Mom's Stuffed Cabbage (Halubky or Halupki)

My mom's stuffed cabbage is AMAZING and is one of my favorite things to eat.  She learned how to make it from my grandmother whose parents where from Czechoslovakia. I finally had my mom show me how to make them.  There are a few secrets that I did not include here :)

There are many variations of this recipe.  Some people include sauerkraut in with the sauce or line the bottom of the roasting pan with the kraut.  Other include kielbasa in the roaster with the stuffed cabbage.



Stuffed Cabbage
Yield: about 36

Ingredients:
½ cup white rice
1 large onion, small diced
2 heads of cabbage, cored (leave the cabbage whole)
¾ lb ground pork
½ lb ground round
2 lb ground chuck (80/20)
Butter
4 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt
Pepper
7 cans tomato soup
Water

Directions:
Prepare ½ cup of white rice according to the package directions.  Set aside to cool.

Sauté the diced onion in some butter until translucent.  Set aside to cool.

In a large pot, bring water to a boil.  Drop the head of cabbage in.  Let cook and as leaves become loose peel off with a fork.  The outer leaves will cook more quickly.  Remove the leaves and let cool in a separate bowl/pan.  As you get closer to the center, the leaves will take longer, so after they peel away from the core, leave them in the water until softer.  Once the leaves are cool enough to handle, trim the ribs off of the outside of the cabbage leaves and save the scraps in a separate bowl.

In a large bowl, combine the ground meat with the eggs.  Add 1 ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.  Add the rice and onions and mix together. You may have to add a little water, a tablespoon at a time, if the mix appears too dry.

Add meat to the cabbage (meat should be “loose” and not too tight (not like a meatball)) and roll securely, but not too tight.  If the cabbage rips patch from the inside with another piece of cabbage (can rip off from another leaf).  The amount of meat will depend on the size of the cabbage leaf. 

Place the roll in a roasting pan.  Finish rolling the rest of the meat and cabbage.  If you have more meat than cabbage, you can roll the meat into balls and place in the roasting pan (we call them “porcupine balls”…I have no idea why).  If you have extra cabbage you can create a layer on the top of the rolls to prevent burning.  Any scraps (broken leaves or the ribs we cut out earlier) can be added to the roasting pan, too.

In a separate large bowl, pour the tomato soup in and add 4 cans of water (use the tomato soup cans).  Add ½ teaspoon pepper.  Mix together.  Pour over the cabbage rolls.

Cook on 350° for 3 hours.