Buddy Guy's Heirloom Recipe
Collard Greens
Serves: 6-8
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 2-3 Hours
Difficulty: Easy
Pans Required: One Old Dutch
We’ve baked the Pope’s cookies and savoured Bowie’s shepherd’s pie. Today we step into the kitchen with Buddy Guy.
Buddy Guy changed the sound of the blues. Eight Grammys. A lifetime on the road. A style that shaped Hendrix, Richards, and Vaughan.
But some say his greatest influence wasn’t on a stage at all. It was in the kitchens of tour managers who never saw it coming.
If you invited Buddy to your city, he didn’t retreat to the minibar after the gig.
He went home.
To your home.
His backstage rider ended with one line that caused mild panic across North America.
“The band will cook their own dinner in your kitchen.”
He meant it.
The dish was always the same. Slow greens. A ham hock. A pot on the stove. A room full of musicians who had spent another night far from their families.
For them, this wasn’t late-night food. It was the shortest road home.
After sixty-five years of highways and hotel carpets, Buddy knew what life as a stranger takes from you.
The relief of being ordinary.
It’s time to make some greens. Stir the pot. Feel the air sweeten and the day slow.
You are here.
Ingredients
1 smoked free-range ham hock
450 g collard greens, stalks removed and chopped medium fine, or kale if collards are hard to find
1 large onion, finely sliced
6 bay leaves
1 tablespoon spicy paprika or chilli flakes
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 to 2 teaspoons salt
Boiling water to cover
⅓ cup Worcestershire sauce
⅓ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup maple syrup
5 cups boiling water
Method
Place the ham hock, onion, and bay leaves into your Old Dutch. Scatter over the paprika, garlic powder, sugar, and half the salt. Cover with boiling water and simmer with the lid slightly ajar until the ham is falling from the bone. About one hour.
Lift the hock from the pot. The liquid will have reduced. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and maple syrup, then pour in the 5 cups of boiling water. Taste the broth. Add the extra salt if you want it. Adjust the heat and tang to your liking.
Fill the pot with greens, place the hock on top, and simmer gently for one hour. Keep the lid on for the first fifteen minutes, then off for the remaining forty-five. If you prefer very soft greens, keep it going for two hours and replace the lid so the liquid stays put.
Remove the fat from the hock. Shred the meat, discard the bones, and stir everything together. Taste again. It should be smoky, savoury, a little sharp, and faintly sweet.
Bring the whole pot to the table while it’s still steaming.
Every great recipe deserves a soundtrack.
Here’s some blues to go with your greens. A playlist of Buddy's classics, soulful blues, and songs that kept him company on the road. Press play. Stir slow. Listen on Spotify.
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