Customer Reviews

The Collard Patch

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Collard Patch brought back a lot of memories, put a BIG smile

on my face, and "taught this old dog a few new tricks!"

Growing up on a tobacco farm in North Carolina, collards were a

staple in my community. For 20 cents we could buy enough seeds to

plant enough collards to last us all year. Yet, we only fixed

them one or two ways... mainly boiled or fried.

I only wish that we'd had this book when I was growing up. I

never DREAMED of collards as a dessert :-)

Since my whole family loves collards, my daughters, now starting

families of their own, will get copies as Christmas presents.

I highly recommend The Collard Patch to anyone who loves

cooking good, healthy, down-home food.

Willie Crawford - "The World's Leading Soul Food Expert."

Author - "Soul Food Recipes Learned On A North Carolina Tobacco

Farm" Author - "Git Off The Porch"

This sunny and delightful book will guide you along to the collard patch.Not a rushed introduction to the collard green, but a nice long and friendly visit to the rearing up of seedlings and growing up with collard greens in the backyard.

This is not just a recipe book but a book with lovely and fun farm stories,some Biblical quotes,recipe contributions from some of Mary Lou and Pauls many friends.

This book features many nutritional facts,fun facts and historical facts on this vegetable.It induces the reader into a relaxed,pleasant smooth ride into the country.

I read this book slowly,devouring a distinct southern flavor.It is written in a easy friendly style.A book being friendly ? You will quickly grasp the authors love for sharing recipes, stories of their friends meeting at the grocers or at church and exchanging recipes and suggestions for cooking collard greens in recipes they acquired from famous restaurants including appetizers and snacks,which was my favorite.

This is a book you will want to spend one long,lovely summer afternoon with, maybe beside a brook or under a shady tree.Although I didn't read the book in such a sweetly pleasant environment,I felt as though I had.

One suggestion I enjoyed and like to share is "don't discard the leftover liquid,instead make the easy soup", since the pot is already flavorful,you don't rinse and waste any precious flavors.

One of my favorite recipes was The Glorious Collard recipe and The Collard Green Puffs. I am looking forward to baking Apple Collard Raisin Pie.

This is a quality piece of work and I enjoyed every minute reading it.You'll love it for its healthy recipes,fun stories and joining the authors in a nostalgic look back with their childhood stories and pets.

Highly recommended ! Read slowly and enjoy.

Mary and Paul's book, "The Collard Book" is a feast of information, recipes, and stories. My personal favorite is the plain old steaming green "pot likker" with crumbled corn bread. Paul and Mary know southern cooking. Each recipe is filled with southern hospitality and love. Thanks for bringing back the memory of my grandmother serving me cups of steaming green pot likker with crumbled corn bread before dinner was ready. Warm memories, you will enjoy this book on many levels.

Here's a culinary reference from two great cooks which opened my eyes to an entirely new realm of cookery; however, before I launch into the details of all that, I wished to spotlight the attractive and noteworthy cover of this splendid cookbook.

The front cover of "The Collard Patch" holds a special appeal for me. It consists of two photographs, one above the other. The bottom photo illustrates a view of perfectly cultivated rows of collard greens in the porous soils of the Deep South. I immediately thought back to my youth when local farmers here in the ancient Teays River Valley of southern Ohio, also a sandy-soil environment, farmed huge fields of turnips. At a distance, the rows of turnip greens looked very much the same. Growing up around those 1950s Appalachian farms were some great days for me and I savor anything that reminds me of that simpler era.

The second photo somewhat blends in with the first - it's a close-up of collard green leaves, the striated natural colors of which recall an artist's palette. The chief hue is what might be regarded as blue-green or perhaps sea-foam green. The color features of this picture reminded me of an ethereal view of surfer-quality waves along a Pacific shoreline as the evening rays of the sun shine back through them. Conceptually, it's really just several great aquamarine shades which manifest a peaceful ambiance, reminiscent of a slow-paced existence of the Old South.

The crux of the book is, of course, focused upon collard greens, a staple dish of the southern United States as much as are fatback, grits, pecan pie, and cornbread. Mary Lou Cheatham and Paul Elliott have achieved a superb final product by assembling both collard recipes as well as dishes related to that notable southern relative of spinach and kale. I guess I've never previously considered that collard greens could be used in casseroles; to supplement risotto; as a creamed veggie; in soufflés, in omelettes and crepes; in crock pot dishes; in soups; in breads; in dips; in desserts, and; even as a pizza topping!

There are also lots of "associated" recipes in the book such as:

Peach Salsa (page 71)

Sauce Mornay with Colby Jack (page 85)

Ruth's Old-Fashioned Biscuits (page 118)

Sour Cream Soft Bread (page 240)

The overall content of the work covers quite a bit of territory. There are mini-biographies of local but notable southerners, nostalgic tales of the south, and some general cooking tips. Also, the authors thankfully did not diverge from employing the local vernacular so when they say "...a mess of collards," or make a reference to "[collard]...Pot Likker," I have every reason to believe that the content is quite correct and genuine concerning these tried and tested recipes.

