; 1 smoked ham hock (or a few strips of bacon); 1 onion, chopped; 6 cups chicken stock or water; 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar; 1 teaspoon sugar; Salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Serve when

Serve them long-cooked and dark, with the pot likker for dunking cornbread — the vegetable on Big Mama's table that never comes out crisp on purpose.

In the movie

Theatrical

~00:38:43 Named in the family's argument at the table over whether Sunday dinner even continues — 'chitlins, black-eyed peas, greens, some fried chicken' — the spread already laid out in front of them as they vote.

Greens are the vegetable that never leaves the table, named in the same breath as the chicken and mac and cheese when the family argues over whether Sunday dinner is even worth keeping. The film treats the whole spread as one unit — you don't get to love the chicken and skip the greens.

Ingredients

3 lbs collard greens, stemmed and torn
1 smoked ham hock (or a few strips of bacon)
1 onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt, black pepper, and hot sauce to taste

Method

Simmer the ham hock in the stock 30 minutes to season the liquid.
Add the onion and cook 5 minutes more.
Stack in the greens in batches, letting each batch wilt down before adding more.
Cover and simmer low, 1½–2 hours, until fully tender and dark.
Season with vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Serve with the pot likker still in the bowl — that's what the cornbread is for.