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Spring Soup of Early Cabbages
Take the hearts of two white spring cabbages well washed, place them for a few minutes in boiling water; take out the cabbages, put them into cold water, drain them, cut them into quarters and remove the stalks, tie each quarter with a piece of thread, put them in some savoury stock, simmer till done enough, lay them in a tureen, and pour the soup over them.
A plain broth-and-vegetable soup of the old French potage school, where the vegetable is served whole in the tureen rather than cut up or pureed. Two things decide whether it works: the strength of the stock and not overcooking the cabbage.
- Savoury stockRead this as a well-flavoured meat stock rather than water with a cube in it. The recipe gives no quantity; use enough to cover the cabbage quarters generously and fill the tureen, and taste for salt at the end.
- Spring cabbage heartsThe book means the tight pale centre of a young loose-leaved cabbage. Two hearts is roughly 1 to 1.5 lb of trimmed cabbage; a small green Savoy, hispi or sweetheart cabbage stands in well.
- Why blanch firstThe few minutes in boiling water and the plunge into cold water soften the sulphurous edge and help hold the colour. Cabbage simmered straight in the stock will tend to flavour the whole tureen strongly.
- The threadTying each quarter keeps it intact through the simmer so it can be lifted out whole. Use plain cotton kitchen string, not synthetic thread, and cut it away before the quarters go into the tureen.
- "Till done enough"Twenty to thirty minutes at a bare simmer for quarters of a young cabbage; a knife should meet no resistance at the stem end. Long boiling turns the leaves grey and slack, which is what this method is designed to avoid.
- Skim the stockThe cabbage releases water and a little scum. Skim before serving so the surface does not look cloudy.
- Yield and servingTwo hearts quartered gives eight pieces, so one quarter of cabbage per bowl with the broth ladled over will serve about eight as a first course.
Spring cabbage, cut young before the head firms, was one of the first fresh greens of the English kitchen garden year and arrived just as the winter roots were failing, which is why the soup carries the season in its name. Serving the vegetable whole in the tureen, tied so it holds its shape, follows the older French potage pattern in which the garnish is presented intact and the broth poured around it.