Granny Church's Fried Greens -----Betty B.
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4 Pounds Of Greens (Kale, Collards, Turnip, alone or mixed)
This seems like alot, but they cook on down to nothin, this
will end up makin around servings for four or five folks.

Salt & Sugar Two Tablspns of each.

Fatback (about 1/4 pound)Also known as Salt Pork

Bacon Fat (Fry about 1/2 pound bacon, reserve fat, and crumble the
bacon up) Save this till the end.

Ok, now you wash all those greens twice, or maybe even three times if they
look dirty. Get all that sand and dirt out of them. Trim any big stalks
from the greens, cut the stems out of them collards, they have big old
stems that are tuff. You break off any stems from the turnip and kale
greens.
Now, you get the biggest pot you got and you lay those leaves flat in the
pot and pack'em in their tight, then cover the whole mess with water, then
add the salt and sugar. Slice up the fatback into little strips and put
that on top of the whole affair, then cook, just turn on the stove and let
them cook and cook and cook. The house will get a funny smell of cabbage
at first, but it goes away after awhile. They need to cook for ages, like
two to three hours. Dont worry, you cant hardly overcook them. When they
are down to nothing, then turn the stove off and drain the water off and
you can even let them sit in a collander and drain out real good. You'll
be amazed at what you have left, they cook down to nothin. Let them cool,
and press out any excess moisture from them. Remove the fatback also.

Now, let them cool on down to room temperature, or even better, let them
rest in the refridgerator overnight. Then, take them out and slice up the
greens into large chunks of say 2 to 4 inch pieces. Get out the cast iron
fryin pan and put your bacon grease in there and the bacon crumbles, and
get it good and hot, and then just add in the greens and start a little,
how do those French people call it "Saute"? You keep this up till every
thing is piping hot, then it's ready to serve. We always took a little
drizzle of apple cider vinegar and put ontop for a little zing to it all.
And if you want to be true to the dish, you serve it up with cornbread, and
pinto beans that have been cooked with smoked hamhocks, and a big ole plate
of fresh garden tomatoes sliced up with a little salt, pepper, and sugar.

Now, I remember one day when I was a kid I was at Granny Churchs and a whole gang of us cousins were there to boot. She had the most wonderful little garden outside the back of her kitchen and we loved to go out and help her tend to everything. I can see her now in her summer duster dress, as she called it, and it was just a lightweight mid-calf cotton frock with some little print on it and she would have that straw hat on her head with the plastic flowers stuck on the side of it. She'd survey the garden, and fuss, "Oh Law, Japanese Beetles are in here again, Youngguns, dont step on my squash darlins, Vernon, get your cotton pickin hands off those dahlia buds, theyz just bought to open, dont force them honey, God's not ready for 'em yet. Law Mercy, that dog from next doors done trampeled through my cucumbers." All behind us in that little patch of garden, and that space of time flowed that most beautiful Greenbrier River, and those mountains just loomed over us, and we, at the time, were oblivious to their watching us.