Regarding the collard greens themselves, the book is bulging with every possible aspect of collard lore such as the plant's history, cultivation (including planting and pest control), harvesting, cleaning (a significant concern with collards as soil really sticks to the leaves!), cooking, storage, and kitchen equipment used to maximize the flavor and appearance of collards. Elliott, himself a physician, also discusses the numerous health benefits of collards and has thus contributed many heart healthy recipes. He mentions that collards are a great source for beta carotene, vitamin C, calcium, fiber, niacin, and vitamin E. Apparently, the substitution of Splenda for sugar works well in the cooking of collard greens, making these dishes notably more diet-friendly.

Finally, Elliott has injected his considerable story-telling abilities into an entire chapter devoted to personal reminiscences of his family's Texas farm ("Collard Country"), some of which exude the "Mississipus peccadillus" aspect of the often dubious activities of teen boys everywhere. His co-author, Mary Lou Cheatham has also sprinkled spiritual quotations throughout the text.

This softcover edition of "The Collard Patch" contains nearly 200 great recipes (there are 31 "guest contributors" of recipes who have presented some of their top culinary creations here!) and the text runs 288 pages in length, broken down into 14 chapters. To accommodate the nice readable fonts the outer dimensions are 8 ½" x 11". There's generally one recipe per page which makes it convenient to read recipe details and cook at the same time. The cover is a slick material which facilitates the wiping away of any spills, an actuality which certainly seems to always occur in my kitchen.

Also by Mary Lou Cheatham (aka Jane Riley): Flavored with Love: Mary Lou's Family and Friends Can Cook

In summary, if you enjoy southern culture, southern cooking, and/or short humorous anecdotes, "The Collard Patch" is probably right up your alley. Highly recommended.

I got your book today and stood in the kitchen about 20 minutes reading it instead of making dinner! I have 4 nieces and nephews in addition to my own 8 this week so dinner time is very important. Feed the troops and you are less likely to get overrun.

Well, your book really messed me up. I couldn't put it down. I loved Mary's chile story about Paul. BTW, your chili was a killer - my husband and boys loved it.

Me? I am a wimp for spicy food so you eat your chili and I'll stick to my fantastic clam chowder -which is a regular in my home all fall and winter. Sorry though, there are no collards in my chowder.

Truly, it is a delightful story/cookbook. Well done. Now I am off to buy some collards so I can try out some inspiring new recipes!

Mrs. Lorrie Flem

Publisher of TEACH Magazine

Rib to Randy, Mama to 8 precious children, Child of the King, Author, and Speaker.

I confess: collards had never been in my kitchen up to this point, but they'll definitely be there now that I've discovered they taste fabulous with chocolate! The Collard Patch is a creative collection of recipes that will stretch your mind far outside the walls of your kitchen. It's fun, easy to read and thankfully the book stays open on the counter while you cook (so many cookbooks authors overlook this vital necessity). While you're waiting for your delightful dish to finish, read Mary's inspiring and heart warming collection of stories nested between the recipes. You may even find yourself tucked in at night with your cookbook in hand, not wanting to wait until the next time you dig out the collards to discover the serendipity in your life or the cost of a gator head.

Julie Pech

Author: The Chocolate Therapist: A User's Guide to the Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate

I love collards. The day this book came in the mail was the first day of new collard-eating life.

Heretofore, I've cooked collards only a couple of ways. Now...Holy Cow! There are more collard recipes in this book than you can imagine. How about a collard pizza? Or collard biscuits?

The tons of other recipes, useful information and stories make this a new age cookbook, but with down-home style.

That's what I told myself a few months ago. I like to feed my family good food. We eat lots and lots of vegetables. The price of groceries is going out of sight! I don't plan to stop feeding my family as many vegetables as they will eat. Just as I am needing to spend more money at the supermarket, the price of gasoline is crazy.

A friend of mine told me about The Collard Patch by Cheatham and Elliott. This book is the answer to my problem. It seems so simple. The Collard Patch is teaching me to take a new look at everything my family does with food. I read in the book about ways I could grow food in my own yard. We went to work planting collard greens in our front yard flower bed. We put gardening boxes in the back yard.

We put collard greens all around the front. The back yard gives us as many vegetables as we can eat. We've got collard greens, turnip greens, beets, carrots, onions, tomatoes, zucchini squash, and watermelons. We even put stuff in the freezer. My children love all this fresh food.

We've lost weight at our house. All the work in the yard garden is giving us good exercise. Another thing that's helped us is the way The Collard Patch is showing us how to cook. We don't use nearly as much fat meat and bacon grease as we used to. Now we use olive oil and canola oil, and not much of that. The book is teaching me how to make stuff taste good a whole new way.

I recommend this book to anybody who needs to eat better for less.

I don't think I've ever had collards the same way twice. I've tried to cook them, and I've been less than happy with the results. Well, here is a book with much about collards (headless cabbage.) There is plenty of lore on growing, cleaning and cooking these healthful and delicious staple of Southern cooking. I am sure if I don't find a way to make them come out to the elusive way I like (cooked down, not greasy, a bit of sweet and sour) then this book wasn't at fault. There are hundreds of recipes, from basic greens a la various Southern cooks to sides like cornbread and biscuit. One thing I didn't know; pot likker (the cooking liquid) is not a feature of collards. That is for turnip or mustard greens. Collards are cooked in a minimum of water. Hmmm.

I like it all the reciept in the book. Also, this is best gift for the Max's