Cabbage farci (cabbage stuffed with meat)

Those 18th century French people in Louisbourg stuffed many things. This recipe involves stuffing a large Savoy cabbage. It’s a surprisingly flashy dish for being cabbage-based. Be warned, you need quite a large pot with a close-fitting lid for this dish that feeds 8 people.

Check out the other stuffed (farci) recipes we’ve tried so far: eggs and cucumbers. You can also see a stuffed cabbage from the WWII era here.

(Recipe modified from From the Hearth.)

Ingredients

1 large (or 2 small) Savoy cabbage

Stuffing:
1/2 lb ground veal (or substitute ground chicken)
1/2 lb ground chicken
1/2 lb bacon, finely minced
1 3" slice beef marrow (optional)
1/4 cup mushrooms, finely minced
1/2 cup chives, finely minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1-1.5 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Bouillon:
4-5 cups beef or chicken bouillon
2-3 tbsp beef essence (I don't even know what this is, so I didn't use it. I added some Worcestershire sauce instead, because I associate that with beef dishes.)
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 tbsp fresh basil
1 medium onion, sliced
8 oz veal, thinly sliced

Veal is hard to come by where I live, so I substituted ground chicken in the stuffing and pork in the bouillon. I mixed and matched fresh and dried for the herbs, depending on what I had available, and had to skip on the beef marrow.

The cookbook also suggests substituting a fish-based stuffing, if desired.

Instructions

Mix all the stuffing ingredients together and set aside. 

Remove the outer and/or damaged leaves of the cabbage. Place cabbage in a large pot of boiling water for 8-10 minutes, until the leaves in the centre open when pulled. Use tongs to separate them when you are checking, and also to make sure the boiling water reaches inside. Make sure the cabbage stays firm. Drain and pat dry. Let cool until you can easily work with it. 

Meanwhile, place all the bouillon ingredients in a large pot and heat to a simmer. Ensure you will be able to cover the pot tightly with the lid when you add the cabbage. 

Gently open the leaves of the cabbage to access the spaces between them. Fill the spaces between the leaves with stuffing, trying to get the stuffing down near the core. 

Close the leaves back over and tie the cabbage with kitchen string. 

Place the cabbage in the hot bouillon, which should come up no more than halfway. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the cabbage is tender and the stuffing is cooked (I recommend using a good kitchen thermometer). 

Remove cabbage and allow to drain. Remove string and place on platter for serving. Strain the bouillon and serve separately. 

So, my first mistake was choosing too small a pot to try a parboil the cabbage. I found it really needed to get that boiling water into the centre of the cabbage to really open those leaves, and that means you have to be able to submerse the whole cabbage.

I had to switch pots during the initial cooking step. As a result, my boiling of the cabbage took longer than the recipe suggests.

Once I had the large stockpot going, I could get the hot water where I needed it. The outer leaves ended up being slightly more cooked than the inner leaves as a result, but it wasn’t drastically noticeable.

I couldn’t see enough (and didn’t remember enough) about what the inner structure of the cabbage looked liked, so I wasn’t sure where exactly to aim my stuffing. I ended up trying to stuff between layers of leaves, but didn’t get it down far enough to fill the cabbage.

Take a look at the slice further below to get a sense of where the stuffing went and where it could have gone. As an alternative, the centre could likely be cored out to accommodate a mass of the stuffing, but I think alternating layers of cabbage leaves and meat would be much more appealing.

Tying the cabbage was pretty straightforward. Although I was a bit worried the stuffing might squish up and out when I drew the top together, it only took a bit of prodding to get it all enclosed.

I didn’t follow the directions well here – I ended up putting in too much bouillon. Don’t make my mistakes!

The bouillon was pretty tasty, but we did have to cook it down a bit as I’d made it a bit watery to begin with.

The cabbage turned out pretty well. I used a digital thermometer to ensure that stuffing was fully cooked.

You can see from the slice above that I only really got the stuffing down about a third of the way into the cabbage. Next time I’ll be working on getting it between those leaves and down lower.

The Verdict

This stuffed cabbage was quite tasty! It was a little awkward boiling/braising such a large single vegetable, but once we brought in the big pot the cooking became manageable.

Getting the stuffing throughout will be the next challenge to tackle. I’m planning to try stuffing between the leaves one more time before resorting to cutting out part of the core.

The cabbage sliced up nicely and looked pretty impressive on the table. We used some quality bacon, which made a positive difference.

Would you core it, or try to stuff between the leaves? “Leave” a comment!