It’s the time of year when greens are ubiquitous down here. It’s winter, the farms and gardens are full of them, and y’all, I just can’t resist them. The leafy beauty and the promise of steamy pot likker and spicy flavor just beckons me. I had a big bunch and started thinking about my grandmother and leafed through the cookbook my cousin Amy made with all her recipes, and settled on trying out her turnip greens with cornmeal dumplings. I’d never made them before, but the idea of greens with some version of cornmeal as dumplings made my mouth water. What followed was a three week crusade to figure out how to create dumplings that didn’t melt into nothingness but instead were chewy, comforting and wonderful. What ended was a series of phone calls to my aunt and cousins about our lovely grandmother and her recipe, lots of sort-of-ok dumplings, and then finally, a darn good recipe that DEINITELY was worth sharing with all of you lovely folks.
BUT, before I get to that, I wanted to live up to my New Year’s blog resolution to “give credit where credit is due.” I’ll spare you the sermon, but I can’t cook greens and pot likker without remembering that SO MUCH of the south’s incredible culinary heritage came from former enslaved Americans, and this dish almost certainly originated when black cooks, trying to feed their families, reserved the deliciousness and nutrient-rich broth after cooking the greens for their masters. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but I do want to, as an Atlantic writer wrote in an article, raise “a shot glass of [pot likker] in a respectful toast to the slave cooks who did the unglamorous work. They developed the roots of African-American eating the rest of us get to enjoy today.” If you want to know more, DEFINITELY check out Michael Twiddy’s blog about southern food and it’s roots Afroculinaria. It’s full of history, and food, and connections that are important and sometimes hard to hear. His work is so integral to our southern culture, he should be a Macarthur Genius Fellow, in my humble opinion.
While I’m giving credit, I need to tell you that the recipe I’m sharing with you isn’t entirely my family’s modified recipe. My family recipe calls for bacon and bacon grease to season our greens, (which is awesome, btw) but my friend and former co-worker Shimi told me that turkey necks are the way to go. Everyone who’s ever had her greens has been left speechless, so I got some and y’all, I was NOT disappointed. The meat is flavorful and there’s LOTS of it, so, thank youShimi for sharing your secret and giving me permission to share it with the interweb.
Greens with Spicy Potlikker and Cornmeal Dumplings
Serves 4+
What you need:
For the Greens:
4 bunches of greens (I recommend a mixture of mustard greens, kale, and turnips)
1 large or 2-3 small smoked turkey necks
Enough water to cover the greens (so, 8-10 cups)
1 heaping tablespoon of chicken flavored better than bullion (or other chicken stock/bullion)
1 onion, chopped
Use Soul Seasoning or if you don’t have that, or want to be in control of the flavor use:
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon harissa powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
salt & pepper to taste
For the Dumplings
1 cup of fresh, plain course-ground cornmeal (definitely NOT cornmeal mix) like Hodgson Mill or Indian Head)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 Tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons minced green onion
1 Tablespoon of buttermilk
9-10 tablespoons of nearly boiling pot likkor (turnip green stock)
What to do:
Remove the stems of the greens, THOROUGHLY wash the greens, (I use a salad spinner to really get all the grit out), and if you aren’t immediately going to cook them, put them in a gallon sized plastic bag wrapped in damp paper towels. This keeps the greens fresher longer.
When you’re ready to cook them, add your water to a large pot, bring it to a boil, then add in the seasonings + boullion. Let that boil for 2 or so minutes to get the flavors melded, then add in the onion, the greens, and the turkey necks. (Y’all… turkey necks make me giggle. I’m kind of a 12 year old on the inside.)
Simmer for what feels like FOREVER. At least an hour, but two-ish hours is better. The greens will go from being a GORGEOUS bright green color to a kind of intense dark brown-green. That’s good.
I have to tell you, Shimi is SO RIGHT about turkey necks, but I’m not personally crazy about the flavor of the skin. You can leave it on until you’ve finished cooking the greens, OR you can do what I do, which is pull them out about 45 minutes in, and peel the skin off, then put them back in to finish cooking. The longer you cook it all, the more flavor your greens will have from the meat, (but not the skin) AND the easier it will be to pick the turkey neck clean. I’m pretty sure Shimi leaves the skin on, but I personally like it better this way. If you’re uninitiated into the amazing-ness of turkey necks, you’ll want to know that picking them clean of meat is ONLY easy if the necks are thoroughly cooked for a long time. Here’s what you get. Isn’t it GORGEOUS?
Put the meat back into the pot, and let cook for 10 minutes or so. Then, strain the pot likker from the greens, making sure to reserve all the pot likker. It’ll be a lovely green-gold.
You’ll use the broth to season and cook your dumplings. Put about 3-5 cups into another saucepan and turn the heat up and let the broth lightly boil. (You’ll keep the rest aside to serve with your greens) Mix your salt, pepper, cornmeal, an onion together. Add in your buttermilk, then the 9-10 tablespoons of hot broth. DO NOT make the mixture too wet. The first two times I tried to make this I ended up with a cornmeal soup and dissolved dumplings (which was delicious, but looked like a mess). You’ll want the dumpling mixture to look like the photo below, and make a large ball that sticks together easily. But again, DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH LIQUID. If 8 tablespoons looks right, stop there.
Make smaller, palm-sized balls as your dumplings, like so. Turn the temperature down on your broth (a rolling boil is TOO hard and will completely destroy your dumplings). Place them gently (oh so gently) into the simmering broth, and cook them for at least 20 minutes. They may fall apart slightly, but don’t stress.
Once they’re finished cooking, spoon them out and serve them with the greens and reserved pot likker, and any other delicious things you have on hand. In fact, you can serve them two totally different ways. Here you see them as a side dish, BUT the broth is so steamy, warm, and spicy that if you serve more of it and more dumplings in a bigger bowl, you can have a sort of matza-like soup. I HIGHLY recommend this, too.
For what it's worth, the greens just keep getting better with time!
Are the turkey necks smoked?
yep. 🙂 the ones from the grocery store work great.