Remembrance of greens past

Turnip-shaped memories, plus my weekly shareables: a dog solves murders, a Monkee covers R.E.M., and a kick-ass marching band plays techno

I forgot to take a picture, but they looked like this

My apologies for this arriving later than my normal Friday newsletter. I normally write these newsletters in the evening, and this past week I ended up being out of the house four evenings in a row. I am going to have some stern words with my assistant about this. (Having just checked my notes, it appears that I am my assistant. Dammit.)

So, a quick food story: We belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program through The Farm at Dover Vineyards in Concord, NC. We pay them money up front, to give them some working capital, and in exchange we get a bagful of vegetables every week from April through November. It’s good for the community, we think, and it has the side benefit of making us feel virtuous.

A couple of weeks ago the CSA included a mess of turnip greens. (That is the official measurement of greens, by the way. Exactly how much is in a mess? Only Southern mamas know for sure.)

I grew up on turnip greens. They were a staple in our house from mid-November (never pick greens until after the first frost) all through the winter. We ate mustard greens, too, and the occasional collards, but turnip greens had the perfect bittersweet flavor, especially if you chopped up the actual turnips and threw them in the pot.

Alix, who grew up in Wisconsin, where they eat things like kale and rhubarb, had never cooked turnip greens. So she decided to give it a try. She learned years ago from my mom that the first ingredient in any Southern vegetable is pork. So she cooked up just enough bacon to grease the bottom of the pot, then sautéed some onion, garlic and the chopped-up turnips in the bacon grease. The rest of the recipe is simple: greens, chicken broth, some seasoning, and time.

You might be familiar with Marcel Proust’s epic novel REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST … even if you’ve never read it, you might have heard of the famous scene where the main character bites into a madeleine and suddenly experiences a flood of memories going back to his childhood. There’s a beautiful homage to this in the Pixar movie RATATOUILLE:

Let me tell y’all, when I put that first forkful of Alix’s turnip greens in my mouth, I was back home in Georgia again, sitting at our little Formica table with my mom and dad, savoring this little miracle from our garden. And, of course, dipping cornbread in the potlikker.

In case anyone reading this doesn't know: Potlikker is the luscious broth created when you cook greens. It’s worth the price of admission by itself. My buddy Josh Sharpe, who’s on a fellowship at the University of Michigan, called the other day to say that he made collards for his fellow fellows—journalists from all over the world. As he was getting ready to serve up, he mentioned potlikker, and one of the other journalists asked: “Are you saying that you put pot in the liquor?”

“No,” Josh said. “It’s better.”

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. My weekly for WFAE was about the alternate reality of North Carolina’s gerrymandered districts.

2. This episode of Brian Koppelman’s podcast with Michael Lewis was captivating … if you haven’t been following the controversy of Lewis’s book GOING INFINITE, on crypto conman Sam Bankman-Fried, this is an excellent way to catch up. Koppelman expresses his admiration for the book, and for Lewis, while not letting him off the hook on the key question: Did Bankman-Fried con Lewis, too? (The Moment with Brian Koppelman)

3. Bob Knight, the former Indiana basketball coach, died the other day, and dozens of excellent essays about his contradictory life followed. The best one I read was by Eamonn Brennan, who grew up with a Knight figure in his own life. (Buzzer)

4. Brett Martin poses a good question: In this divided world, can we all agree on Chris Stapleton? (GQ)

5. DOG NEWS: From now until DOGLAND comes out (April 2024!), I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: Somehow I had never heard of INSPECTOR REX, the wildly popular TV show (there are multiple international versions) that features a German shepherd who solves homicides. Thanks to Naaman Zhou for introducing me to Rex, through the eyes of her lovely grandmother. (New Yorker)

6. BONUS DOG NEWS: The annual Capitol Hill dog Halloween parade. (Roll Call)

7. Want to find a great meal in a big American city? Ask an NBA player. (NYT)

8. Judi Dench, on a talk show, whips out a Shakespearean sonnet from memory. Astonishing. (Twitter)

9. Here’s a fascinating mashup: Micky Dolenz of the Monkees has a new four-song EP of R.E.M. songs. Here’s his version of “Shiny Happy People”:
   

10. YouTube find of the week: I have fallen head over heels for MEUTE, a German marching band that specializes in techno covers. (You might have to read that sentence twice for it to sink in.) Their version of Dennis Ferrer’s “Hey Hey” has been in my head all week. I would pay a substantial amount of money to see these guys live.
    

    
    Have a great week, everybody.