Caboges*

Categories:	Vegetable   English   14th Century   cabbage
Original Source:	Harleian MS. 279
Secondary Source:
Cook:	Marian of Edwinstowe
Meeting Date:	2004-11-21

Take fayre caboges, an cutte hem, an pike hem clene and clene washe hem, an parboyle hem in fayre water, an þanne presse hem on a fayre bord; an þan choppe hem, and caste hem in a faire pot with goode freysshe broth, an wyth mery-bonys, and let it boyle: þanne grate fayre brede and caste þer-to, an caste þer-to Safron an salt; or ellys take gode grwel y-mad of freys flesshe, y-draw þorw a straynour, and caste þer-to. An whan þou seruyst yt inne, knocke owt þe marw of þe bonys, an ley þe marwe .ij. gobettys or .iij. in a dysshe, as þe semyth best, & serue forth.

Take nice cabbages and cut them and pick them clean and wash them and parboil them in clean water, and then press them on a clean board, and then chop them, and put them into a clean pot with good fresh broth, and with marrowbones, and let it boil. Then grate good bread and put it (into the pot) and put in saffron and salt, or else take good gruel made of fresh meat, strain it, and put it (into the pot). And when you serve it in, knock out the marrow of the bones, and lay 2 or 3 gobbets (small chunks) of the marrow in a dish, as seems best to you, and serve it forth.

Steps

1. Cut cabbages in quarters and boil them for 10 minutes in plain water. Take them out and press excess water out of them, pressing down with a cutting board or using the broad side of a cleaver against a cutting board (the departing water can make a mess, so I usually do this over the sink). Then cut them into smaller (bite-sized) pieces. It is not necessary to discard the heavy core, but make sure it is chopped into small pieces.
2. Meanwhile, in another pot, boil the marrowbones in 4 cans (= 3 pints) of broth 1/2 hour or so, until all the meat on the bones is cooked and marrow comes out of the bones freely. Carefully remove the bones from the broth (they are hot! use tongs or slotted spoon). Allow bones to cool somewhat, then knock out the marrow. Use a narrow knife or skewer to dig out the marrow if necessary.
3. Put chopped cabbage into the broth and boil for 1/2 hour. Put the saffron and salt together in a mortar and grind until the threads begin to break apart. Add bread crumbs and saffron/salt to the pot, stir. Simmer another 1/2 hour or so until the bread crumbs "moosh". Taste. If too salty, add more bread crumbs. If too dense, add more broth.

Note

Using broth as first suggested and ignoring the gruel variation

This can be made in advance and reheated (like most stews, it’s as good or better the next day), but you may need to add more broth to achieve a good stew-like consistency. In these cholesterol-conscious days you may wish to skip the step of adding whole "gobbets" of marrow to the serving dish -- there will already be some marrow flavor in the broth - - but a little marrow, chopped, pulverized, and mixed into the stew adds to the tastiness.