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Good Eats: Field of Greens
Few things scared boyhood Alton more than them monster he and his friends called Mean Green. Green leaves, compost flavored and nasty, turned their appetites off. Since then he has learned how to cook these greens in better ways, and has turned Mean Green into a good friend he has dubbed Deep Green. First up is a trip to the store for purchasing tips and a little history, followed by a short course in how to prepare and store these leaves. After that, he explains why most folks, when they cook these leaves, actually reduce their nutritional value and create bad flavors as he creates his Pot O’Greens (it borrows flavor from a smoked turkey leg), Lemon Sesame Glazed Greens and Mustard Green Gratin.
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Episode Info
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Episode number: 8x21 Production Number: EA1H20 Airdate: Wednesday April 20th, 2005 |
Recap
Alton’s childhood fears followed a strict hierarchy. Right at the top of that list was “Mean Green”, the leafy vegetables his mother overcooked and then served him. Vegetables so awful smelling, so bad tasting, that even appendicitis seemed like a better choice. But thanks to a little AB ingenuity, Mean Green becomes Deep Green and... Good Eats...Read the full recap
Episode Notes
Cards
- John Milton wrote "Turnip greens awaken slumbering desire in even the most quiescent spouse."
- To thaw frozen greens, submerge the sealed bag in cold running water. (refers to the Pot O' Greens recipe, NOT fresh greens)
- In the South, greens are eaten on New Year's Day in hopes of bringing money in the coming year.
- According to Hippocrates, greens were part of the Greek diet.
Episode Quotes
Alton: My friends and I had an entire hierarchy of scariness. For instanct, Dracula was scarier than Frankenstein because Frankenstein was kind of slow moving and slow thinking. Things from space were generally scarier than things that weren’t, but nothing... nothing haunted us like the vegetal apparition that we called... Mean Green!
Alton: I’m pleased to say that the creature formerly known as Mean Green is, in my house at least, referred to now as Deep Green. And he’s a good friend of mine, not to mention seriously... (Good Eats theme plays)
Alton: While it is certainly true that dark, leafy things keep better and longer when left in a whole state, it’s also true that you will be a whole lot more likely to use them if they’re prepped and ready to go when you walk up to the old chill chest. And, cleaned and prepped they’ll take up a lot less room in there.
Alton: (about pre-bagged greens) Although I’ll use these things in a pinch, I don’t trust ‘em. Convenience aside, they’re a big gamble because you can’t really know what’s going on in that bag, especially down in the middle of the green where evil could lurk. Buying these greens is certainly better than buying no greens at all, but if you do use them, I think you better cook ‘em the same day you buy ‘em.
Alton: Greens are strong stuff, and they need strong partners. Here are your best options: pungent, as in: garlic, acidic, as in: vinegar and citrus, creamy as in: bleu cheese and finally, smoky.
Alton: Just take a look at what has accumulated here in this bowl. Now, here in the south? (Alton tips his bowl of greens, decanting a green broth into a glass.) We southerners call that pot liquor, and given a choice between the leave and the liquor? Well, we’d probably just have the liquor.
Alton: What kind of crackers? Well, I’m not going to tell you, but they look kind of like this (he holds up a popular round buttery cracker).
Alton: Well, as I hope you folks know by now, when it comes to dark leafy greens there is nothing to fear. Greens are healthy, economical, versatile and if you don’t cook ‘em to death, darn delicious to boot.
Alton: I hope you’ll take the dive and eat your greens. Just remember, buy them fresh, wash, cut and store properly as soon as you get home, pair them with strong flavors and whatever you do, do not overcook them!
Episode Goofs
At the beginning of the episode, we see a television showing King Kong, or some similar movie. The camera pans in a sort of vertically circular way to show Alton on the couch - with this shot, the only way we could see the movie properly is if Alton was watching it upside down!
Cultural References
Perhaps Alton should have said something like “if you make it properly, they will eat it” for this episode's title refers to the 1989 baseball hit Field of Dreams (most famous for the line "If you build it, they will come.")
Analysis
In explaining how to cook strongly flavored greens, Alton does a nutritional and possibly medical service to his viewers. Increasing evidence links chemicals in these sorts of leaves with powerful protection against a variety of health problems including heart disease and cancer.
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