Cook entire head of cabbage in boiling water until the outer leaves are pliant—about five minutes.
Remove five or six of the outer leaves and set aside.
Remove the core and coarsely chop the remaining cabbage.
Remove the sausage from its casing and brown. Stir to break it up. Remove the sauage from the skillet and set aside.
Add chopped cabbage, onion, garlic, and orange zest to the skillet. Cook covered until the cabbage is wilted—about 20 minutes.
Trim the heavy rib from the leaves set aside so that they are flush to the rest of the leaf.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter a 9 x 4 1/2 round casserole and line with the trimmed leaves leaving enough of the leaves to cover the sausage/cabbage mix.
Mix the sausage, cabbage, rice, eggs, salt, and pepper.
Mound the sausage/cabbage mix in the bowl. Cover with remaining leaves overlapping to cover the entire mound. Add water.
Butter the casserole cover or a piece of foil and cover the mound.
Bake for 75 minutes.
Allows stuffed cabbage to stand for five minutes. Cut into wedges and serve with sauce.