Why Kamala Harris Preps Her Greens in a Bathtub

Kamala Harris might be the most talented home cook we’ve ever had as a presidential candidate. Her love of food has long been visible to the public, especially during the early months of the pandemic, when Harris schooled Senator Mark Warner in the art of making a tuna melt on Instagram, and posted videos of her cooking virtually with chefs including Tom Colicchio and José Andrés. But even as she competes to be head of state, the Democratic nominee and current Vice President of the United States is sharing her wisdom in the kitchen — and her latest intel is the secret to making stellar greens for a crowd.

Speaking with Mashama Bailey — a two-time James Beard award-winning chef who specializes in Southern cuisine — Harris explains in a video posted to her social media platforms last Saturday that she used to make the greens for a friend’s Christmas eve party every year. And when she says party, she means it, because Harris would prepare such a large amount of greens that they needed to be washed in a bathtub. From her unexpected strategy for washing produce to the secret ingredient she adds at the end of cooking, there are a few tips we can learn from the Vice President’s holiday staple.

Harris doesn’t specify what type of leafy vegetable she uses, but since she notes that they’re simmered for several hours, is speaking with a renowned Southern chef, and provided the comment while in Savannah, Georgia, it’s safe to assume that it’s probably a heartier green. 

There are three common greens that are braised in the South: collard, mustard, and turnip greens. It’s important to note that the narrative of slow-cooked Southern greens is intimately connected to Black history in America. Enslaved people were often given discarded ingredients like the tops of turnips, which they would simmer with other scraps, such as ham hocks or pig feet, to infuse them with flavor.

Savory, salty, and fall-apart tender greens are still a core part of soul and Southern food today, with many iconic Black chefs and families developing their own recipes, ranging from the legendary (literally—she won the James Beard Living Legend Award) chef and cookbook author Edna Lewis’ Spicy Collard Greens to chef, restaurant owner, and author of Soul: A Chef’s Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes Todd Richards’ Japanese-inspired Collard Greens Ramen.

Rinsing off produce in the bathtub might seem surprising, but if you’re cooking for a crowd — and especially if you’re making greens — this is actually a smart method. When I’m washing kale I can’t even fit one whole bunch into my large salad spinner, so I have to clean it in batches. Leafy greens cook down a lot, and what might appear to be a large volume when raw won’t always translate to a ton of servings.

For example, chef Toriano Fredericks’ recipe for Vegan Collard Greens calls for six bunches of collard greens, or 18 to 20 packed cups, once stripped from the stems. That’s already a lot more leaves than you can fit in the sink at once, and this recipe only feeds 10 people, so you might need to scale it up for a party. 

As an added bonus, washing your greens in the bathtub makes it much easier to fully immerse them in the water and rinse off any dirt or silt. It can also clean them more quickly — preventing the need to wash everything more than once — so it’s a simple way to save time. The way you wash your greens can be just as personal as the way they’re cooked; some people simply rinse off the leaves, others prefer to soak, or you might like to be extra careful and do both. 

Luckily for all of us, Harris also details how she cooks her greens after they’ve been washed. Chef Bailey asks if the Democratic nominee adds in turkey for flavor, but Harris says she opts for bacon instead. She starts off by chopping up and rendering the bacon, then adds in sliced garlic, chili peppers, lots of water, and a little chicken stock before bringing it all to a simmer. She lets the liquid and aromatics cook together for a while before even stirring the greens in to help build a base of flavor. After the greens have gone into the pot, they get braised for a few hours, and then Harris finishes everything off with some white vinegar and a little Tabasco. 

The former U.S. senator says that her use of Tabasco is cheating but that the Louisiana hot sauce has just “that right amount of vinegar.” As someone who comes from a Cajun family myself, I don’t think adding Tabasco is ever cheating — it’s just a good idea. And even if none of our collard greens recipes call for it, they’d all do well with a dash of hot sauce at the end: