Holúbky Starej Mamy (Plnená Kapusta)

Holúbky Starej Mamy (Plnená Kapusta)

Grandma's Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Also known as "Pigs in a Blanket"

 

This traditional Slovak dish is highly celebrated, very easy and beyond delicious - perfect comfort food for those days when you miss your grandmother; in fact, this recipe comes from my wife’s grandmother, Mary Macejko Milot, who emigrated from Žakarovce, Slovakia to Sand Coulee, Montana around 1920. 

 

This pictorial is part of a series that I am compiling in her honour, which includes her halušky (potato dumplings), her her koláče (poppy seed or walnut rolls), and her Veľkonočné syr (Easter cheese).

 

Mary left behind a treasure of central-European culinary heritage, but this dish is one of a select few that represents, to me, the food of her homeland. In Germany, the land of my own ancestors, this dish is known as Krautwickel, and is quite popular when the cabbage somes in season in August. It is found in various forms throughout eastern Europe and even into the Middle East, where ground lamb, herbs, and spices are rolled in grape leaves.

During my wife’s childhood, the dish was made from ground beef, but considering one alternate name for these (pigs in a blanket), I think it is safe to assume that either ground pork or beef would be acceptable, according to taste and/or dietary needs. If you wish to prepare this recipe in a typical Slavic manner, serve the "pigs" with the sauce made by juices left over from simmering. No matter how it is prepared, the sauce also makes a very good topping for the traditional accompaniments, including boiled or mashed potatoes or halušky (dumpling noodles). If you would like to make halušky, simply follow the instructions here:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/babika-haluky-s-kapusta-alebo-tvarohom_topic1253.html

 

On a side note, halušky are extremely versatile; you can serve them as a side for this dish, or you can serve them plain, with butter -or with any other sauce for that matter - or with cottage cheese (and perhaps a little crumbled bacon). One of the best ways to serve halušky is with cabbage that has been braised in fried bacon bits and onions. The link above provides more details.

 

Anyway, back on topic, Wikipedia provides some background information for holubky:

 

A cabbage roll (also stuffed cabbage) is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings. It is common to the peasant cuisines of Europe...and has also found popularity in areas of North America settled by Eastern Europeans. The filling is traditionally based around meat, often beef, lamb or pork and is seasoned with garlic, onion and spices. Grains such as rice and barley, eggs, mushrooms and vegetables are often included in the filling as well....As only the largest leaves can be used, small pieces of cabbages are often mixed into the stuffing and sauce. As the dish originated as a way to use leftover food, other ingredients may also be used in the stuffing. Cabbage leaves are stuffed with the filling which are then baked, simmered or steamed in a covered pot and generally eaten warm, often accompanied with a sauce. The sauce varies widely by cuisine....In Eastern Europe, tomato-based sauces or plain sour cream are typical.... Fillings traditionally contain rice only, since the typical peasant diet was largely vegetarian due to the higher cost of meat. Occasionally, the rice filling is mixed with small amounts of meat. Other recipes call for cooked kasha and chopped wild mushrooms....The finished rolls may be simmered in thinned tomato juice, beef stock [or] vegetable stock....

 

Wiki also provides an interesting anecdote from poland regarding this dish.

 

There is an unverified story or myth that the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Casimir IV Jagiellon fed his army with gołąbki before a key battle of the Thirteen Years' War outside of Marienburg Castle (Malbork) against the Teutonic Order around 1465. Polish rumor has it, that victory over the Teutonic Order was partially credited to strength of the hearty meal of gołąbki given to the allied Polish and Prussian troops. The castle was not conquered, though, but turned over later.

 

this is honest, peasant, immigrant food, brought over from one of the most interesting regions of europe. here are the many names that Wiki provides for this dish, along with their origins. most interesting is how universal this concept is, as is demonstrated by the presence of variations as far away as china and azerebaijan - even chile:

 

Töltött káposzta - Hungary[2] Balandėliai (little pigeons) - Lithuania Golubtsy - Russia Gołąbki (little pigeons) - Poland Halubcy - Belarus Holishkes - Ashkenazi Jewish Chou farci - France Holúbky - Czech Republic and Slovakia Holubtsi - Ukraine Kåldolmar - Sweden Kaalikääryle - Finland Сарма/Sarma - Serbia Sarma or Arambašići - Croatia Kohlroulade and Krautwickel - Germany and Austria Lahana dolması - Turkey Lahanodolmades (Λαχανοντολμάδες) - Greece Malfoof - Jordan, Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon Rouru kyabetsu (ロールキャベツ) - Japan Sarma - the Balkans and Turkey Zeleva Surma (Cabbage Sarma) - Bulgaria Sarmale - Romania 白菜卷 - China Niños Envueltos - Chile Kələm dolması - Azerbaijan

 

my wife's family emigrated from what is now slovakia circa 1919 and brought this tradition with them when they settled in sand coulee, which is an area slightly southeast of great falls and known for its coal mining operations during the first half of the 20th century. interestingly, there is also a substantial czech/slovak population in the coal mining country of pennsylvania, and it is not surprising to find extended relations in both areas, widespread as they are. in the early days, meat was probably not as scarce as it was in the peasant days back in europe, but it was still expensive, and hamburger surely became a cheap staple for cabbage rolls. rice, available at local groceries and "the company store" probably replaced barley and kasha, which i am assuming would have been more common "back home." likewise, canned tomatoes, tomato juice and ketchup eventually replaced the homemade, from-scratch sauces in some households as convenience outpaced "the old ways." having said that, both tomatoes and cabbage are easily grown in these areas, and the use of home-canned ingredients must have been very common.

