The type, age and size of the greens will determine the cooking method and time.

Heartier greens such as kale, collard or turnip greens need lengthy simmering or braising. Mustard greens, whose leaves are less tough, can be cooked by sauteing and steaming, as in the recipe provided, as well as by the traditional Southern long-cooking method. Or do as the Italians do: Boil the greens briefly and then saute them with a flavorful olive oil. Sliced roughly crosswise, greens are a tasty addition to broth-based soups.

Tender greens and Asian greens can be stir-fried, or stir-fried and then steamed briefly. For an elegant presentation, Loanne Chiu of Fort Worth, who often puts her Chinese cooking heritage to work in prize-winning cook-off dishes, cuts baby bok choy heads in half, steams them and makes a ring of them, cut side down, on a serving platter, to surround a side dish of mushrooms or an entree of stir-fried beef.

The stems or stalks of most greens are edible but generally should be cooked longer than the leaves. The stems can be cut up and sauteed until almost tender before the leaves are added, as with Swiss chard or broccoli raab. If the stalks are quite dense, they will benefit from a brief blanching in boiling water first, which also tames the bitterness of more assertive greens. In the case of kale, the tough stems are best discarded.

For gai lan (Chinese broccoli) or yu chow (cai xin), the stalks should be peeled before cooking with a swivel-bladed peeler. Ms. Chiu always looks for those with the thickest stalks, as they are easier to peel. She cuts the peeled stalks on the bias into 1/4- to 1/2-inch pieces and stir-fries them for a few minutes before adding the tops of the greens and simmering or steaming them until they are tender but still a little crunchy.

Radicchio is wonderful cut in half or quartered, brushed with olive oil and grilled over charcoal or on a grill pan on the stove. The heat softens and sweetens the sharp radicchio, and the edges char and caramelize.

Pricey Belgian endive turns sweet and silky when braised: Trim the root end but leave the head intact; slice the endive in half lengthwise. Choose a flameproof dish with a tightly fitting lid; the endive should fit into the dish snugly in one layer. Melt a little butter in the dish and saute the endive until the surfaces begin to color. Add chicken stock almost to cover the endive, along with the juice of a lemon, a sprinkling of salt and a little sugar; bring to a boil. Cover tightly, place the dish in a 350-degree oven and braise for about a half-hour, or until the endive is very tender; then return to the stovetop and cook the liquid down to a syrupy glaze.

Greens are amazingly interchangeable. If you have a recipe that calls for kale, try substituting one of the heartier greens such as collards or turnip greens. With a recipe calling for spinach, you might use Asian greens such as water spinach or amaranth for a touch of exoticism, or young mustard greens for extra flavor.

Flavoring

Every culture has its own set of flavorings that are customary with greens, but garlic is universal. Other flavors that work well include:

Cured meats: Bacon, salt pork, pancetta or country ham can be simmered with the greens or cut into small pieces and sauteed with the greens. In the South, it's common to dress cooked greens with hot bacon grease, either alone or in a dressing made with vinegar. The bacon cuts the bitterness of sharper greens, such as dandelion leaves.

Vinegar or lemon juice: Their acidity balances the greens' earthy flavors, as do spicy peppers. In the South, the two elements are often combined in a sprinkling of vinegar in which hot peppers have been steeped.

Italian style: According to chef Donatella Trotti, who owns the Fort Worth restaurant Nonna Tata, "the classic way is just with extra-virgin olive oil. It's a cleansing thing, during the change of season," she says, referring to the practice of eating spring greens as a tonic to cleanse a system made sluggish by winter's limited diet, "so you want to keep it as simple as possible." Other additions might be anchovy paste and crushed red pepper, added while the greens are sauteing.

Chinese flavors: Garlic, fresh gingerroot, soy sauce and oyster sauce are classic Chinese flavoring agents for greens. Use a light hand with the oyster sauce, warns Ms. Chiu, who also likes to add a little sesame oil at the end of cooking, or perhaps a bit of chile-garlic paste or spicy sambal oelek. Finely sliced Thai peppers would give the greens even more of a kick.

Wild cards: Don't be afraid to experiment with your seasonings; try olive oil, crushed red pepper and garlic with Asian greens, for example, or Asian seasonings with mustard greens. Broccoli raab not only looks like gai lan but cooks like it, too, as I found on a recent night when I wanted to cook an Asian supper but needed to use up the last of a bunch of broccoli raab in my crisper. I sauteed the cut-up stalks in a hot skillet and then tossed in the leafy tops and florets, added finely chopped garlic and ginger, and finished the dish with a few shakes of soy sauce and a dollop of oyster sauce. I rolled the greens around in the skillet to glaze.