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1
Place the soaked castradina in a large pot and cover with fresh cold water. Bring slowly to a simmer. Drain, discard the water, refill with fresh cold water, and bring again to a gentle simmer. The water should run noticeably cleaner than the first — this is the signal that the blanching stage is complete.
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2
Add the onion, dry white wine, and enough fresh water to cover generously. Bring to a very gentle simmer and maintain it — never a rolling boil. Begin skimming the surface of fat and grey foam immediately and continue throughout cooking; the smoked mutton renders significant fat, and failure to remove it produces a greasy, heavy broth.
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3
After approximately one hour of simmering, add the Savoy cabbage wedges to the pot. The cabbage must enter the broth while the mutton still has time ahead of it, so that both the cabbage and the meat arrive at tenderness together and the cabbage absorbs the smoke and salt character of the broth completely. This is where the dish lives or dies: the cabbage must not be added too late, and the braise must not be rushed — allow a further 1.5 to 2 hours of the gentlest possible simmer, until the mutton yields completely and begins to fall from the bone.
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4
When the mutton falls from the bone and the cabbage is utterly yielding, taste the broth for salt. Season only now — the long soaking will have reduced but not eliminated the salt of the castradina, and the broth may require little or none. The broth should carry a distinct smoke-and-salt perfume with the fat skimmed to a clean finish.
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5
Serve in deep bowls: broth, cabbage wedges, and pieces of mutton together. The broth and the smoked-cabbage are the primary event; the mutton is its vehicle.