124 replies to this topic

[christine007]

Pam R, those look just like the ones I enjoyed last September made by little old Polish ladies at their fund-raiser.
Nice. I'm going to make some this week.

[monavano]

Pam, gorgeous stuffed cabbage. What I've learned from threads on stuffed cabbage here is that a lot of people use tomato juice in the sauce. I'll have to give that a shot next time. I have the stuffing perfected to exactly how I like it, but my tomato based sauce needs a little somethin' somethin'.
And your pics are great! Golabki dont photograph all that well, but you're tutorial is exceptional.

[Jensen]

With the Spouse home from his business trip, cabbage rolls were on the menu tonight.

The flash on my camera is a little over-enthusiastic so, believe me when I tell you, the plate looked better than the photo:



I used the recipe from my Gundel's cookbook (click here for Gundel's website). The filling is a 3:2 mixture of pork and beef and the rice is toasted before going into the mix. Seasoning for the filling is primarily paprika, with a sprinkle of marjoram. The sauce is sauerkraut thickened with a sour cream roux and seasoned with more paprika and dill.

This was a great meal and I thank whoever decided on this cook off!

[tastykimmie]

One of my weekend projects was stuffed cabbage rolls, or halopchy.

A pictorial (not so lovely, but so tasty):

 

(er, please ignore the sizing)

So these were proclaimed the 'best ever cabbage rolls' by one taster. 

The filling consisted of ground beef (not too lean), onion and garlic that I cooked in olive oil, just to soften, an egg, finely diced roma tomatoes, long-grain rice, salt and black pepper.

The sauce was simply tomato juice, tomato 'sauce', juice from one juicy lemon and a handful of brown sugar.

Extra, chopped cabbage went into the bottom of the pot, with some sauce poured over.  Then a layer of cabbage rolls, loosely rolled (so the rice had room as it cooked), with 1/2 a lb. of thin short ribs randomly placed.  Sauce.  Repeat.

Tightly covered with foil, then in the oven at 350-375 for about 2 hours.  It took longer than I thought it would, but the rice took a long time to cook.

These were damn good.

that looks heavenly..............and so easy!!

[Matt_T]

This sounds good! My mother was of Polish descent and cabbage rolls were a regular item, especially when we visted her mother. I think Grandma called them something like "gah-WUMP-key", but she was not a native speaker. I've never made them myself, though, so this should be a fun experiment.

About the recipe using gingersnaps - Are they supposed to be crushed, to thicken the sauce? I have a hard time imagining a layer of cookies on top of the rolls. I think grandma's sauce was mostly (or entirely) V8 juice but I like the idea of the sweet and sour sauce.

Another question - am I missing the place where new Cookoffs are announced? I only check this forum occasionally and seem to always show up late!

Matt T

[Pierogi]

I think Grandma called them something like "gah-WUMP-key",

YES !!!!!!!!!!!

That is *exactly* how it's pronounced. Spellings vary, but "gah-WUMP-key" is what you say.

*sigh* STILL need to make some, soon.

[Anna N]

One of my weekend projects was stuffed cabbage rolls, or halopchy.

. . .

Pam,

Thanks so much for posting this tutorial. Can they be frozen? Cooked or uncooked?

[Pam R]

Anna, they can definitely be frozen. This is only the second time I've made them, but I remember our staff making them at work years and years ago and freezing them after they were cooked.

[Anna N]

Anna, they can definitely be frozen.  This is only the second time I've made them, but I remember our staff making them at work years and years ago and freezing them after they were cooked.

Thanks, Pam. Have all the ingredients now and hope to make them tomorrow or Saturday but will have to freeze them as there is no room in the schedule for serving them for the next little while. But if I put it off then they will never get made.

[monavano]

I support freezing them after cooking, too. I've done this many times. It's so wonderful to have them on hand because they take a lot of love to make and by just getting them out of the freezer, you can fill the air with their smell and eat them without all the work!

[Anna N]

I was surprised how quickly these came together. However, after I had assembled the casserole very neatly in a 9 x 13 glass pan I realized there would be no room for the ribs or the sauce! So I had to find a deeper dish and transfer the works over. They took much longer to cook than I had expected.

I largely followed Pam's recipe but can never quite leave things alone so added my own twist.

I dug out one roll for my lunch yesterday and it was quite delicious. I found a good home for the rest as we are having a small family gathering on Sunday and these will be one of the pot luck contributions.

[Domestic Goddess]

Beautiful rolls Anna! Now, will you kindly FEDEX half a dish to Korea for me?

[Anna N]

Beautiful rolls Anna! Now, will you kindly FEDEX half a dish to Korea for me?

