Collard Greens Ham Beer Braised Food

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot with a lid over medium-high. When hot, add ham hocks. When they're sizzling, flip and crisp the other side.
• Add the onions and stir so they are coated in the fat and nestled under and around the hocks. Turn the heat down to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft, 6 to 8 minutes.
• Add the garlic, paprika, cumin, cayenne, salt and brown sugar, and stir until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
• Pour in the chicken stock and hard cider and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours, until the ham hocks are very tender.
• Remove the ham hocks and allow to cool slightly. Skim the fat off the surface of the stock. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bone (discard the fat and the skin) and chop into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces and set aside.
• Bring the stock back to a boil, then add the greens in large handfuls, pressing them down to wilt in the hot stock before adding more leaves. Add the reserved ham hock meat.
• Reduce heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the greens are silky and tender. Season with salt and serve with hot sauce and a splash of apple cider vinegar, if desired.

ALE-BRAISED COLLARDS WITH HAM

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened and just starting to color, 10 to 12 minutes.
• Add 1 teaspoon salt, the red pepper flakes and the brown sugar; stir to combine. Add beer and cook, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pan. Raise heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes.
• Add 2 cups water, the apple cider vinegar, the ham hock and the collard greens; stir to combine. Cover pot, raise heat to high, and bring to a rolling boil. Stir collards thoroughly to incorporate flavors, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring every 30 minutes, until collards reach desired tenderness, at least 30 minutes but preferably up to 2 hours. Remove ham hock; pull off and chop meat and return to pan, or discard if desired. Season with salt and pepper.

COLLARD GREENS WITH HAM HOCKS

Steps:

• In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the vegetable oil. Add the ham hocks and sear on all sides. Meanwhile, prepare the collards by ripping the leaf away from the spine. Pile the greens on top of each other and cut into long strips; then cut the strips to make squares. Set aside.
• When the ham hocks are lightly browned, add the onions and garlic to the pot; stir and sweat them until the onions are translucent and tender, 2 minutes. Add half of the greens and a cup of stock so the greens begin to wilt. Season with a pinch of salt (which will also help the wilting process) and stir to combine. Then, add the remaining greens and another cup of stock and cover to steam, about 2 minutes. Add 1-2 cups more stock, to just cover the greens and ham hocks. Season with more salt and pepper, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover. Cook, 1-1½ hours.
• After 1-1½ hours, use tongs to remove the ham hocks to cool (they'll be falling off the bone). Add another ½ cup of stock, the cane vinegar, and the cane syrup to the greens. Stir, taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary. When the ham hocks have cooled, pull the meat off the bones, chop finely, and add back into the greens. Serve in a bowl with bits of ham hock and plenty of the "potlikker."

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Place ham hocks, salt pork, onion, bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and sugar in a large pot with the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30 minutes.
• Stir collard greens into the pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook for 30 minutes, or until greens are tender. Season with red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

COLLARD GREENS & HAM - BEER BRAISED

Steps:

• 1. If using fresh collard leaves, strip the leaves from the center stalk and if some of the larger leaves have thick veins, strip the green parts away. You can either do like I did the first few times and tear each leaf, one by one into 2 inch pieces, or you can do it the fast way.
• 2. First, whether using pre-washed greens in a bag, or fresh greens, wash well and rinse, wash again in fresh water and rinse again, and repeat one more time. Put the rinsed greens to a large colander and drain the water, then start stacking about 8-10 leaves on top of each other, roll them up and using a sharp knife cut the rolls into strips as narrow or wide as you like. This is called chiffonade (shif-a-nod.) To keep the strips from being too long, I also cut the rolls in half.
• 3. Now comes the good part. In a very large stock pot, heat the bacon grease (or margarine) and olive oil, add the onions, salt & pepper, saute until onions begin to soften and just starts to caramelize. (Note, if you are using a smoked ham hock, you must cook down the hock first in water and onions for 1 hour. This is another reason I like the cured ham bone because I prefer the chicken stock and a less smoky flavor.)
• 4. To the softened onions add the ham bone, 4 cups of chicken stock, beer, garlic, pepper flakes, and sugar. Add as many green as you can get into the pot, cover and let cook down about 5 minutes. Add more greens, repeat until all greens are in the pot. Let them cook down for about 15-20 minutes.
• 5. Add the ham chunks and both Tobasco flavors, if using, stir well and simmer on low heat for 1 hour. Check liquid level while they're simmering and add remaining chicken stock if needed. Taste pot liquor and adjust seasonings if needed.
• 6. Stir, cover and simmer another hour or more as needed to reach the desired tenderness of greens that you like. Taste again and re-season if needed. Serve with pepper vinegar for extra kick and hot buttered corn bread.
• 7. *NOTES: If you like smoked ham hocks then by all means use that. I prefer ham chunks from a cured ham. If you don't have olive oil use butter or margarine. Tobasco is optional, sometimes I use it sometimes I don't. Sometimes I put chopped bell peppers in with the onions, depending on my mood.
• 8. You can pressure can these for enjoying all year long. Follow the directions on your pressure canner. DO NOT use a hot water bath method.

