Collard greens are a green large loose leaf vegetable in the same family as broccoli and cabbage, though it more closely resembles kale and spring greens. Collards are a good source of vitamin C and soluble fiber, and also contain multiple nutrients with potent anticancer properties. It is a relatively thick leaf with a thick fibrous stem in the middle. You basically use your knife to follow the sides of the stem to cut it out.
Make a short stack of cut leaves and then do a rough chop. Some folks like to roll the leaves and do a chiffonade but I like my food more rustic, plus this is easier for everyone.
I use the OXO brand salad spinner, this model is a few years old but still works like a champ. I take the basket piece to hold my cut collards.
Once all the collards are destemmed and chopped I rinse them off in the sink, shake the basket a bit, then rinse again. If your collards are a little wilted, you just need to soak them in cold water for a bit. This works with a variety of veggies! Once you are happy the greens are sufficiently rinsed, pop them into the spinner and blast away. I again do it twice just to get out as much water as possible.
Now we need to get the fat we are cooking these in, BACON! Get out 3 or 4 slices of bacon (smoked thick slice is best) and chop into small pieces. Get out the pan you are using to cook your greens in, I usually pick a tall enough pan to hold all the greens and one that has a lid. Over medium low heat get the bacon cooking, we need to render out the fat to cook the greens in. A vegetarian variation would be to use olive oil or your favorite cooking oil.
Once your bacon is good and cooked add your greens, reducing the heat to low. Give them a good stir trying to coat all the greens with fat. Cover and let the heat and steam do work. No salt at this time as the greens are reducing and a little salt could turn into a lot of salt. Plus the bacon has a natural salty flavor it is imparting to the greens.
Turn occasionally to avoid any burning, plus getting the hot fat on all the leaves will aid the wilting process. After a couple of minutes add a splash or two of a light vinegar, I use rice vinegar.
After 30 minutes you should see something like this:
Taste and season with salt and pepper, more vinegar or a shot of hot sauce.
And finally the finished product:
