Melt In Your Mouth Collards Food

THE COLLARD GREEN MELT

Steps:

• For the collard greens: Melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant and cooked through. Add the sugar, red wine vinegar, rice wine vinegar, red pepper powder, Creole seasoning, black pepper, salt and 1 cup water and cook until the flavors to meld and develop, about 10 minutes. Add the collard greens in batches if necessary, waiting a few minutes for the collard greens to begin to break down in the pot likker (the liquid in the pot) before adding the rest. Allow to cook over low to medium heat until you achieve the desired texture and the greens have an agreeable amount of salt, spice and acid, 2 to 3 hours. Let the collards cool in their pot likker and reserve until ready to prepare your sandwich. (This can be done a day or more ahead of time.)
• For the coleslaw: Add the cabbage, mayonnaise, onion, vinegar, pepper and some salt to a large mixing bowl. Wearing gloves, mix with your hands, massaging the cabbage to break it down in the mayonnaise. (It should yield less than a quarter of the original volume when it's all said and done.) Taste to make sure you have enough salt and vinegar. Reserve in the refrigerator, as it tastes best on the sandwich as a cold component. (This can be done up to a day ahead of time.)
• For the pickled cherry pepper Russian dressing: Mix up the mayonnaise, cherry peppers, ketchup, red pepper powder, hot sauce, paprika, black pepper and some salt in a bowl.
• For the sandwich: Brush some butter on both sides of each slice of rye bread and toast on both sides on a nonstick griddle or in a large nonstick saute pan. On two slices of bread, place a slice of Swiss cheese and allow to melt fully (covering the pan or putting a dome over the bread on the flattop will facilitate the melting process).
• Meanwhile, heat some greens in a saute pan. Place a handful of coleslaw on a cheesy slice of rye bread. Place the other cheesy slice of rye on top of that. Spoon your collard greens on top of that slice, being careful not to bring too much of the pot likker with them as this will make for a soggy end product. Dress the third slice of rye with a liberal slather of the Russian dressing and place it face-down on top of the collards. Cut it in half and serve.

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH COLLARDS

Steps:

• Wash and cut up the collards. Remove any large stems. (I wash mine on gentle in my washing machine with no soap. It gets them really clean.).
• Preheat an electric frying pan to 350 degrees. Add the fatback/bacon drippings. You can also use hog jowl drippings.
• Add collards. You will not have enough room in the frying pan, so you will have to repeat this step several times to get all of the collards in the pan.
• Add about 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cover and let the collards cook down.
• Check and stir your collards often, adding new collards when the previous batches cook down. Keep a decent amount of water in the collards. (Enough to steam them, but not boil them.)
• Once you have all of the collards in the pan, turn the pan to about 300 and let them simmer for about 3 hours. Remember to check them and stir them frequently.
• These are great with pepper vinegar!

MELT IN YOUR MOUTH PIE/COBBLER CRUST

Steps:

• Cut the Crisco into the flour and salt. Don't overwork. This should be very rough consistency.
• Beat the egg; add vinegar and water.
• Sprinkle the water mixture over the flour.
• Toss with a fork until coarsley mixed.
• Divide dough in half for two pie crusts. Shape into balls and chill 15 minutes.
• Roll on floured surface.
• Balls of dough may be combined for a large cobbler crust.
• Follow baking instructions for your pie or cobbler.

MOM'S MELT-IN-YOUR-MOUTH DINNER ROLLS

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water and add 1 tablespoon sugar and baking powder. Allow to stand for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile scald milk. Add margarine, 1/3 cup sugar and salt. Cool a little and then add eggs. (I do this step in my 4 c glass measure in the microwave.).
• Combine all with flour. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (The dough will more than double in bulk, so make sure your container is big enough. If it looks like it might outgrow its bowl, you can always punch it down once or twice without any ill effects.).
• Two hours before serving, divide dough into thirds and roll out into large circles about 9 inches in diameter on a floured surface. The dough will be sticky, but don't worry. It will quickly come together and handle really well with a few sprinklings of flour (not too much). Cut into 8 wedges and make crescent rolls by starting at the wide end and rolling up. Place on greased pans to rise, covered with clean towels.
• Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Mom always rubbed the hot rolls with a stick of butter when they came out of the oven, and I do, too. It makes them so beautiful.

COLLARD GREENS

Steps:

• Prepare your pot. Place the water, onion, celery, Bay leaves, garlic, salt, peppers and smoked meat into a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce heat to a simmer.
• Add the Collard Greens and stir to combine. Water should reach the top of the greens in the pot. Cover and bring the contents back to a simmer.
• Continue to simmer for 1½ hours, checking periodically to make sure the greens have enough liquid.
• After one hour, check the greens for tenderness. Continue checking every 15 minutes. Adjust seasonings as desired.
• Serve Collard Greens in a bowl or a dish with sides. You can use a slotted spoon for serving the greens and save the pot liquor for later. Or you can serve Collard Greens in a bowl with the Pot Liquor, preferably with a wedge of cornbread to soak up the goodness.
• Garnish with a boiled egg or sliced jalapeño pepper. Traditionally served with cornbread as the starch.