Recipe 123: Claggett Farms Southern Cooked Greens

Note: Emeril calls the recipe Claggett Farms Southern Cooked Greens. I don’t have a Claggett Farms growing these greens as you will see, so in the future, I will likely refer to this as Smoked Chicken and Southern Cooked Greens.


We all know I can be a little impulsive, right? If you do not realize this about me, perhaps the following recipe will illustrate this point. I was shopping with my Aunt Maryal this past weekend. When we got to Kroger’s produce aisle, I found greens. I foundTurnip Greens, Lacianto Kale, and Mustard Greens. I bought one of each and decided to check the local Palace of Hell called Meijer and found Collard greens and Dandelion greens for a recipe I was sure I hadn’t made. I knew I needed about six pounds of greens total. I bought a one-pound bunch of each and two of the collard greens. Then I came home after a nice visit with my aunt to check the recipe.

Once I checked the recipe, I realized I had most of the ingredients on hand. This could be a good thing. However, the recipe called for smoked turkey, which James is allergic too. I couldn’t even used smoked turkey to flavor the greens and replace it with another meat. I had to use another meat...I greatly dislike substitutions the first time I make a recipe. But if I was going to make this so James could eat it, I had to substitute.

Now, if I were to hazard a guess at what most of you are thinking at this point, it would be “Just use smoked ham or smoked ham hocks.” I see your point, but one, as mentioned before I’m impulsive. Two, that would have been too easy; way too easy. I chose smoked chicken. I wanted something close to the turkey to substitute. I wanted that flavor that was close to what Emeril intended for this. So, how does an impulsive girl get smoked chicken? Well, we have a smoking grill and hickory chips on hand...she decides to smoke it herself.

However, impulsive doesn’t always mean quick-acting. I’m not quite sure what happened to my weekend, but something was going on each day, so it disappeared just like my Spring Break did. Monday evening, James and I exuberantly discussed which chicken to buy, I settled on the second cheapest bone-in thighs for smoking. As we left the store, I recalled we forgot to check if we could find the smoking chips, and we hadn’t bought more. Luckily, when we got home he found the Hickory smoke chips I gifted him with when I bought him this grill. I may owe him a birthday gift, as I think I’ve been using the grill more than him. That evening, we had rotisserie chicken for dinner.

Tuesday evening, I came home from working tired and a little hungry. James helped me set up the grill, though once he got mad at it, I sent him back to the kitchen to make tacos for dinner. He was right, we wouldn’t have smoked chicken and greens in a reasonable time that evening. He made chicken tacos with meat we needed to use. I drank a beer while we started the charcoal, and just as I’d been taught by friends in the Navy, the coals were just about ready at the end of the first beer.

James poured the charcoal on the grill and added the smoking chips, then the grate. Honestly I think his charcoal starter is his baby and he’s unwilling to let me touch it. Either way, he was making me dinner too, it was a nice touch. Once I had smoke coming out of the grill, I added the chicken and salted it gently. I started my second beer about this time. Once the second beer was finished, I went out and turned the chicken over and peppered it. It was not intentional to season the chicken this way. The pepper mill was being stubborn and it simply happened.

Since I stopped at the second beer, I had to use the Michael Symon suggestion and knife method of testing my chicken for doneness. Michael Symon suggests you want the chicken GBD...Golden Brown and Delicious. I turned it to find beautiful chicken about twenty minutes later. Then I took a knife and looked for pink or red meat. Once I thought the chicken looked good, I let it sit for five or ten more minutes, then pulled it off the grill and placed it into an aluminum cake pan. (I wish I would have thought to get a photo of this.) I used the cake pan as ceramic plates are in short supply around here due to their fragility. If I drop an aluminum pan, I might dent the pan, which I can work around; but I’m only going to lose the chicken, and not necessarily even then.

Now, back to the recipe. The recipe called for cooking the smoked meat in chicken broth for about two hours until it fell off the bone. Last time I checked, that’s about the best way to eat any meat. I put the stock pot on the stove, added chicken stock and most of the chicken I’d just smoked. I tasted one of the extra pieces. I almost had to buy more chicken to smoke! Luckily, the other thighs were already beginning to come up to a boil. Once it did, I simmered it for two hours while I enjoyed the messy fajita/taco mix James cooked for me.

Once the chicken was well simmered, I turned the pot off and let it rest a bit. A short while later, not waiting for the meat to cool fully as I had tongs and a fork, I pulled the thighs out one at a time and de-boned them. I then placed the meat back in the stock and stepped outside again to be sure my coals were cooling off enough to put away the grill safely. Once that was all set, I went home to bed. Smoking chicken and working with teens takes work!

This afternoon, Wednesday, I’d worked with the same group of teens and was a bit tired. I got a later start on the greens than planned, but I had pulled everything out to let it come up to room temperature. Once we got our evening walk in, I set about chopping the onions and cooking them in peanut oil. (I substituted again, the recipe called for canola and James has bought peanut oil.) Soon I added the garlic and crushed red pepper. Once this pan was ready, I moved the onion and garlic mixture to the pot with the chicken and broth. Then I began chopping greens to add them in and wilt them. I think I made them backward. I was supposed to wilt the greens into the onion mixture and then add the broth and chicken.

I brought the concoction to a boil, then turned it down to simmer it. Once it was done, I arranged it and took the lovely photo. Then I decided to add a roll to the mix, as James gave me trouble that it wasn’t a true Southern dish because there was no butter. The rolls are good, the smoked chicken is great. The greens with the mix seem like they could use something. Perhaps its too early. Perhaps they didn’t have enough salt or enough caramelized onions. I’m not certain. I did realize I forgot to add the apple cider vinegar. It added flavor, but I’m not sure if it helped. It could be the greens run a bit to the bitter side and are more of an acquired taste. I’ll make this dish again when I have more time and hopefully, a little less impulse. But I foresee changes in this recipe’s future. Some parts of it are excellent, but as a whole dish, I find myself wanting some components more than others. I’m curious to get James’ take on these greens.
Note: As I let the dish rest a little with the vinegar, its mellowing out and becoming very nice in itself. Perhaps there won’t be too many changes, after all.