Sorry! It's not just the logistics that intimidate me but explaining to my daughter how half of them disappeared before Sunday!

I think these cook-offs are great for encouraging us to try things that we might never have attempted.

[Domestic Goddess]

No problem, Anna! Jotting down "Oakville, Ontario, Canada" and looks up to ask '...And your street name and house number is?'

If I could afford a ticket to Canada now, I'd be knocking at your door with a big spoon in my hand.

[Pam R]

I was surprised how quickly these came together.  However, after I had assembled the casserole very neatly in a 9 x 13 glass pan I realized there would be no room for the ribs or the sauce! So I had to find a deeper dish and transfer the works over.  They took much longer to cook than I had expected.

They look great! Mine could have been made in a larger dish - I was concerned about the sauce bubbling over, but it was fine. I think my pictures make my baking dish look smaller than it is . .

How long did they take to cook? I was also surprised at how long they took. I already want to make another batch.

[Anna N]

I was surprised how quickly these came together.  However, after I had assembled the casserole very neatly in a 9 x 13 glass pan I realized there would be no room for the ribs or the sauce! So I had to find a deeper dish and transfer the works over.  They took much longer to cook than I had expected.

They look great! Mine could have been made in a larger dish - I was concerned about the sauce bubbling over, but it was fine. I think my pictures make my baking dish look smaller than it is . .

How long did they take to cook? I was also surprised at how long they took. I already want to make another batch.

Pam,
I am not sure how long - over 3 hours for sure but I kept putting them back in the oven and re-setting the timer and I didn't keep track! I think next time I would be inclined to make a smaller batch and cook in my LC gratin dish. This Corelle dish is very heavy and I have used it only a couple of times before and I seem to recall that things took much longer than the recipes suggested.

[suzilightning]

Here was our dinner on Saturday night. I wasn't sure if Johnnybird would like them so I used a small savoy cabbage. Here's the filling: pork and veal, white pepper, celery salt, an egg, cooked rice and several shavings of nutmeg.



Stuffed into the leaves, placed in my roasting pan and then covered with a sauce made from beef stock, plum tomatoes, a bay leaf, some brown sugar and sherry vinegar. Baked for about an hour.

[Matt_T]

I finally had a chance to make these tonight....here's my first ever cookoff report.

I used Mizducky's recipe from Recipe Gullet as a basis and tweaked it a little. Instead of uncooked rice I used cooked barley, and that part came out great! Interesting texture and earthy flavor. The seasoning looked a little light so I nearly doubled it, to a short 1/2 teaspon of salt in the filling, but the rolls were still a little bland so next time I will use 3/4 teaspoon for 1 lb beef.

Instead of tomato sauce + water I used straight V8 juice, cause that's how I remember grandma used to do it. I cooked mine on the stovetop in an enameled dutch oven and used enough V8 (+ lemon juice and brown sugar) to cover the rolls....however the Creuset dutch oven sealed so well I got almost no evaporation and my sauce ended up at about the same consistency as V8 out of the bottle. Next time I will add a roux or thickener, or maybe finish cooking in the oven to get some reduction and brown the rolls. I simmered for 1.25 hours and the rolls came out perfect, beef cooked but nothing mushy, even the cooked barley still had good texture.

The most fun part was picking the leaves off the blanching cabbage in my big stockpot! After draining the leaves I rolled the rolls pretty tight and had no trouble with them falling apart, no need for toothpicks or anything.

Flavor was very good with a little added sea salt; I would have liked stickier sauce but even as is this was a very enjoyable meal. I served with egg noodles tossed in butter with a little onion and garlic powder and S&P. Looking forward to doing this again! Sorry no pics; I had the camera ready to go but by the time the rolls were ready I had hungry people clamoring to be fed. Nothing to take pics of now. :D

[colls509]

I found a beautiful head of Savoy cabbage in the supermarket a couple of days ago--it was begging to be Golabkis (which we called gah-LUMP-keys).

I used the recipe from Molly Steven's "All About Braising" and it was delicious. It has a combination of beef, pork, and bacon, the rolls are topped with a mixture of sauerkraut, onions and a can of squished whole tomatoes with the juice and a touch of brown sugar. I invited my Serbian girlfriend over for dinner for "Sarma"...she said the only thing her grandma would have done differently would be to brown each roll in butter before the braise. Yum.

[Jaymes]

About the recipe using gingersnaps - Are they supposed to be crushed, to thicken the sauce?  I have a hard time imagining a layer of cookies on top of the rolls.  I think grandma's sauce was mostly (or entirely) V8 juice but I like the idea of the sweet and sour sauce.

