When it comes to potted cabbage dishes, in memory, in fast-motion mode, one after another flickers recipes of Russian cuisine, familiar and loved since childhood, when the whole hut was filled with the aroma of cabbage with meat, from a pot coming from a real Russian oven . Such a miracle as the Russian stove can now be found, except in the museum of ethnography. But the recipes for cabbage dishes in pots have been preserved in a large assortment, and, fortunately, they can be easily reproduced in a modern kitchen.
Cabbage is a cosmopolitan plant. Almost the entire population of the planet considers it to be its culture, because its origin is still not exactly established. In the annals it is mentioned that Prince Oleg brought cabbage to the territory of our state, returning from the Byzantine campaign. Written sources about the history of Russian cuisine tell that cabbage appeared in Russia even earlier, and was the basis in East Slavic cuisine even before the development of agriculture.
Whatever it was, but such a variety of cabbage dishes, as in Russia, is still not found in any of the world's cuisines, despite its geographical distribution and variety of species and varieties. Cabbage is prepared in the Mediterranean, in the Balkans, in Asia, and in other cuisines of the world - everywhere there are recipes for cooking cabbage in pots, but at the same time, it is common for Russian cuisine to adopt the most interesting culinary traditions of other peoples, in connection with which it always acquired and continues to acquire diversity. Therefore, in modern recipes for stewed cabbage in pots, there are often found components and cooking methods typical of Caucasian, Asian or Balkan cuisine, with their special national accents.
Of course, you can chop the cabbage and stew it in an ordinary modern pan, on the stove or in the oven. But do not deprive yourself of the opportunity to find out what food is cooked in a clay pot in the oven.
Potted cabbage with meat - basic technological principles
Perhaps, thanks to the Russian oven, its property to evenly heat food from all sides, while maintaining the useful properties of dishes in pots for a long time, modern ovens, microwave ovens and other kitchen appliances have appeared. The dishes also play a significant role in the preparation of dishes: it comes into contact with food, and therefore affects its taste and quality.
Since any housewife can handle cabbage recipes in pots, and modern stoves are not difficult for anyone to use, and pottery is now becoming more and more exotic in the modern kitchen, it’s worth at least briefly talking about the rules for using clay pots.
Clay is known to be hygroscopic. This property is used in the preparation of hot dishes. Clay absorbs moisture, and therefore clay pots professionals advise before immersion in water for 15 minutes. In this case, for stewing cabbage or other products, you can not add broth or water to the pot - the stewing is due to the intrinsic moisture of the ingredients, and the clay helps to regulate the process (if it was previously soaked in water). Modern clay dishes are covered with glaze, but when buying it, you must definitely ask if this clay is suitable for cooking hot food, because some decorative clay products coated with glaze contain lead.
The very shape of the clay pot, with a narrowed, but stable bottom and convex side walls, was not invented by chance - in such dishes, food will never burn, and convex walls contribute to uniform and gradual heating of food.
But clay dishes, nevertheless, have drawbacks. It is fragile and therefore requires careful handling and proper care. Do not place hot pots on a cold surface to avoid cracking, and, conversely, do not put cold clay dishes in a red-hot oven. Another important caveat: do not use detergents. To wash clay and ceramic pots, it is quite enough to use soda solution or vinegar, after which the dishes must again be kept in water and thoroughly dried.
As for cooking with cabbage and any other ingredients, this technology is very simple. The very first method of cooking in pots, which was used by our distant ancestors, consisted in the usual preparation of products and putting them in pots. The first dishes of Russian cuisine were predominantly one-component: that is, eating, sliced cabbage, put it in pots and sent to the oven.
With the beginning of the Christian period, Russian cuisine gradually changed. Cereals and meat were added to the cabbage, but the cooking principle remained the same - the simultaneous laying of prepared and raw ingredients, followed by languishing in the oven.
Later, under the influence of European traditions, a second way of cooking dishes in pots appeared, which is used today. It includes preliminary heat treatment: preliminary boiling of individual components for dishes in pots, passivation, frying.
This technique significantly reduces the cooking time in the oven, but requires a lot of effort during the preparatory phase. In addition, the ingredients pre-cooked on the stove, when extinguished in pots, clearly differ in taste in comparison with dishes prepared by the simultaneous laying of raw ingredients. But in the home kitchen, each housewife chooses a recipe and cooking technology to her taste.
In any case, cooking in pots is always easy and healthy, so do not forget about the origins of Russian cuisine.
1. Braised cabbage in a pot with meatballs
Products:
Baked milk 250 ml
Cream (25%) 400 ml
Onion (for dressing and for minced meat) 200 + 150 g
Oil (for passivation and frying) 150 g
Minced pork and ground beef 900 g
2 eggs
White cabbage 1.0 kg
Steamed rice 250 g
Spicy greens, salt, bay leaf, pepper
Flour or small white crackers (for breading) 100 g
Cooking:
Wash steamed rice and boil. Drain and rinse the grits.
Stuffing mix with chopped onions, rice; season with pepper and salt. Add eggs, mix, beat. Place dishes with minced meat in the refrigerator for half an hour. Then form meatballs weighing 50-60 g.
Roll the meatballs in flour and fry quickly, preheating the fat in a pan. Put ready-made semi-finished products on a plate.
Pass the chopped onions in the same oil. Combine milk with cream and pour into a stewpan with passivated onions. Add spices, chopped herbs.
Chop the cabbage thinly. Fill the pots with it to half. Put meatballs on top (3 pieces per serving).
Pour the contents of the pots with the prepared dressing and simmer in the oven for 20-25 minutes with moderate heat.
