Mountain Recipe - Wilted Greens

By Susan M. Thigpen © 1985

Issue: July, 1985

First off, you start this recipe by planting a row of loose-leaf lettuce in a garden row. The seeds are so small that you just sprinkle them sort of thick in a big patch. They come up and grow right quick, even faster than the weeds. They grow good in the cool spring and early summer weather, but get bitter tasting the larger and longer they grow.

So, to make a wilted greens lunch, go to the garden patch and pick an apron full of tender young leaves. They don't have to be over three or four inches tall.

Bring them in the kitchen and wash them thoroughly in cold water and set them aside to drain.

Meanwhile, fry up some bacon. When the bacon is done, pour the hot grease that cooked out of it over your lettuce and toss it so each piece is coated.

Some folks might like to add a spring green onion or two to it before pouring the grease over it.

It's not a fancy store bought salad dressing, but one that country folks have been serving for years. It could have been the original salad dressing for all I know. Anyway, wilted greens is some mighty fine eating.