Collard Inspired Drinks

Ashleigh Shanti, the chef de cuisine at Benne on Eagle in Asheville, needed to make some room in the restaurant’s walk-in refrigerator. So she handed a quart of potlikker—the liquid left over after her team stewed down collard greens—to bar manager Tye Harrison. “Do something with it,” she requested. 

Harrison started playing around that night. He tried it with whiskey, but that did not spark joy. He experimented with a few other variations. Then a customer came in and ordered a martini “porn star”–style—she wanted it “extra, extra, extra dirty,” Harrison recalls, with lots of brine from the olive jar. A light bulb went off. Harrison stepped into the kitchen and told Shanti he needed some smoked turkey neck. Right now. “It was in the middle of service,” she says, “but he had this determination in his eyes.” He got his turkey neck. 

https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/behold-the-potlikker-martini/

Collard greens are indigenous to both LaGrange, Georgia, and Monrovia, Liberia—where Keyatta Mincey-Parker’s mother and father were raised, respectively. In this cocktail meant to symbolize their love and blending of cultures, collard greens lend a hearty green base and hue. The drink’s name references the liquid left at the bottom of a pot (a staple of Southern cooking) after cooking the leafy vegetable. Apple juice adds sweetness and texture, while the saline drops and vegetal aloe vera liqueur pull all the elements together.

https://punchdrink.com/recipes/eves-pot-liquor/