Envious Greens

You know your neighbors aren’t Kentucky born-and-bred when they refer to poke sallet as poke sallé.
Poke sallet is a plant that grows wild in the mountains along with dandelion greens, fiddleheads, lamb’s quarters, and purslane. The term sallet is Old English for “cooked greens.”
Long before urban sprawl, people would head outdoors as soon as the grass began to turn green to look for the plants around outbuildings and along creek banks and hillsides. The plants, which are rich in minerals and vitamins A, were considered a spring tonic.

Old timers still flavor their greens with scalding hot bacon grease, but mostly they’re boiled until tender. Greens are highly flavored and pungent and they go well with pork, corn bread, fried chicken, and potatoes. The water from the cooked greens, called pot liquor, is often added to soup stock.

The more popular greens of the South are mustard, turnip and collard. These greens are usually simmered a couple of hours with ham hocks and served with a splash of vinegar.

Cooked greens
2 1⁄2 pounds of greens
1 pound bacon back, salt pork or cured ham hock
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
Wash and drain greens and remove any tough stems. Place the meat and 8 cups water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Stir in greens, onion, cayenne and black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer slowly for 1 1⁄2 to 2 hours, until tender. Add the salt only after tasting because the bacon or ham will have added salt to the stock. Pass a cruet of vinegar at the table. Makes 8 servings.