Ukrainian here: Whoever told you this had never been to Ukrainian Christmas dinner. Our cabbage rolls are not covered in tomato sauce. They aren’t supposed to be huge either, you’re supposed to be able to finish them in 1-2 bites comfortably. You don’t make 6 big ass cabbage rolls. You make a pot of 100 little ones.
You’ll get cussed out by someone’s elderly grandma if you bring these to the family dinner.
Many of these recipes come from Ukrainian immigrants in North America. The size of the cabbage rolls also vary from region to region.
My mother has a similar recipe to this that was passed down from my great grandmother, that she got from her Ukrainian neighbors in Saskatchewan in the 1920s.
I had a coworker who was second generation Ukrainian-Canadian who has almost the exact same recipe.
These types of cabbage rolls are hard to find because nobody wants to poach them in tomato juice for 6 hours, and the result is tough chewy cabbage. Can’t buy them, can’t find them in any restaurant.
I like the extra tomato sauce to keep them moist when I reheat them. I’m too fucking lazy to make 100 little ones. I’m Scottish, sorry for the abuse of your national dish!
No these look accurate. My mom adds extra tomato juice and cooks them low and slow until the cabbage melts in your mouth and the edges of the pan turn black.
The big issue I have with most cabbage rolls is they put too much emphasis on the filling. The filling doesn’t matter, the spices don’t matter. It’s all about the cabbage. Towards the end of the batch I usually end up scooping out the filling and just eating the cabbage leaves and leftover tomato.
I used to go to shabbat dinner at my friend’s house all the time. I don’t think I ever had stuffed cabbage with beef there. I used to make cabbage rolls with beef but I can’t eat beef anymore. This is the first time I tried with pork.
Thanks! I haven’t had any for years because I can’t eat beef. I had always wondered if they could be made with pork but never tried it. I was at a farmers market where a Ukrainian refugee family was selling homemade Ukrainian food and the wind was blowing toward me. I told her I was going to eat one even if it hurt me and she told me they were pork. That sealed it.
There’s nothing bad about the filling. You can put it anywhere. The only issue is that I use converted rice which I put in dry then hydrate with the tomato juice. If I used cooked rice I would stuff that stuff into anything.
I very well could be. I had a Polish grandfather who died quite a while ago. In our family halupki was stuffed cabbage rolls and halushki was cabbage with pasta. However, the halupki recipe did come from a Hungarian neighbor of my grandfather, so perhaps that's where the name comes from.
I do not. We have a chamber vacuum sealer for our farm. I bought 1,000 of those 5x7 bags for making up spice packs. I included a scoop of reduced tomato juice in each one to keep them moist when they are reheated. Authors chamber vacuum dealers you can seal liquid which is really helpful. I can’t eat a lot so one is normally enough. My wife hates them so I make them when she is away and freeze them. I can get away with reheating one or two but the house smells like a giant farted in here when I’m making them.
Use the sous vide and cook in them. No scent. I’ve been told that sous vide sticks have multiple uses on farms including controlled warming of reproductive cells, if I read correctly. Ya know, in case you need an extra reason or so.
Core a Savoy cabbage or two and remove the outer leaves. Cut the stem out of the outer leaves and use what’s left to line the bottom of the pan.
You’ll need one or two pots to boil the cabbag(es). I scrunch up a big piece of aluminum foil and put it in the bottom of the pot so the bottom of the cabbage doesn’t burn. Add water just to the bottom of the cabbage and put the pot(s) over medium heat and cover. Steam the cabbages until the outer leaves are translucent and tender then take them off the heat and put them on a plate.
In a bowl mix 3 lb lean ground pork, 2 cups converted rice, 2 little cans of tomato paste, 3 teaspoons salt, a finely diced onion, a couple of tablespoons each of basil and oregano, a teaspoon of garlic powder, and a teaspoon of black pepper. Mix with your hands until well blended.
Turn your oven on to 350.
Take small handfuls of the filling and form them into small turds. Place the turd on the center of the thin end of the leaf, half roll them then bring in the leaf from both sides and finish rolling. Once you have an overlap cut what’s left off the leaf and put it in the pan lined with leaves. Fill the pan in one or two layers until all of the filling is used up. Full the pan with tomato juice until the rolls are covered. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and put it in the oven. Leave it in the oven for an hour then check on them. Use a thermometer to probe several rolls and make sure they are all over 160 degrees. When they’re all up to temperature check one to see how the rice is coming. When the rice is cooked they are finished and ready to eat.
Sorry, it’s an old family recipe. The measurements are loose. I just throw a palm full of basil and oregano into the mix. I’m estimating actual measures.
Interesting. My grandmother taught me to cook this in a large pot with the rolls stacked atop each other. Of course, she also uses beef instead of pork (I think veal might be the traditional way), sauerkraut instead of onions, and tomato sauce instead of juice. So I imagine they come out moderately different.
Ha! Similar, but we did them as squares, then pan sear them, then casserole dish, with a combo sauce of sour cream + tomato sauce + beef broth, poured over
My mom originally did it in a big pot but heating them up from the bottom means that the ones on top take longer to cook. I started doing them in the oven and it really works well. They cook more quickly and evenly.
Also known as parboiled rice, it is rice that has been partially cooked, then dehydrated. It takes less time to cook and separates easily after cooking. If you absolutely have to serve rice in thirteen minutes and have boiling water, you are in business.
Are they spicy? The ones I grew up with were not (ground pork/beef with cooked rice, onions n herbs in tomato broth), but recently had a friend from Eastern Europe share theirs and it was a spicy tomato broth.
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