2. Mushrooms with cabbage in a pot - lean cuisine
Ingredients:
White onion 400 g
Champignons 1.2 kg
Greenery
Cabbage 600 g
Carrot 200 g
Beans 300 g
Mushroom seasoning, pepper mixture, bay leaf
Tomato sauce, sweet and sour 450 ml
Vegetable Fat 150 ml
Cooking Technology:
Boil the soaked beans until half-ready, drain the water and transfer into pots, dividing in portions.
Cut the prepared mushrooms into halves or four parts (if large). Fry mushrooms with onions and carrots, adding spices and herbs during the frying process. Put the fried mushrooms on the beans, also dividing them into equal parts, according to the number of servings.
Put chopped cabbage on the mushroom layer. Pour 70-75 ml of the finished sauce into each pot. Simmer in the oven over low heat. Serve in pots, sprinkled with greens.
3. Sauerkraut with meat in pots
Ingredients Composition:
Pork (goulash) 1.2 kg
Sauerkraut 1.5 kg
Spices to taste
Sour cream (15%) 300 g
Beans, in its own juice 400 g
Puff yeast dough 900 g
Egg 1 pc.
Garlic 30 g
Vegetable oil 50 ml
Chopped dill 70-80 g
Output: 6 servings
Operating procedure:
Place the washed pork slices in equal parts in ceramic pots. Flip the canned beans through a colander, rinse and also arrange in portions. Do not squeeze sauerkraut and place in pots with brine. On top of cabbage, put 50 g of sour cream. Add spices and herbs to your taste.
Divide the dough into six pieces, 150 g each, roll out cakes of them about a centimeter thick. Lubricate the edges of the pots with a beaten egg and glue the semi-finished dough products on top of each pot. Turn on the oven, set the temperature to 120-140оС and send pots there on a baking sheet. When the dough is baked, remove the pan and grease the surface with a beaten egg. Return the dish to the oven for a few minutes, bring the cakes to readiness, browning them.
Grind the garlic and grind it in a mortar with finely chopped dill, adding vegetable oil. Lubricate the hot cakes with the prepared mixture as soon as you remove the pots from the oven. Cover them with a linen towel for 8-10 minutes.
4. Stewed cauliflower in a pot with mushrooms and chicken drumsticks
Ingredients:
Chicken drumsticks (broilers) 12 pcs.
Mushrooms (chanterelles), pickled 600 g
Onions 300 g
Cheese 450 g
Cauliflower 900 g
Vegetable fat 120 g
Flour (for breading) 70 g
Small salt
Garlic 5-6 cloves
Spicy herbs - optional
Sour cream 0.5 L
Ground spices
Procedure:
Put the prepared drumsticks in a pan, add cold water and put to boil the broth. Remove foam during cooking. When the broth becomes clear, add the whole onion, carrots, bay leaves, spices.
Put the boiled drumsticks on a plate, let them cool slightly. Strain the broth. Melt vegetable fat in a pan. Roll the legs in flour, salt and pepper. Fry them, and put two in a batch of pots.
Also bread and fry cabbage inflorescences. Divide the prepared cabbage into six portions and lay on top of the chicken legs. In each pot, put 100 g of pickled chanterelles, on top of the cabbage.
Pass the chopped onion with the addition of one tablespoon of flour. Pour in sour cream mixed with broth. Season the dressing with spices and herbs. Turn off the stove. Pour the prepared sauce into pots in equal parts. Add one slice of chopped garlic and chopped greens to each serving.
Grate the cheese and cover with it the contents of each pot. Simmer in the oven for 15 minutes, preheating it to 140 ° C. Serve the dish in pots.
5. Brussels sprouts in a pot with smoked sausages
List of ingredients:
Sausages "Hunting" 0.4 kg
Flour 30 g
Brussels sprouts 0.5 kg
Butter, 70 g
Ground Nutmeg
Potato 300 g
Pickled olives 200 g
Cream (10%) 400 ml
2 eggs
Lemon 1 pc.
Onion 120 g
Greenery
Cooking:
Boil peeled cabbage heads in salted water. Melt the butter in a preheated pan, fry the onions and flour. Combine the vegetable broth with warm cream, add to the passivated onion, bring to a boil. Beat the eggs and pour them in a thin stream into a boiling sauce with continuous stirring.
Put the heads of fried cabbage, slices of peeled potatoes and pieces of hunting sausages in a ceramic pan. Pour in the cooked milk and egg sauce.
Simmer for 40 minutes in an oven preheated to 140C. In a prepared hodgepodge, put a slice of lemon, slices of olives and chopped greens.
6. Roast cabbage with meat in pots - Russian cuisine
Products:
Duck (fillet) 1.9 - 2.0 kg
Sauerkraut 1.2 kg
Cranberries 150 g
Honey 100 g
Oil (for frying)
Bay leaf, allspice, clove
Procedure:
Fry the duck slices and cabbage separately. Combine honey with cranberries and mash into gruel. Put all the ingredients in a large ceramic dish and season with spices. Cover the pan. Bake in the oven for an hour and a half.
Pot Braised Cabbage - Useful Tips & Tricks
To prepare dishes from cabbage with meat in pots, you can use sauerkraut: it gives the meat a juiciness and a special taste. In some cases, when soy sauce is included in the recipe, it can be replaced with cabbage brine.
When potting acidic dressings, sauces, and other similar ingredients, consider that other ingredients containing starch (potatoes, some cereals) require longer cooking times. Therefore, either acidic foods need to be added later, when starchy foods are almost ready, or potatoes need to be boiled beforehand.