 

holúbky, much like the polish counterpart, gołąbki, translates to something akin to "little pigeons;" alternately, they are known as "plnená kapusta," which translates to "stuffed cabbage," a more descriptive - if less illustrative - moniker. where my wife comes from, the local name for them is "pigs in a blanket," giving homage, i believe, to the ground or minced pork that they were probably originally made with when the area was being settled.

 

most of the people in the sand coulee area are of slovak and czech descent and these little packages of goodness are as common as pizza in new york, filet gumbo in lousiana or cabrito in texas. in fact, on any given saturday or sunday you can see a hand-lettered sign in the window of any of the bars in one of the tiny coal mining towns of sand coulee (tracy, sand coulee, centerville or stockett) reading something like, "pigs in a blanket, 3.50$/plate, get em while they last." usually, they are sold out before the second game starts.

 

my wife has many fond family memories of making and eating "pigs" with her grandmother, and whenever we eat this dish at home, i am reminded of how lucky i am to be married into a family with such an interesting heritage.

 

as with most peasant/immigrant foods, "pigs" are largely a product of what is available in the pantry, at the local grocery, or what is grown in the garden in season. there are many regional and traditional ways to prepare them, even within the same areas.

Here's a shopping list for how we make holúbky:

• 1 large head of cabbage (two smaller heads can be used)
• 4 lbs lean ground meat. this can be beef, pork, lamb, venison or anything you want. some folks even use fish. beef is what we use most commonly.
• 2 medium onions or 1 large onion, chopped
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, diced fine
• salt and pepper to taste
• rice (minute-style rice is fine, but you can use any rice)
• 1 "large" (not huge) can of diced tomatoes
• 1 large jar of sauerkraut
• Optional - mushrooms
• Optional - marjoram to taste
• Optional - paprika to taste
• Optional - tomato juice
• Optional - sour cream for the sauce
• Optional - catsup for topping

this will make enough to feed your family and provide lunches for several days; no worries - they get better as time pases!

i will also mention a few variations and alternatives thoughout this post. feel free to try them.

all methods start with a head of cabbage, parboiled for a few minutes to work the leaves loose:

once all the leaves are loose, the ingredients are assembled. we like to use some lawry's and alpine touch for seasoning, but salt and pepper would work just as well. feel free to use your favorite seasoning:

whoops! forgot to get the tomatoes!

i like to saute the onions and garlic a few minutes before mixing them with the burger, making sure to cool them before using tehm in the recipe. this cooks them and gives the final product a more "finished" flavor in my opinion, but it is not absolutely necessary. Also, I am a big fan of adding chopped mushrooms to the mixture; these can also, if you wish, be sauteed with the onions and garlic, but it is not necessary.

how much rice, you ask? that's a pretty good question. you want it to be evenly distributed throught the meat, and you want it to not take over the whole mixture either. it's hard to give an exact amount, but you're going for a consistency that is easily molded and not too wet or too dry. experience is probably the best teacher here. start with a couple of cups for 4 pounds of burger, and add more if you think it is necessary. the moisture from cooking will fluff up the rice very well.

once the filling ingredients are thoroughly mixed, lay out a cabbage leaf:

note: for larger leaves, cut the ribs out with a V-cut. with really large leaves, cut them in half the long way (while de-ribbing).

take a handful of the meat mixture and basically squeeze gently it in your fist to shape it, then lay it on the leaf:

then roll the leaf up from base to tip, tucking the ends in (which didn't quite happen here) to make a nice little compact package:

lay the rolls out in a roasting pan or baking dish. some people like to put them in a stockpot or other large pot and cook them on the stovetop, and i like them that way; but these are going to be baked in the oven, which is just as good. for the stovetop method, you're going to have several layers, but for the oven method, probably only two, maybe three. here's the first layer:

see why the Slovak name for them (holúbky) translates to "little pigeons?"

with each layer, top the pigs with some sauerkraut (scraps of extra cabbage leaves can also be added):

and also top each layer with diced tomatoes:

i have some home-canned crushed tomatoes from our garden, and i think they would have been very good with this, but they did not get used this time around. also, some folks like to top each layer with some tomato sauce and/or tomatoe juice for a little extra moisture and tomato flavor. i prefer them this way, but mrs. tas insists that no sauce or juice is needed, because the "pigs" will make their own!

here's the second layer of pigs:

and another layer of sauerkraut (once again, cut-up scraps from extra leaves can be added):

one final topping of diced tomatoes:

and then they are covered and put into the oven at 350. if doing on the stovetop, bring liquids to a boil and then simmer.

cooking time is subjective. if doing them on the stovetop, you want to simmer them for quite a while. large batches can simmer around 4 hours. these were in the oven for about an hour or so, and could have stayed in a little longer; 2 hours wouldn't have been unreasonable. you want the ground meat inside the pigs to be cooked through, so the best recommendation is to test a couple from the middle. the resulting moisture from the cabbage, burger etc. will keep things from burning, whether on the stovetop or in the oven. if necessary, you can add a little more water or tomato juice if things dry out, but be sure to keep the lid covered no matter how you do it, because the steam is important and you don't want the ones on the bottom to burn

i got home from work just in time for them to come out of the oven - don't they look good!:

for this meal, we prepared mashed potatoes seasoned with alpine touch, cracked black pepper and chives. mashed poatoes make a good side for this meal, as do boiled potatoes or oven-roasted potatoes.

and onto the plate they go. a person can top them (and the potatoes) with the tomatoes, sauerkraut, sauce and juices from the pan, as well as a little ketchup, if desired:

the taste is GREAT and one gets a real sense that they are eating some good, old-world peasant food. can't be beat!

thanks for looking, everyone. if you try these, let me know how you like them.