A Brief History Lesson From Your Grocery Store

The Emancipation Proclamation took effect on Jan 1, 1863, declaring enslaved people in the Confederate states free. But a declaration and a reality are not the same thing, especially when some people are very committed to being terrible.

On June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston with 2,000 Union troops and issued General Order No. 3, announcing that enslaved people in Texas were free.

Freedom arrived unevenly, but the order affectdd more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in Texas. The date became known as Juneteenth, and Black Texans began celebrating it the following year with gatherings, music, family, and (this is where we come in) food.

One important detail for the history quiz you’re slowly realizing you’re taking: Juneteenth marks the announcement and enforcement of emancipation in Texas. Slavery was not abolished nationwide until the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified later in 1865.

Juneteenth is a day to celebrate freedom while remembering that “freedom delayed is freedom denied”, a sentence considerably more important than anything we can say about cornbread.

Although we are going to say quite a bit about cornbread.

The Official Color of Delicious Is Red

Red foods and drinks have long been part of Juneteenth celebrations. Meanings vary among families and traditions, but red can represent resilience, sacrifice, strength, and joy.

This is also the day when we all pretend red velvet cake is in any way comparable to chocolate cake. It is not. Chocolate cake is a thunderstorm. Red velvet cake is chocolate cake wearing a burgundy blazer with white socks, and hoping nobody asks to see their invitation.

But we can all agree that eating red things is fun. Red drinks, watermelon, strawberry desserts, red velvet cake, hot links, and barbecue sauce all understand the assignment. They arrive bright, celebratory, and prepared to permanently earn a place on your previously white shirt.

Ava's has a whole barbecue-sauce committee ready to help:

Famous Dave's Devil's Spit brings peppery heat for anyone who believes freedom includes the right to make their own forehead sweat.

Rufus Teague Honey Sweet BBQ Sauce is sticky, smoky, and sweet enough to make a sliced sausage disappear before it reaches the serving plate.

G Hughes Sugar Free Original BBQ Sauce keeps the tomato-rich cookout flavor without added sugar, for people who want their barbecue sauce red but not legally classified as frosting.

Collards: Leafy, Historic, and Ready to Party

Collard greens are deeply tied to Southern and African American cooking. They were commonly grown in kitchen gardens because they could handle both Southern heat and cold weather, an impressive range for a vegetable that looks like it has been waiting patiently to speak with management.

Traditionally, collards are simmered with smoked meat, onion, seasoning, and a little vinegar. The flavorful broth left behind is called pot liquor, and cornbread exists partly because leaving that broth in the bowl would be an act of terrible judgment.

Collards also provide a necessary service at a cookout: they let you put something intensely green beside sausage, cornbread, barbecue sauce, and cake, then announce that the meal has “balance”.

Ava’s has beautiful fresh bunches ready for a quick simmer. The leaves cook down dramatically, so buy more than seems reasonable. Collards obey the same spatial laws as spinach and MV's downtown parking lots.

Juneteenth Recipes For Busy People

These are short, Southern-inspired cookout recipes. No twelve-hour smoker, inherited cast-iron cauldron, or televised cooking competition required.

Sticky BBQ Andouille Bites

You need: Andouille sausage, BBQ sauce, and a little oil.

1. Slice fully cooked andouille sausage into thick coins.
2. Brown in a lightly oiled skillet for 5-7 minutes.
3. Add enough BBQ sauce to coat, then cook for another 2 minutes until glossy.

Serve with toothpicks. Pretend this is for sharing.

Quick Collard Greens With Andouille

You need: Collard greens, andouille sausage, onion, broth or water, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

1. Slice the collards into ribbons and the andouille into coins.
2. Brown the sausage with half a chopped onion.
3. Add collards, a cup of broth or water, a splash of vinegar, salt, and pepper.
4. Cover and simmer for about 20 minutes, until the greens are tender.

Serve with cornbread to catch the pot liquor (remember that from earlier?). A spoon works too, but a spoon cannot absorb broth while looking handsome.

Crispy-Edge Shortcut Cornbread

You need: Bob’s Red Mill cornbread mix, and the ingredients listed on the package.

1. Follow instructions on the package.
2. Retrieve package from garbage can, because you forgot the next step.
3. Return package to garbage and continue with recipe. (Repeat as necessary)

Protip: A hot skillet creates crisp golden edges, which are the best part of cornbread and the reason family members begin suspiciously monitoring one another near the pan.

Juneteenth deserves more than a paragraph in a textbook, and certainly more than the strange historical speed-run many of us received in school. It is a celebration of freedom, but also of the people who kept building families, communities, traditions, businesses, art, music, and very serious cookout plates.

Learn something. Celebrate respectfully. Make enough collards. Stop by Ava’s and make one responsible decision followed by several sauce-based ones.