"Stuffed cabbage is delicious, hearty, and stores well, so it's a great mid-winter meal prep option. Making the recipe can feel intimidating, mostly because of the first step, which is processing the cabbage leaves in boiling water. Rachael Ray avoids the stress by skipping the step entirely. "You never have to boil a giant pot of water, ever again," she says in a video posted on Facebook, promising that her alternate method can work for any stuffed cabbage project."
"Because you need the cabbage leaves to get soft enough to fold into little packages, traditionally, making stuffed cabbage has required blanching the peeled leaves of the vegetable - a delicate and somewhat dangerous cooking technique that demands close attention. Using tongs to dunk the leaves in boiling water inevitably leads to dripping and splashing. Some people even try boiling the cabbage whole, which is both ambitious and awkward,"
"Instead, Ray puts the whole head of cabbage in the freezer for at least a day. Once it's frozen through, she pulls it out to defrost, which will take another couple of hours; we recommend putting it on a plate or baking sheet in the fridge over night, like with meat, although she defrosted her ice-block cabbage on the counter. Once it's thawed, the leaves will pull off with a gentle tug. After drying and trimming, they're ready to be "tucked and rolled.""
Freezing a whole head of cabbage for at least a day softens the leaves and eliminates the need to blanch them. After freezing, thawing for a couple of hours or overnight in the refrigerator allows the leaves to peel away easily without dunking in boiling water. Freezing forms ice crystals that disrupt cell structure, accomplishing the same partial breakdown achieved by blanching, steaming or boiling. This method avoids dripping, splashing and the awkwardness of boiling an entire cabbage. Once thawed, dry and trim the leaves, then tuck and roll them to assemble stuffed cabbage packages.
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