This long-cooked side dish just might make your day!
By Ari Weinzweig
Great collards are a good reminder that what might, on the surface, seem mundane is actually remarkable. So much so that a simple plate of them can bring a sense of comfort and a reminder that even when things seem to be going awry, there is still great goodness to be appreciated and enjoyed in the world.
Food anthropologist Debra Freeman writes, “In the American South, many people have fond memories of a pot of collard greens simmering on the stove for hours, seasoned with a ham hock and stirred by a parent or grandparent.” Growing up in a kosher kitchen in Chicago, I, most definitely, did not. Collards were something I read about in Southern novels, not a food I knew from childhood. They became a later-in-life discovery for me, but one I’ve come to love nonetheless!
The story behind Collard Greens
Collard greens are a food with thousands of years of tradition behind them. They’re one of the oldest members in the large family of cabbages—in fact, some have called them “tree cabbage.” They likely have their roots in the Middle East, but the beginnings of their present-day popularity in the U.S. seems to have begun only with the arrival of enslaved African people in the 17th century. The generous and wise historian John Egerton, a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, writes in his book Southern Food, “from Africa with the people in bondage came new foods,” such as okra, black-eyed peas, yams, and collard greens.
About our Collards
From a strategic business standpoint, I really doubt that too many people over the years decided to go to the Roadhouse for the first time because we have collards on the menu. That said, in recent years, I’ve begun to realize that a good number of folks’ decision to come back so regularly is sort of subconsciously driven by the culinary comfort they get from the collard greens. Rarely a day goes by now when I don’t hear from someone who’s dining that the greens are awesome! Both folks who grew up on them and those to whom they are a new discovery seem to be drawn to the collards in ever greater numbers! Sprinkled with some of the really great “pepper vinegar” we have on hand, they are truly something really special!
At the Roadhouse, we simmer the greens with a lot of Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon for hours—the long cooking helps make it possible for the fat to permeate the greens. Swing by, eat some greens, and maybe use it as a creative and constructive conversation starter about American history and what we can make possible going forward. Historian Cynthia Greenlee calls collards “the James Brown of vegetables, one of the hardest-working foods around.” Given how many people I see smiling and shaking their heads side-to-side, it seems like she’s got a good point. The collards can bring a little culinary music to any meal!