This is a good one if you are having some guests over and you want to be disappointed at how little impressed they are after you undertook a time-consuming process to present them with this delicious and elaborate stuffed cabbage. Don’t get me wrong: this was actually very good. It’s just that the end result out of the dutch oven makes one feel a little silly for going through the process of carefully peeling back cabbage leaves one by one.
This recipe came from “Maryland’s Way,” the Hammond-Harwood House cookbook, and the instructions were to place the cabbage on a draining rack in the sink and to “pour boiling water over it, a little at a time, carefully separating the leaves to open out cabbage head.” Between cooking and metalworking, my hands are like leather gloves but this still required me to carefully coax the leaves using a chopstick. If I had done my homework I might have found this helpful video with a much better method for opening up a cabbage.
As mentioned in the video, this was apparently a favorite dish of Thomas Jefferson’s. Mary Randolph also includes a version of the recipe in “The Virginia Housewife,” without explicit instructions for the stuffing. 19th century recipes often call for “forcemeat” which is any combination of ground meat, seasonings, bread, eggs, etc. – some recipes contain no meat at all.
In Maryland’s Way, the source is listed as “Miss Ann Chase’s Book,” dated 1811 and noted to be “Sophia Ridgely’s receipt, revised.” I am not positive of Sophia’s husband William’s relation to the Ridgelys of Hampton (shad roe croquettes) but I am sure there is one. Sophia was born Sophia Plater – of the Sotterly Plantation (jumbles) Platers.
Samuel Chase,
by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress
Ann Chase was the daughter of Samuel Chase, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Justice of the Supreme Court. Thomas Jefferson, with the assistance of John Randolph of Roanoke (a distant relative of Mary Randolph, in fact,) impeached Chase, but Chase was acquitted.
They would have saved time just having some stuffed cabbage together since they all love it so dang much!
Recipe:
- 1 large green cabbage, savoy is best
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 bunch onion, cut fine
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Lb ground veal*
- .5 Lb ground pork, or more
- 1 slice crumbled bread
- 1 Tablespoon chopped parsley
- .25 Teaspoon thyme
- .25 Teaspoon marjoram
- salt
- black pepper
Aauté onions and garlic lightly in the butter, then add ground meat, bread crumbs, parsley and seasonings, browning slightly and blending together. Plunge cabbage into pot of boiling water and peel back the leaves, a little at a time, scalding cabbage again as necessary. Remove a small amount of the innermost leaves if necessary. Drain, then spoon stuffing between the leaves and over the center. Fold up outside leaves, closing cabbage in original form, and tie up with string or in a bag.
For the dutch oven:
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, sliced
- 1 cup meat broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Teaspoon caraway seed
- salt
- flour
Melt butter in Dutch oven, arrange onion and carrots in bottom of pot and place stuffed cabbage on them. Pour stock around cabbage and add bay leaf and caraway seed. Sprinkle cabbage lightly with salt. Return lid to Dutch oven and bake in 250° oven for 1.5 to two hours, or until thermometer inserted registers safe meat temperature. Remove cabbage and vegetables to serving platter. Thicken sauce with flour serve over cabbage and vegetables. Serve the remainder in a tureen.
*I used all ground pork and it was fine; the key is to use good stock.
Recipe Adapted from Maryland’s Way: The Hammond-Harwood House cookbook
