SC - Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

Here's one of the stuffed veggie recipes I promised.

Source: _Libro del Arte de Cozina_, Diego Granado, 1599
Translation: Lady Brighid ni Chiarain (Robin Carroll-Mann)

PARA RELLENAR LAS OJAS DE LAS BERZAS, O REPOLLO DE UNA 
COMPOSICION LLAMADA NOGADA
To Stuff the Leaves of the Cabbage, or Round Cabbage with a Composition 
Called Nogada [walnut sauce]

Take large cabbage leaves of those which have the big, wide stalk, and 
remove that stalk from them, and wither the leaves with hot water, and put one 
leaf on top of another, which will be three in all, sprinkled with cheese, and 
have prepared a composition of walnuts pounded in the mortar with a few 
peeled almonds, and a point of garlic, and a crustless bread soaked in broth, 
and all being well soaked, add mint and marjoram, and chopped parsley, 
pepper, cinnamon, and saffron, a good quantity, and raw eggs, and  raisins, 
and put the composition on the last leaf and wrap it in the other two leaves, 
and fasten it, and make it in the form of a ball, and cook it with fatty meat broth 
with stuffing, and being cooked remove it from the broth, detach the thread 
and serve it with the stuffing.

In the same manner you can stuff the round cabbages, or clusters, having first 
cooked them, and then make a hole in the base, and having put the 
composition inside that void, close the hole with a little piece of the same stalk 
that you took out of the base of the cabbage, and wrap the round cabbage 
with large leaves, and fasten them as we said in the last chapter, and put it in 
an earthen vessel, or of copper, not very wide, where there is fatty meat broth 
with fat pork, and pieces of ham, and salted pigs’ tongues, and a piece of  
calf’s kidney-fat, and another piece of beef, and mutton ribs, adding pepper, 
and cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and saffron, and fennel with the grain 
removed, and fasten the vessel in a manner that it cannot breathe, and cause it 
to cook over the embers far from the flame, and being cooked, serve it hot on a 
large plate with cheese, and cinnamon on top, and the meats cut into slices all 
around.

Notes:

The word I have translated simply as "cabbage" is "berza", which is a generic 
term for cabbage.  In this recipe, it seems to be the looser leaf variety of 
cabbage.  The term that I have translated as "round cabbage" is "repollo", 
which is a word that refers specifically to the tightly closed heads of cabbage.  
I do not know what specific colors and varieties of cabbage would be most 
appropriate.

The phrase "point of garlic" is a literal translation of "punta de ajo".  The 
usual term for a clove of garlic is "diente"; literally, "tooth".  "Punta" is used 
in many of the same senses as its English equivalent -- to refer to the tip of 
something sharp (like a pen), a piece of land that protrudes into the sea, or the 
point on lacing.  In this context, it apparently means a clove of garlic.  I do not 
know why Granado used it here, when in most other recipes, he used the 
standard "diente".

The phrase "crustless bread" is my translation of "migajon de pan".  There 
seems to be no simple English equivalent of "migajon" -- it means the crumb 
of the bread; ie., all the soft stuff inside the crust.

The term I have translated as "kidney-fat" is "riñonada", which my dictionary 
defines as a coating of fat that surrounds the kidneys.  I do not know if there 
is an equivalent English term.

Other recipes to follow.

Brighid


Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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