"Jim Elbrecht" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 04 May 2011 08:19:50 +0300, Opinicus
> > wrote:
>
>>In Elizabeth David's "French Country Cooking" (published in 1951)
>>there are several recipes for stuffed whole cabbage. In this
>>technique, a whole cabbage is blanched then "you proceed to unfold the
>>cabbage leaf by leaf, gently, until it looks like an open flower." The
>>stuffing mixture is spread on each leaf, after which "when all the
>>stuffing is used up, press the leaves of the cabbage gently together
>>and tie it into its original shape with tape." The stuffed cabbage is
>>usually cooked in a very slow oven for several hours. Finally "when
>>the cabbage is cooked, [you] take the tape away very carefully."
>>
>>What sort of "tape" could they have used for cooking purposes in early
>>1950s Britain?
>
> Sounds like an interesting recipe. Any pictures of the end product?
> My guess is that they were using [or you could use] cotton ribbon. A
> string would pull through the leaves as they softened.
>


Yes indeed interesting. I had a look in Jane Grigson and she has several
pages of variations of Chou Farci as you describe. She says to tie it up
with string, maybe placing some straps of foil under it for lifting it out
of the pan or to use a basket or alternatively recommends wrapping the whole
cabbage in muslin er, an old nappy actually.

Tim W