2.7 min. read
A few days back, I promised y’all a post on this unique Southern staple. And I’ve had a fun time researching the ‘dish! If you’re not from below the Mason-Dixon Line, what follows will probably all be new to you…
Potlikker was originally more of a by-product than an intentional dish. But it has risen to culinary stardom in trad-itional Southern cuisine over three centuries of Black History in America…
Waste not, want not…
“Potlikker, or pot liquor, is made from the broth remaining in the pot after boiling green leafy vege-tables such as collards, turnip greens, mustard greens, cabbage, or kale with pork fat, salt, and pepper,” the William G. Pomery Found-ation for History tells us. “It was a staple food eaten by enslaved people in the South, often eaten along with baked or fried cornbread either dipped or crumbled into the potlikker. By the early 1850s, potlikker was a mainstay in Southern diets.”
Legendary Louisana Senator Huey Long was personally responsible for making Potlikker a permanent menu item in the US Senate Dining Room.
The April 8, 1932 edition of the Shreveport Journal reported:“Senator Long has worked vigorously on his cornpone [cornbread] ticket and potlikker campaign. It will be possible, largely because of his efforts, for dignitaries of the land to dunk or crumble according to the dictates of their consciences and discuss affairs of state between mouthfuls.”
Potlikker is more than just broth. The dish, per se, is actually the greens and the broth served side by side. It’s a classic side with pulled pork and southern barbecue. But aficionados say, it goes with everything…
How it’s made
Senator Long once recited his family’s Potlikker recipe to fill time during a 15.5 hour filibusterer on the Senate floor. Here’s the transcript, from the Congressional Record, June 12, 1935:
“First you get some turnip greens. You have to wash turnip greens many times… Turnip greens contain more manganese than do mustard greens…. You take the greens and the turnips and you put them in the pot. Remember this: Do not salt them. Do not put any salt, do not put any pepper, do not put any mustard, do not put any kind of seasoning in the pot with them…
“Put in a sizable quantity of water… Put in there a piece of salted side meat… You ought to put about a 1 pound hunk of side meat that is sliced, but not clear through, just down to the skin part… It will properly temper the turnip greens when it has been cooked through. That is all the seasoning that is needed…
“When you have cooked the greens until they are tender and the turnips until they are tender, you take up the turnips and the greens, and the soup that is left is potlikker. That brings on the real question of the art of eating potlikker… You draw off the potlikker and you eat it separately from the turnip greens.”
Nutritional bounty
Potlikker offers a nutritional bounty to those who partake. After all it’s made from some of the most nutritious greens in the pantry pantheon. And consuming the broth from their preparation is a great way to get he most from that they have to offer.
Some insist the stuff is too ‘grassy’ or muddy’ for their taste. But that’s the earthiness and umami from the greens coming out in force! Potlikker also has a bitter top note that’s characteristic of all ‘bitter greens’ dishes. But folks do say the best part of the Potlikker experience is the smoky/savoury bass note provided by the ‘side meat’.
The long-simmering involved in tenderizing the greens also results in a rich, velvety texture that makes Potlikker an ideal, ready-made soup course.
My take
NPR’s The Salt blog offers a simple, authentic Potlikker recipe with just the right ‘lick’ of contemp-orary touches…
I have only just begun my journey of exploration into Potlikker. But the more I read, the more I want to know. One thing is already strikingly apparent to me: We waste way too much good food throwing away the the cooking water from fresh veggies!
~ Maggie J.