Stuffed cabbage

(Recipe #35, page 59)

Make a forcemeat consisting of 8 ounces of finely chopped pork, 2-½ ounces of butter, 3–4 ounces of white bread without crusts squeezed in cold water, 2 eggs, salt, mace, and lemon peel. Take large leaves of white cabbage, soften them somewhat by blanching, and remove the veins. Place the leaves on a cutting board or flat platter, each overlapping half the previous leaf, spread them with a layer of forcemeat as thick as a straw, bring the ends together and roll the whole package together in the shape of a sausage and wrap with twine. Cook it about 1 hour in meat stock, butter, and mace.

After removing the twine, briefly boil down the cooking liquid and thicken it with potato flour to make gravy. Some add a bit of sugar to the gravy.

Translated by David Green.

White cabbage with beef or leg of lamb

(Recipe #34, page 59)

Take a piece of well-washed beef (or leg of lamb), boil and skim it in salted water, and let the stock continue to reduce for 2 hours. Then pour the stock through a fine sieve and pour it back over the meat. Add the cabbage cooked as in the recipe above, sprinkle with any needed salt, and cook it until completely done with the meat and a few small potatoes placed on the cabbage later.

Translated by David Green.

White cabbage

(Recipe #33, pages 58 – 59)

After removing the outer green leaves of the cabbage, cut it in half vertically, remove the core and coarser veins, and cut it into large chunks; cook quickly uncovered in plenty of vigorously boiling water, for 10 or at most 15 minutes, and place it in a colander. Boil some water, add drippings or suet, place the cabbage in the liquid and sprinkle with salt (not too much); top with a few pats of butter and let the cabbage steam tightly covered until quite soft. Since the cabbage absorbs both the fat and the salt, it does not have to be stirred and can be placed directly into the serving bowl with a slotted spoon. Cooked in this way, cabbage is a tasty and attractive dish. Potatoes can be cooked separately but can also be placed on top of the cabbage. In the latter case, after the cabbage has boiled for ¼ of an hour place the potatoes on top and distribute a few pats of butter and some salt over the potatoes instead of over the cabbage.

Translated by David Green.

Steamed white cabbage

(Recipe #32, page 58)

Cut and prepare the cabbage as described above, but omit the wine and sugar. Any side dishes will do.

Cooking time [same] as for red cabbage.

A second method of preparation: Layer the sliced cabbage with black cumin and cook until tender in a generous amount of boiling water with fat and salt. Then mix some flour with vinegar and stir it in thoroughly to thicken the cabbage a bit. Black cumin is not to everyone’s taste.

Translated by David Green.

Red cabbage

(Recipe #31, page 58)

Summer cabbage is much better than winter cabbage, which has a stronger flavor and needs to cook twice as long. To prepare the cabbage, cut the head in half, remove the coarse outer leaves and the toughest veins, and shave or slice into fine strips, as long as possible. Then boil enough water so that you don’t have to worry about scorching or having too much liquid.

Duck in savoy cabbage

(Recipe #30, page 57)

Depending on the size of the heads, cut the cabbage into 2–4 pieces. Remove the thick veins but keep the pieces whole. Wash the cabbage and place in a colander. Meanwhile brown a duck in butter, add a few rashers of bacon, 2 cups of water, and the cabbage, without letting the heads fall apart; sprinkle some salt in layers between the pieces, cover the pot tightly, and steam both over gentle heat some 1½–2 hours until tender. To serve, place the duck in a bowl and garnish with the cabbage.

If you don’t want to cook the duck with the cabbage, the vegetable can also be prepared with the liquid from the roast duck and the duck added after roasting. (It should also be noted that it is easy to oversalt Savoy cabbage.)

Translated by David Green.

Savoy cabbage

(Recipe #29, page 57)

Remove the outer leaves, then cut the head in half, remove the core and the thick veins of the leaves, and cut the rest of the head into pieces half the size of a hand. Wash and boil in lots of lightly salted water over a hot fire until done, pour boiling water over the cabbage in a colander, press the water out of the leaves, and stew them thoroughly with meat stock, nutmeg, and butter.

Cooking time 1 hour.

Accompaniments: tripe, roast duck, roast beef, cutlets, pork sausage, boiled beef, for everyday meals also a piece of soup meat.

Translated by David Green.

Pe-tsai or Napa Cabbage

(Recipe #6, page 50)

Prepared like Brussels sprouts (no. 2) and served with the same side dishes along with roast potatoes.

Translated by David Green.

Butter cabbage

(Recipe #4, page 49)

This highly rewarding cabbage, which yields a very healthful and tasty vegetable dish, deserves to be cultivated widely.

Sprouts with Winter Green Cabbage or Winter Kale

(Recipe #3, page 48)

When these have been picked over (in the spring) and washed, tie them in bundles, cook them thoroughly in boiling salted water, and place them in a colander. Immediately cut the twine with a scissors and remove it. Arrange the bundles on a hot platter; sprinkle them with finely powdered zwieback and nutmeg, and serve a sour egg sauce on the side.

This cabbage can also be prepared like Brussels sprouts; a little vinegar may be added to taste. The cooking time is the same as in no. 2.

Dishes that go well with this include smoked meat, meatballs, bratwurst, stuffed breast of veal, liver, kidney toasts, baked eggs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, and blintzes.

Translated by David Green.