Follow our complete, step-by-step, photo illustrated recipe to make this Hog Jowl and Turnip Greens recipe. Adapted from an old slave cabin cooking recipe, this recipe is most often served at breakfast with poached eggs. Printable recipe included.
Hog Jowl with Turnip Greens Recipe
I tell most everyone that the recipes I post here on Taste of Southern are recipes that “I grew up – and grew out with, recipes my Mama taught me.”
That just means that I ate most of this stuff all of my life so far, and some of it is responsible for me being the big guy that I am today. Some of it, not all of it. Smile.
If you know anything about me, you probably know that “greens” are not one of my favorite foods. I know I should eat them, I know they are suppose to be good for me, I just know that I really don’t care for them.
I posted a very similar recipe here on Taste of Southern that uses cooked turnip greens, turnips, and seasoning pork. You can click this link for my Turnip Greens with Diced Turnips recipe.
However, this recipe uses Hog Jowl for seasoning and I just might like some good Hog Jowl. When I saw the recipe, I knew I had to cook it. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
The recipe, as much as it was a recipe, came from a booklet I picked up on my travels entitled “Plantation Row – Slave Cabin Cooking.” I just liked the fact that it used Hog Jowl, and was intrigued by the mention of serving it for breakfast with poached eggs.
Seems it was an old Virginia recipe that was served up in the spring of the year according to the book. It stated that the “jowl and salad should always be served with fresh poached eggs.”
I decided that I’d pass on the “Hog Maw Salad” recipe… for now. Maw is the stomach of a pig in this case and they claim the dish tastes like chicken salad, but it wasn’t enough to convince me to try it. Smile.
So, hog jowl it is.
I really do enjoy the taste of jowl meat. It’s very similar to bacon but with a lighter “bacon” taste. I much prefer to use it for seasoning than a ham hock in most cases.
If you’re ready to give our dish a try, then let’s head to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking.
Hog Jowl with Turnip Greens recipe, you’ll need these ingredients.
Fresh turnips and greens are best if you can find them. Hog Jowl can be found in most butcher shops if you don’t find them in your grocery store.
Rinse the hog jowl under cold running water.
Place the jowl in a large sauce pot and fill it about 3/4ths full with water.
Place this over medium heat on your stove top. Bring this to a low boil and let this boil uncovered for one hour or until the jowl reaches an internal temperature of at least 165F degrees.
While the jowl is cooking, go ahead and prepare the turnips and greens.
I prefer to cut away the thicker stems in the greens. It’s not necessary, but they don’t always cook up tender. Just cut them out and discard them, saving the leafy greens and smaller stems.
Place the greens in your sink and fill it with water.
Swish the greens around and wash them really good to remove any dirt or even bugs that might be on the leaves. Remove the greens and drain the water. Rinse out the sink.
You will probably need to do this about three times in order to get them truly clean.
It will mostly depend on where you acquire your greens in the first place. Many sellers at farmers markets will have already washed most of the dirt off. If you grow your own, you’ll need to wash them more of course to get them good and clean.
Check the jowl after it’s boiled for about an hour. The internal temperature needs to reach at least 165F degrees to be considered done. Remove it from the pot of water and just set it aside to cool.
Place the greens in the remaining liquid in the sauce pot.
You will probably have to add the greens in several batches. They will quickly begin to wilt down when they are placed in the water. Just keep adding them until you have them all in the pot.
Use a good paring knife or vegetable peeler to peel the turnips.
Cut the turnips into small cubes.
Add the turnips to the greens in the sauce pot.
Add the sugar.
The sugar helps cut some of the sharp taste of the turnips and greens. I’ve mentioned it numerous times, but Mama added a bit of sugar to just about all the vegetables she cooked. I just carry on that tradition.
Let the greens and the turnips cook for about 30 minutes or until they are tender.
I cook them uncovered and usually test the cubed turnips with a fork to make sure they are tender.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the greens from your sauce pot and place them in another bowl.
Chop the greens into smaller more bite sized pieces. Most of the turnips will settle in the bottom of the pot, so just scoop out the greens. I used a vegetable chopper to chop mine.
Once you have them chopped, add the remaining cubes of turnips to the greens and serve them.
Save the liquid or “pot-likker” as it’s called, that’s left in the pot. Many folks enjoy dunking a biscuit or some cornbread into the liquid and make a meal out of that on it’s own.
Add salt and pepper to taste if desired.
Enjoy!
Slice up the hog jowl and place it on a plate with a serving of the turnips and greens. Serve it with a couple of poached eggs for a breakfast just like folks did way back when.
Fresh bread or cornbread goes really well with this.
You might enjoy the booklet we mentioned earlier. It’s called “Plantation Row – Slave Cabin Cooking” and at the time of this writing, it could be ordered on Amazon. It’s only about 37 pages, but I found it interesting reading, hope you do too.
