Our friend Asta was visiting during the last weekend of the Food and Wine Festival. Asta’s Mom makes great stuffed cabbage so he volunteered to taste one and offer his opinion. If I say something incorrect I’m sure he’ll comment to correct me.
Poland calls this Golabki which is Pork Stuffed Cabbage. It is made from lightly boiled cabbage leaves which are wrapped around minced pork, chopped onions and rice; then baked in a casserole dish in a tomato sauce. We had two which you can see below.
I apologize for not getting a photo of the filling – bad form!
The colors of the two rolls were as different as they appear in the photos. It is not uncommon as different parts of a cabbage leaf are darker than others and color varies from one cabbage to anaother. As I understand color is also impacted by not only the leaf (how much tomato sauce it absorbs) but also how long it is cooked. It is hard to overcook these so you do get variations in color. No worries.
Nora and I enjoyed our cabbage. The filling was warm (could have been warmer but is was acceptable). The flavors were decent and the balance of pork and rice was about right. We’d have welcomed more onions but we are not saying that there was too little as we are not too familiar with stuffed cabbage (rarely have them). We’d definitely try these again as long as the weather is not too warm here in Lake Buena Vista.
Because Asta’s mom is a great cook I was curious as to what he would think. I hope I quote directly, “that definitely didn’t suck”. “It isn’t my Mom’s but it ain’t bad.” So there you have it from someone who knows what a good stuffed cabbage roll should taste like. Asta finished the roll so I think we can say if you like cabbage rolls, you give these a try and probably not be disappointed.
nick
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