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a deep saute pan on medium-high heat until crisp, then set aside, leaving the fat in the pan. Add the red pepper flakes, garlic and lemon zest, and saute until fragrant. Add the collard greens and cook until they begin to wilt. Add the chicken stock and 1/2 cup water and cover, lowering the heat to a simmer. Let cook until the greens are tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Uncover, add back the bacon, raise the heat to medium-high, and reduce the liquid by one-quarter, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and 1 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Cook until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Cajun seasoning and cook 30 seconds. Add the ham hocks, chicken broth and 4 cups water. Increase the heat to high and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the ham is tender and falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
• Remove the ham hocks from the liquid. Remove and discard the skin and bones. Roughly chop the meat into bite-size pieces. Return the meat to the cooking liquid along with the collard greens and vinegar. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the greens are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve the collards with some of the liquid.

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS WITH BACON

Steps:

• Cut and trim the collard greens, removing the tough stems. Roughly chop the trimmed greens into 1/2-inch ribbons.
• Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon to leave behind all of the delicious bacon fat to cook the collard greens in.
• Add the onions and red pepper flakes to the same skillet. Depending on the bacon you use, you may need more fat in the pan, so add the canola oil if needed. Saute until the onions are softened, fragrant and beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and sweat 30 seconds. Then add the collard greens, stirring constantly until softened. Pour in the chicken broth and wine and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the greens are tender, 30 to 35 minutes.
• Once the greens are tender, return the bacon to the pan, add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.

SOUTHERN STYLE COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Combine onions, ham hocks, and garlic in a stockpot; add chicken broth. Cook mixture over medium heat until meat is falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
• Stir collard greens, vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper into the broth mixture; cook until greens have reached desired tenderness, about 2 more hours.

BRAISED COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Strip the collards off the stems and tear into pieces. Discard the stems.
• In a large stock pot, sauté the diced bacon over medium heat until it has rendered out most of its fat and has browned.
• Add the onions to the pot and sauté until browned.
• Add the greens a handful at a time, and sauté over medium heat, while stirring. Once one handful wilts, add the next handful. Continue until all the greens are wilted.
• Add the sliced garlic and sauté for 30 seconds - just until it becomes fragrant.
• Add 1 quart of the stock. If this is not enough to cover the greens, keep adding stock (or water, if you don't have any more stock) until the greens are covered.
• Add the bay leaves, sugar, pepper, red pepper flakes, and salt. A NOTE ON THE AMOUNT OF SALT TO USE: I use home made ham hock stock to make this, and the saltiness of the stock depends on the saltiness of the hocks they are made from (this can vary considerably). Because of this it is important to always taste the stock you are working with before adding any additional salt to the dish. If you are using store bought chicken stock, I would not add any salt at this point. I would cook the greens for 2 hours, and then taste to see if you need any additional salt. Store bought chicken stock is very salty, even the "less sodium" kind. You can always put more salt in, but you can't take it out, so go easy here.
• Bring to a boil and stir well. Lower the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 2 hours.
• Remove the bay leaves and taste the greens. If you think they need more salt, now is the time to add it.
• IF YOU ARE MAKING THE GREENS AHEAD OF TIME:.
• Leave the bay leaves in the pot. Taste and add more salt IF NEEDED. Refrigerate for up to 2 days. When you are ready to serve, re-heat the greens on the stove over medium heat. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

GRANDMA'S SOUTHERN COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• In a 6-qt. stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon lard over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until tender. Add ham hocks, water, seasoned salt, pepper flakes, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until meat is tender, 55-60 minutes., Add collard greens, wine, and remaining 1 Tbsp. lard. Return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until greens are very tender, 55-60 minutes. Remove meat from bones; finely chop and return to pan. Discard bones. Serve with a slotted spoon.