cabbage rolls

I had some great ones last Wednesday at Bobak's on Archer. They were part of the lunch buffet. I loved my Hungarian grandma's version but the Bobak's rendition were really great. Whatever else was in them, there was also a hint of smokiness to them as well. From what I know about Bobak's it was probable that they worked some of their smoked port butt into the filling (which appears to be mostly beef) but that's just a guess. Either way, they were one of the more memorable things I tried at my lunch there last week.

Bobak's Sausage Company
5275 S. Archer Avenue
Chicago, IL
(773) 735-5334

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Being a Jewish guy married to a Greek woman, I have discovered that there are more than one way/style to make a cabbage roll. The cabbage rolls that I grew up with are nothing like the bland ones my wife grew up with and makes. Some of the best Eastern European/Jewish ones I have found are the frozen ones sold at Kauffman's in Skokie. Just heat and you have instant Grandma Goodness. And, of course, when they are on the menu, the ones at Manny's are supurb!

Kauffmans
4905 Dempster
Skokie, IL
847-677-9880

Manny's
1141 S. Jefferson
Chicago, IL
847-939-2855

A little bit of self-promotion...

Around this time last year, I was low-carbing and came up with a carb-friendly version in which I substituted stock-infused cauliflower for the rice. Here is pic of the final product:



They're relatively painless to make and if you're ever in the Deerfield area, stop by and I'll whip you up a batch

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ronnie_suburban wrote:Around this time last year, I was low-carbing and came up with a carb-friendly version in which I substituted stock-infused cauliflower for the rice.

Ronnie_s:

Your recipe sounds both delicious and very healthy. Would you be willing to share it with us in this thread on cabbage?

Cabbage

Cauliflower is a wonderful vegetable and also one particularly well-suited to those who need to fit into suits that no longer suitably fit.

Antonius

second the motion, and, for that matter, I'd be delighted to have the rice version.

Whenever I'm in Ukrainian Village I stop into Kasia's Deli for golabki (tomato sauce on the side) and kopytka (potato dumplings shaped like fingers). Any respectable Polish deli should have them--you just have to find the taste that you like--some use too much rice and not enough meat.

I've never gone wrong at Andy's or Montrose Deli either. Actually, I've tried a variety of prepared foods from all 3 stores, and have always been impressed.

Kasia's Deli
2101 West Chicago Ave., 773) 486-7700

Montrose Deli
5411 West Montrose, 773) 725-6123

Andy's--4 locations
5440 North Milwaukee, 773-631-7304

You can buy excellant cabbage rolls with a good portion of meat at Wikstrom's Delicatessan on Clark Street a couple of blocks north of Foster.

Antonius, Ann...will definitely do so asap; probably sometime this evening.

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Joe & Frank's in Bridgeview makes cabbage rolls the size of small pork meatloaves. Tasty, but one is the most I can do at one sitting:

Joe & Frank's Market, 7147 W Archer, Bridgeview, IL
(Archer and Harlem)

Ok, remembering now that I didn't really have much of a recipe. I was just improvising but here's the basic gist of what I did...

Tomato sauce....I used home-made beef stock/glace (although I'm sure that canned broth would be absolutely fine) to simmer 1 head of coarsely-chopped cauliflower and 1/2 of a yellow onion. When the cauliflower-onion mixture was ready (tender, not mushy...about 5 minutes) I removed it and saved the stock/glace mixture. Later, after the cabbages were rolled and positioned in the baker, I combined a portion of that stock, in equal parts, with 1 small can (~15 oz.) of whole plum tomatoes--which I crushed up with my hands. (I should have used my stick blender to homogenize the tomatoes and the stock instead of settling for a chunky broth, but that's another story.)

For the filling I used ground beef and a little bulk italian sausage (2 total #, 75/25) and then 2 eggs (1 per pound of meat), 3 or 4 cloves of crushed garlic, s&p and 3 cups of the stock-simmered cauliflower-onion, which I let cool off first.

For the wrappers, I used savoy cabbage and blanched the separated and cleaned leaves in lightly simmering, salted water for about 1 minute to soften them up so they wouldn't crack or rip during the rolling process. I removed them from the hot water and shocked them in ice cold water to keep them from getting too soft before I made the rolls. After they cooled off, I dried them in a dish towel and spun them in my salad spinner before I assembled the rolls. Once assembled, I placed the rolls in a 9" x 13" ceramic baker, poured the tomatoey stock over them and cooked the whole deal, covered tightly with foil, for about 90 minutes at 300 degrees F.

I know that the above explanation was probably a gigantic, confusing mess so please, if you have any questions or need any clarification, just let me know.

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Teresa 2 on Milwaukee Ave.