I’m Fixing to Cook Up a Mess of Greens

I’m fixing to cook up a mess of greens.

After all that rich holiday food I had a hankering for something earthy and comforting, and the mere thought of a big pot of greens set my taste buds racing.

When you cook or gather greens they are always referred to as a “mess” of ‘em.

Now I’m not 100 percent sure why they are called a “mess.” But I do remember my momma telling me to go out into the garden and “pull up a mess of greens,” which leads me to believe that a “mess” refers to a sufficient amount to fill the cooking pot so everyone could have their fill of ‘em. And when I say “greens” I am specifically talking about turnip greens in this particular instance. And I am talking about fresh ones, not frozen or prepackaged.

I do enjoy the turnips themselves (the root), too, but not as much as the greens. If you are going to cook some turnips with your turnip greens, it’s best to cube them up and toss them in on top of the greens when they are almost done, otherwise they will over cook and get mushy.

This is the time of year when those leafy greens and roots have absorbed the good things from the earth, the rain and the air, and are ready to get plucked up and put into a pot with some fresh or smoked pork neck bone, a ham hock, or a hunk of salt pork. Besides the earthy taste they have, they are loaded with vitamins and minerals, not to mention all the fiber you’ll need for a while.

It is a task to cut the stems off and clean them. Fresh turnip greens grow close to the ground and you have to wash them good before you cook them. My momma always said you need to wash your greens five times, “Because don’t nobody like gritty greens.”

After enjoying all those greens, you get to the best part—the pot likker.

Contrary to what some people think, pot likker is not just the juice left in the bottom of the pot after you have cooked the greens. In order to fix some real pot likker, you need to cube up a couple of ounces of fatback and fry it up until it’s brown. Then you pour all the juice left from cooking the turnips into a sauce pan, along with about a cup of the greens themselves, add enough chicken broth to make sure you have about five cups in your sauce pan. Now you add the cubed fatback and the drippings, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about five minutes. Add some salt and white pepper to taste and serve it up with some hot corn bread. Whew doggie!!

I am crazy about collard greens, too, and they are easier to clean because they grow on a stalk well above the ground. I like to season them with a ham bone, and I suppose you could make some pot likker from the juices of them as well, but I never tried it.

For some reason collard greens seem to taste better after they have suffered that first bite from the frost. If it gets cold enough this week I might enjoy some collard greens, and I might be fixing to test out some collard pot likker.