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Zelna Hlava Plnena

A cabbage head stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, cabbage, onion, garlic, parsley, tomato soup, and egg, baked in broth.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Zelna Hlava Plnena

Oven375 °F
Timeabout an hour and 15 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cabbage

  1. Remove the stump from the cabbage and discard.

  2. Scoop out and save the inside of the cabbage, leaving about a 1–1½ inch shell.

  3. Chop the cabbage you scraped out of the inside.

Make the filling

  1. Cook onion and garlic in 2 Tbsp butter over medium‑high heat until onion is wilted.

  2. Add meat and brown.

  3. Add chopped cabbage, salt, pepper, parsley, and tomato soup.

  4. Cook covered about 10 minutes.

  5. Drain and allow to cool, then add egg and mix together well.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill cabbage with mixture (you will usually have some left over unless you pack very tight) and cover with a cabbage leaf securing with a toothpick.

  2. Put broth and remaining butter in a large casserole or pot, place cabbage in pot (open side up) and cover.

  3. Cook in oven at 375 °F for about an hour and 15 minutes.

  4. Cut into wedges and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

528Calories
44 gProtein
27 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 13 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatnot in our table0
Soupnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cabbage
Forms the edible shell that holds the filling and softens as it bakes.
Ground meat
Provides the savoury body of the filling and browns for depth of flavour.
Egg
Binds the cooled filling so it holds together when sliced.
Cream of tomato soup
Adds moisture, tang and sweetness to the filling.
Chicken broth
Provides moisture in the pot so the cabbage steams and stays tender.
Butter
Adds fat for richer flavour and helps the onion cook softly.

The step that matters

Drain and cool the filling before adding the egg. Hot filling would scramble the beaten egg unevenly, while excess liquid left in the mixture would make it loose and hard to hold inside the cabbage.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, onion, butter, garlic, meat, pepper, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Celeryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, onion, butter, garlic, meat, pepper, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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