Stuffed Savoy Cabbage with Pork

Pork Cabbage Brain!

[js]
Everytime I see beautiful savoy cabbages at the market, I couldn't help buying a head. What cracked me up this particular time was how much the heads looked like a human brain, complete with the folds and the veining.

Too bad we didn't get a shot of the actual savoy cabbage head to show how brain-like it really is. Shallow as I am, I couldn't help laughing at the market while looking at the cabbage. I kept repeating this phrase to myself, "This is your brain on cabbages," remembering the TV anti-drug ad, telling us that doing drugs is similar to frying your brain. Like eggs. Or is the moral of that ad that people on drugs have eggs for brains? I suppose it can work both ways.

I even doubled up in laughter right there on the floor that people were starting to look at me.

[ts]
A while back, in her "Stuffed!" episode of French Food at Home, we saw Laura Calder layering savoy cabbage leaves with a pork filling, forming that into a ball, and steaming it. I was quite taken with it and thought it was a very Chinese application.

So, after seeing that JS couldn't resist buying savoy cabbages because she thought they looked like brains and seeing that CSC had once again filled the fridge with her potsticker filling, I decided to make our own stuffed savoy.



[ts]
We started by blanching the savoy leaves. Then, on a clean cloth or towel, I layered the biggest leaves first. The pork filling went on next, followed by more savoy leaves, and so on. To be able to form a sphere, each ascending layer has to be smaller in area than the previous.


like a pyramid

Then I covered the whole thing with more savoy leaves, like so:


To form the sphere, I gathered all sides of the cloth and twisted. Then, I turned it upside-down.



[ts]
OK, maybe it's just us, but I found this cloth-wrapped sphere really adorable and couldn't help giggling all this while... and dare I say, also playfully slapping it from time to time. Teehee.


Look, it's so cute, all spherical like that!

[ts]
We had this set-up ready for steaming, so above the boiling water our little savoy piggy brain went. We didn't really know how long to steam it for. I think that our pork filling may have been about two pounds. We played it safe and steamed it for a long while, thinking that the pork will have a harder time overcooking in such a moist environment. After 45 minutes, we decided that there was no way it wasn't done.

And so we unveiled it.



[js]
How would that ad go now?
"This is your brain on potstickers."

[ts]
For our Pork Cabbage Brain, I made my standard potsticker dipping sauce of soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and water. (The water is important.) I poured some over the brain and also served more during the meal.



[js]
This was delicious.

Our savoy was very pale (Laura Calder's was dark green) and the pork may be a tad pink even when it's fully-cooked, but this was incredible. The combination of cabbage and potsticker filling (and dipping sauce) was phenomenal.

Next time, we would use more cabbage in between the pork layers. We didn't really think of this as a pork dish, but rather a vegetable dish. Everybody commented (complained?) that there wasn't enough savoy. That's a first, people complaining that there aren't enough vegetables.


Our Laura Calder & Laura Calder-inspired posts
Piedmont Marinated Eggs
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage with Pork
Pain Perdu (French Toast) with Sautéed Cherries
Hazelnut Roll

Stuffed recipes:
Mediterranean Stuffed Leg of Lamb
Stuffed Peppers (Lamb and Rice)
Stuffed Squid (braised in tomato sauce)
Faux=stuffed Basa Fillets with Olives, Tomatoes, Lemons and Oranges
Stuffed Giant Squid, Two Ways
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage with Pork

Pork filling recipe can be found here:
Shanghai Potstickers, Faux Siu Mai and "Huo Tyeh" (aka CSC's Chinese Dumplings)

Pork filling usage:
Stuffed Giant Squid, Two Ways
Torta with Pork and Kecap Manis
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage with Pork

Stuffed Savoy inspiration:
Laura Calder's Stuffed Cabbage



We're submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging, a world-wide food blogging event (created by Kalyn's Kitchen, now maintained by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once) with the goal of helping each other learn about cooking with herbs and plant ingredients.

If you'd like to participate, see who's hosting next week. WHB is hosted this week by Kalyn herself!