Cooking greens

Overcooking greens is more like it. 

I like this couple. I like this whole family. I like what they're doing. 

I like the thoroughness of rinsing the vegetables. 

But I don't like their stupid little knife and they're killing these vegetables. 

My parents did it this same way. Chef knives scared them because of us children. They simply could not have large sharp knives in the house. And they always overcooked all of their vegetables. 

The idea is cook them minimally as possible, to denature them and that's it. 

My own approach started like this because this is what I saw, but it evolved to its opposite.

Start with the bacon. Cook that first in the same pot until it renders its fat. The fat becomes half the dressing, vinegar the other half of the dressing after the greens are placed into the pot. Dumping in the vinegar steams up the whole pot and cooks it entirely in an instant. 

Mix the greens there is no point to keeping them separate. 

Stir the greens with each addition so the new greens are at the bottom of the pot. The idea is cook them until they wilt then get them off the heat. 

My approach developed from cooking Swiss chard. I was removing the central stems, because I was told to, then realized I actually like their crunch.  

One day the only red chard available was already cut and pre-washed. The central stems had not been removed. When I cooked them I realized the texture makes them more interesting. Their red color makes them more interesting. 

And I realized that undercooking them was much better.

I was cooking them way WAY WAY too long. I was cooking the life out of them. I was killing their nutrition. All these greens are much better when they are barely cooked. 

Cooked in bacon fat supplemented with butter or olive oil. The water still on them from rinsing and their own internal water is enough to steam them. Plus rice vinegar sprinkled over. Salt helps them release their own water, and pepper. Oil, vinegar, salt pepper make a very nice dressing.

You can add whatever you like to alter the dressing that cooks with the greens. Something sweet will counter any of the bitterness in some greens. Brown sugar, honey, even fruit preserves in small amount will alter the whole thing. 

Nuts are good with these greens. My favorite are pecans. So are apples. I like raisins. The giant kind. Cranberries work very well too. Blueberries. 

Actually, the very best way to prepare and consume leafy greens is to juice them. But I realized I really don't like juiced greens. They're terrible tasting. They must be heavily disguised with better tasting things. I'm just not up to changing my whole taste-tolerance for that sort of thing as dedicated juicing people do. Juiced kale is the worst. When you buy prepared juiced kale it is heavily adulterated with other more powerful things like fresh ginger or fresh turmeric with pepper. 

The most innocuous green is spinach. It's light enough to be adulterated with lighter things. 

But then you run into color combinations. The sweeter tasting things must also be green, like cucumber or celery, green apple, or something neutral color like pear. Because anything else with opposite color turns the juice to horrible off-putting shades of tan and mud-browns. And since the flavor is not that pleasant, nutritional powerhouse notwithstanding, the whole time you're drinking it you're going, "Ugh. I hate this crap." 

Ginger.

This place is on my block ↓ down at the corner. The pint bottle is $8.00 and knowing the amount of what goes into it, the cost is nearly worth it. It gives your body such a jolt of nutrition, such a rush, that if you're not used to it, then you're sent directly to the bathroom. Your body goes, "What? What? Don't do that to me without warning. GAWL! And let this diarrhea be a lesson to you. Warning next time, stages, 1/2 cup at a time. Until I get used to the blast."