Sausage and Cabbage

One of the oldest recipes in the handwritten files I inherited and a favorite in our house. I'm wondering, though, why the cabbage is boiled first in this version. In my old recipe the sausage is layered with the raw cabbage and pressed down to fit in the cooking dish. Cooking time is the same. That way the cabbage cooks in the sausage grease. Judging from the photo, the result seems to be pretty much the same and the prep is a lot easier.

This is delicious. I hate to parboil things, but often just put the chopped-up cabbage, or rapini, or whatever needs to be parboiled in a colander and pour a couple of kettles of boiling water over the item. Does the trick.

We used bratwursts instead of Italian sausage and added some potatoes, parsnips and carrots, then flavored the dish with garlic and ground caraway. We had a couple of slices of almost stale pumpernickel bread and combined
them with panko for a crumb topping along with some grated Jarlsberg. We all liked it a lot.
Julia's recipe was a great springboard. Thanks for the
inspiration!

I made this last night & we really enjoyed it. We served it with buttered egg noodles, crusty bread and mustard. I'd definitely make again & maybe roll the sausage into tiny meatballs.

I took another poster's advice and poured boiling water over shredded cabbage inside a colander inside a large bowl and let it soak for 5 minutes. then lifted colander out to easily drain it.

I parboiled the cabbage the first time and used fresh leaves the second time. There was not difference that I could tell. The fresh cabbage took more room but cooked down. Easy and delicious.

What on earth is the "Stevie Nicks" of British cookery? She cooks wearing a long flowing dress and twirling around? She has a breathy voice? And is there a spot open for the "Christine McVie" of cookery?

parchment prevents the dish from reacting to the foil.

Made my own sausage. For 2 lbs ground pork: 2 t cracked fennel seed, 2 t thyme, 2 t oregano, 2 t black pepper, 2 t salt. Didn't blanch the cabbage, as another note suggested, and liked the texture, soft but slightly al dente. Served with white beans cooked with summer savory. No left-overs—everyone tucked in.

I have been making something like this for years, except I always added onions and garlic, with a touch of white wine. Either way it is easy and delicious.

Made today after picking up a cabbage at the farmers market. Read all the notes before cooking and did not parboil the cabbage but did brown the sausage (I used turkey sausage). Added an onion and some crushed red pepper. I put it in a large porcelain dutch oven and cooked as directed except for increasing the temp to 375 for the last 15 minutes. It was great and my husband ("I'm not sure I like cabbage that much") had seconds.

Recommended quantities/proportions were right for us. Italian pork sausage is a staple in my freezer. Next time I'll partially thaw, then cut into small dice, not bothering to take out of the casing. Spreading the mushy defrosted un-cased sausage was too fussy. After 2 hours covered, the last 1/2 hour without the cover to cook off some, but not all, of the liquid. For the last 20 minutes, I upped the temperature to 375. The top started to brown nicely. Simple, satisfying recipe. Will make again.

This dish hearkens to something my mother made using kielbasa the only difference was that she would add flat egg noodles to the dish. It was a great Polish comfort food.

This turned out far better than I feel it had any right to. It's a spectacular, and satisfying recipe that I'm going to make regularly. The texture of the cabbage was silky, with a perfect bite; and none of that terrible overcooked cabbage smell. Everyone absolutely loved it.

The only tweak I made, was to mix a half cup of sauerkraut with the cabbage, because I like the sourness.

I turned up the oven to 325 and baked it for 2 hours, last half hour open. Served with polenta - it was like paleo mac & cheese, great comfort food!

I'm sorry that your cabbage didn't get silky and soft, that is definitely part of the appeal of the dish. Are you sure you used the right kind of cabbage? Napa cabbage, for example, has thick ribs that do not soften enough for this recipe.

It's always an option to pour or spoon off some of the extra liquid in the baking dish.

I hope this helps!