Most Europeans associate sour cabbage with a film scene in which the French comedian Louis de Funès demonstrated the consequences of its consumption. We get the French sense of humour and there is probably not a single Bulgarian who didn’t cry from laughter upon seeing the scene, but... nevertheless – sour cabbage remains a key ingredient in the nation’s winter cuisine and that’s a consensus.

Sour cabbage dominates meals that are prepared between Christmas and the beginning of spring and it is combined with all the kinds of meats eaten in Bulgaria during this season. Cut into strips and sprinkled with red pepper and oil, it acts as a meze (appetiser) served with rakia. It can be grilled until golden brown with pieces of chicken or pork. Cabbage leaves also get stuffed with rice and pork and beef ground meat to make sarmi.

Another option is to stuff a whole cabbage. You’re unlikely to find this meal in restaurants but you can easily prepare it yourself.

The stuffing is made from two minced onion bulbs, two chopped carrots and two mashed tomatoes. Stew the vegetables and add some black pepper, 750 grams of ground pork meat and 100 grams of rice. Add a glass of water and when the rice expands, put in some sliced parsley and salt.

The mix gets poured into a carved-out cabbage of average size and the opening is “sealed” with a spoonful of flour. Put the cabbage in a deep pan with some water and let it boil over low heat until it is completely soft.

When it seems like you no longer need to use your foot to help you stick a fork into the cabbage, add eight to ten smashed up garlic cloves and two grains of pimento and let it boil for another five minutes.

Serve hot, with a spoonful of yogurt poured over it.

When you’re done eating, put on Louis de Funès’s L'Aile ou la cuisse (The Wing or the Leg). Turn up the volume and, if you’re not too cold, open the window.