Given that I’ve already tried to stuff one cabbage from the 18th century, I thought I’d try this version from Wartime Recipes from the Maritimes. It features bologna, which was certainly part of my childhood in the Maritimes. I made this as part of a meal along with the unusual eggs with candied citron peel for dessert. I thought that the cabbage would be a hit, and the dessert might be a miss. Read on to find out the result!

Ingredients

1 cabbage, cored (I did not core it, which might be a source of my issues ...)
3 tbsp fat
1 small onion, diced
2 cups diced cooked potatoes
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 cup diced cooked carrots
2 cups diced bologna or hot dogs
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tbsp mustard
salt and pepper

Instructions

In a large pot, boil the cabbage in salted water. Cook until just tender. 

Heat the fat in a frying pan. Sauté the onion. (I also cooked the carrot and potato with the onion, as I didn't have pre-cooked leftovers). 

Stir in the bologna, veggies, and seasonings. 

When the cabbage is tender, drain well and let cool until you can handle it. Scoop out the cabbage flesh leaving a 1.5 inch shell. Chop the innards and mix with the rest of the filling.

Preheat oven to 425F. 

Place cabbage in buttered baking dish. Fill the cabbage centre with filling, and place any extra filling around the cabbage in the dish. 

Bake for 10-15 minutes. Serve hot. 

One, cabbages require very large pots to boil. And, two, they take a looooong time. Especially when you don’t core them.

I ended up cooking the potato and carrot with the onion, because I didn’t have pre-cooked/leftover veggies.

The verdict

Stuffing cabbages is hard! I like the taste of this dish, but I probably wouldn’t try to stuff the cabbage next time, just chop it up and mix it with the other ingredients. (Although, part of the issue was that the cabbage wasn’t cored, and therefore didn’t cook through). The actual recipe was a bit awkward to make, and awkward to serve (hard to cut that big cabbage).

I think a Savoy cabbage, like used for Cabbage farci, might be easier to work with for this dish too.

What would you stuff a cabbage with? Tell us in the comments!