I stewed them with pig, and, cooking for non-pig-eating folks, with dried shrimp and shiitake mushrooms, Chinese ingredients I recognized at the local Vietnamese market. I started making mac and cheese with Vietnamese rice paper rolls as the noodles and baking corn bread to sop up those Asian-inflected greens.
One day, without the time to properly cook up a batch of collard greens, I took another Asian cue and thought to stir-fry them with onions and fish sauce, the secret weapon of the Southeast Asian pantry.
I never realized that sticky glutinous rice wasn't part of everyone's festive meal. I was in love with a mushy side dish made up of processed foods.
I no longer make the kind of green bean casserole that requires a can opener, but it still appears on my menu, modified of course: fresh green beans, blanched and sautéed with cremini mushrooms, covered with a roux-thickened cream sauce, topped with pan-fried shallots.
Irvin Lin is an award-winning baker, designer, storyteller, and recipe developer.
