Regency Dish: A Forced Cabbage

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From the 1803 edition of The Art of Cookery, a receipt for forced cabbage.

A forced Cabbage Take a fine white heart cabbage about as big as a quarter of a peck lay it in water two or three hours then half boil it set it in a colander to drain then very carefully cut out the heart but take great care not to break off any of the outside leaves fill it with force meat made thus take a pound of veal half a pound of bacon fat and lean together cut them small and beat them fine in a mortar with four eggs boiled hard Season it with pēpper and salt a little beaten mace a very little lemon peel cut fine some parsley chopped fine a very little thyme and two anchovies when they are beat fine take the crumb of a stale roll some mushrooms if you have them either pickled or fresh and the heart of the cabbage you cut out chopped fine mix all together with the yolk of an egg then fill the hollow part of the cabbage and tie it with a packthread then lay some flices of bacon to the bottom of a stew pan or fauce pan and on that a pound of coarse lean beef cut thin put in the cabbage cover it close and let it ftew over a flow fire till the bacon begins to stick to the pan shake in a little flour then pour in a quart of broth an onion ftuck with cloves two blades of mace fome whole pepper a little bundle of sweet herbs cover it close and let it stew very softly an hour and a half put in a glass of red wine give it a boil then take it up lay it in the dish and strain the gravy and pour over untie it first This is a fine fide dish and the next day makes a fine hash with a veal fteak nicely broiled and laid on it

This Youtube tutorial shows the cabbage farce or forced cabbage step by step.  A modern recipe for roasted cabbage steaks sounds very delicious, and while not identical, similar enough that it might give you a general taste of the forced cabbage dish if the older recipe is too intimidating.

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