A latest Google seek for “stuffed cabbage rolls” yielded some 17.8 million outcomes, from Chinese language fei cui bao rou full of pork and mushrooms, to Lebanese malfouf with spiced beef and pork-filled Polish golabki with a dollop of bitter cream on the facet. The fillings spanned lentils, lamb and bison; some have been bound with egg and flavored with cooked onions and garlic; others included raw rice, whereas others nonetheless have been par-boiled.
Nearly each recipe I perused featured a vigorous and deep feedback part, through which readers shared small epiphanies (“I line the pan with cabbage leaves”), ingredient swaps and additions (“parmesan!”) or just delighted aloud find a recipe near what they’d grown up consuming.
It briefly took me again to my recipe running a blog heyday, when I shared my German Oma’s stuffed cabbage rolls on my now-defunct WordPress account in March 2013. It will show the closest I ever got here to going “viral” as a meals blogger, by the best way. Some half a dozen feedback (from strangers!) appeared in my inbox inside a matter of days. That is proper, days.
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Alice needed to know what liquid Oma used if she did not have tomatoes. “Water and sauerkraut juice” was my uncorroborated reply. (That, or Oma would’ve made one thing else.)
Karen questioned if you happen to may bake it within the oven or make it in a sluggish cooker. “Sure, both!”
Pam, who’d been looking out on-line for a recipe similar to her Oma’s, thrilled on the new-to-her addition of bacon. Debbie’s grandmother handed down the same recipe (with out the tomatoes and bacon) known as pominy.
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Marilyn advised freezing the cabbage complete for a number of days somewhat than boiling it, to which Karen replied: “@ Marilyn … it completely sucks any flavour out of the cabbage.”
“Every part else is EXACTLY what we did,” she wrote. “Dad complained if there was an excessive amount of rice, and never sufficient meat, LOL.”
Deb, then again, was confused as to why the meat combination regarded uncooked within the step-by-step photographs when the instructions implied that it was pre-cooked, to which I apologetically clarified that every little thing however the beef went in par-cooked. (Inside, I practically died of mortification about my unclear recipe writing.)
Stuffed Cabbage Cooking (Melisa Limanowski)Revisiting this spirited dialogue was the primary time I internalized what a present this type of recipe is, due to its infinite variations and wide-reaching nostalgic attraction. My household recipe would not declare any outstanding taste superlatives (besides the tinge of smoke from the bacon, which certainly takes it excessive). Nor does it include groundbreaking suggestions or strategies.
I make mine saucier than Oma did, however in any other case it is blissfully the identical: floor beef, par-cooked rice and sautéed bacon and onions rolled up inside plain outdated cabbage leaves then stacked in my greatest soup pot to simmer in a tangy, unadorned sauce of tomatoes and sauerkraut.
Its savory, stewed consolation by no means fails to heat me by means of on these particularly darkish and bitter winter nights. And I at all times marvel once I retrieve every good little packet on the finish of cooking, which forgives each lazy wrap job and torn cabbage leaf throughout meeting. Then once more, I am positive somebody on the market has found out learn how to forestall the cabbage leaves from tearing. I positive hope they’re lively on the stuffed cabbage rolls remark boards this week.
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Recipe: Oma’s Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Components
- 1/2 cup white rice
- Salt, as wanted
- 1 giant head cabbage
- 3-4 strips bacon, diced 1/4 inch
- 1 tsp. butter
- 1 medium yellow onion
- Black pepper, to style
- 2 lbs. 85% lean floor beef
- 2 eggs, overwhelmed
- 1 lb. sauerkraut
- 14 ounces. passata or good-quality puréed tomatoes (I like Pomi model)
- 1 14-oz. can diced tomatoes
Instructions
Step 1
Carry 1 cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the rice and prepare dinner for about 10 minutes, till cooked about midway by means of (it’s going to prepare dinner the remainder of the best way contained in the cabbage rolls). Drain off any extra water and tip the rice into a big mixing bowl.
Step 2
Whereas the rice cooks, warmth a big pot two-thirds stuffed with salted water till boiling. Fastidiously add the entire head of cabbage and boil for five minutes. Take away and instantly plunge into a big bowl of ice water for 30 seconds, turning continuously to cease the cooking course of. Set on paper towels to empty.
Step 3
Place the diced bacon in a chilly skillet with the butter. Flip the warmth as much as medium and slowly render the bacon till simply beginning to brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the onion and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Sauté till the onion is softened and barely caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add the onions and bacon to the bowl with the rice. Then add the uncooked floor beef, eggs and one other beneficiant sprinkling of salt and pepper. Combine every little thing collectively together with your fingers till evenly included.
Step 4
To assemble the cabbage rolls, pull one cabbage leaf off at a time and place it on a chopping board with the within going through up and the foundation finish closest to you. (I used 12 leaves from a pretty big head of cabbage for this recipe.)
Step 5
Place a number of tablespoons of the meat combination within the middle of the leaf. Fold either side in towards the middle so that they’re overlapping. (Don’t fret if the cabbage leaves rip a little bit. Every part will come collectively when it cooks.)
Step 6
Roll ahead and away from you, tucking within the sides as you go such as you’re rolling up a burrito. Set the rolls seam-side down on a sheet tray and repeat till you have used up all of the filling. Thinly slice about 1 cup of leftover cabbage and place the remaining in an hermetic container within the fridge for one more use. In any other case, seal the remaining in an hermetic container and put it within the fridge.
Step 7
Place a 5-quart Dutch oven or different giant, heavy-bottomed pot on the range. Cowl the underside with a layer of sauerkraut (and additional sliced cabbage), then a layer of cabbage rolls. Season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Repeat this course of till all of the cabbage rolls are nestled contained in the pot.
Step 8
Pour the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes over every little thing. Fill the tomato sauce can with water and pour that over the rolls as nicely. High with a little bit extra sauerkraut and season once more with salt and pepper.
Step 9
Flip the warmth to medium and convey the combination to a simmer. Flip the warmth right down to low. (The pot needs to be evenly effervescent.) Cowl the pot and prepare dinner the cabbage rolls for two hours, till the meat is cooked by means of and the cabbage leaves are tender.
Step 10
To serve, place 2 rolls in a shallow bowl or on a plate. High with a number of ladles of the sauerkraut tomato sauce.
Prepare dinner’s Notes
Stuffed cabbage rolls freeze superbly. Place the cooked cabbage rolls and some spoonfuls of sauce in hermetic containers within the freezer for as much as 3 months. The day you are able to eat them, thaw them within the fridge for 8-ish hours, then reheat them gently over medium low on the range.
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