You can crush them a little, but it´s not necessary. The gingersnaps dissolve into the sauce, thickening it, and adding the touch of ginger.

[Chris Amirault]

Made a quasi-Syrian lamb version using a Paula Wolfert recipe as a base: 1 lb minced lamb with 1 c rice, a minced sauteed onion, olive oil, some toasted pine nuts, S&P, allspice, cayenne (smidge), and cinnamon. Braised for a long time (about 90 minutes) in a tomato/pomegranate molasses bath. They were great, though I could have upped the spices in the filling and added some to the tomato sauce.

What sort of rice are people using? I used Nishiki medium grain, but wondered about using short grain sweet (sticky) rice.

ETA: I resisted the urge to truss, btw. No, uh, need, as it turns out. Right-o.

Edited by chrisamirault, 28 October 2007 - 08:24 PM.

[JEL]

when you roll your cabbage leaves, tuck the ends in w/ your fingers...

think about it like rolling up a burrito so the stuff doesn't come out the ends...

[Jensen]

What sort of rice are people using? I used Nishiki medium grain, but wondered about using short grain sweet (sticky) rice.

I used a short grain rice as the only long grain I had was fragrant (basmati and jasmine) and I didn't have enough medium grain for the recipe. I thought it turned out wonderfully however the recipe used called for the rice to be toasted so that may have had some impact.

[Pam R]

I used long-grain. I was thinking of trying something else, but, well, Baba didn't.

I want to do another batch, similar to the last one, but with ground chicken instead of meat. I may try a different rice and I think a nice napa/savoy cabbage.

I assemble the rolls by placing a line of filling along the bottom of the cabbage leaf (the part that's closest to me), then roll it up, so that the filling is covered in cabbage, then fold each end in and finish by rolling it the rest of the way up.

[John Hammond]

Sour Cabbage is something I have never heard of before. Is it whole head cabbage processed like sauerkraut?
I think that the next time I make a batch of Kim Chi, I will roll a bunch of whole large nappa leaves to ferment for use in cabbage rolls.

[Pam R]

Made a quasi-Syrian lamb version using a Paula Wolfert recipe as a base: 1 lb minced lamb with 1 c rice, a minced sauteed onion, olive oil, some toasted pine nuts, S&P, allspice, cayenne (smidge), and cinnamon. Braised for a long time (about 90 minutes) in a tomato/pomegranate molasses bath. They were great, though I could have upped the spices in the filling and added some to the tomato sauce.

I realize that I forgot to tell you that these sounded really good. What happens to the texture of the pine nuts as they're cooking? Was the rice cooked or raw? Why aren't there any pictures?

[Chris Amirault]

I toasted the pine nuts pretty well, so the maintained a firm toothiness. Them's oily buggers, so I don't think that the liquids soften them up too much.

Rice was uncooked -- in fact, I can't see how you'd make them with the rice cooked. Doesn't it just break down into a soggy mess?

I didn't take pictures because juggling the stuffing and the remote control left no extra hands. They're also ugly. But since you asked, I just had a bit of my dinner early:

[mydogbites2]

I have been watching this thread with much intrest. And it has also promped me to research EVERY book I own.. lol.. and in my poking around I found a few variations on this theme..
One is called (and please forgive, and correct my brutal spelling concerning the names).. Linyvi Holubtsi. It is basically a "lasagne" type cabbage/rice/tomato baked dish where the cabbage is layered with the rice and tomato sauce and/or steamed tomatos. And then served with a meat dish.. A meatloaf or maybe some sausages?
The other is Kilivi Haluptovin (pronounced keely haloup-ta-vein.. again forgive my butchery) or russian lazy cabbage rolls.. and JEL aluded to this prep in a previous post.. Where you would cut your cabbage into strips and saute them with onion untill semi soft and then add the wilted cabbage/onion to a dish with tomato sauce and then top with a meat/rice/seasoning mixture.. either "loaf" type single servings or pack the meat edge to edge to cover.. bake.. and then invert the dish onto a serving platter.
I guess there is more than one way to skin a cat... In the end its all tasty.
Chow down,
Kev

[Chris Amirault]

Hey Kev, welcome to eG Forums! From what cuisines do these dishes hail?

[mydogbites2]

Hey Kev, welcome to eG Forums! From what cuisines do these dishes hail?

Thanks for the welcome.
The first is a Ukranian dish, the other hails from Russia.
All pretty much the same stuff.. its just "semantics", if you will... And I had no intention of derailing the cabbage roll discussion.. just figured I would add a few options.
And of course fennel, garlic, onion, etc.. are always welcome additions/subtractions... heck its your soup.. make it how ya want!
Chow down,
Kev