<p>The threads that were just posted about Passover foods jogged my memory to ask this question:
When I was first out of college, I shared an apartment with a friend who is Jewish (I’m not.) Her grandmother used to send her home with stuffed cabbage that was SO delicious. I’d love to make it but have no idea how. It was stuffed with a ground beef (not sure if there was rice in it too) and the sauce was tomato sauce, but had kind of a sweet-sour taste to it. Anybody have a recipe that sounds like that they are willing to share? I’d ask her, but we lost track of each other many years ago. Thanks!</p>
<p>My mom used to stuff green peppers not cabbage, but this recipe looks similar.
[You</a> Say Go??bki; I Say Galumpkis « The Outer Banks Voice](<a href=“http://outerbanksvoice.com/2012/11/08/you-say-golabki-i-say-galumpkis/]You”>The Outer Banks Voice - You Say Gołąbki … I Say Galumpkis)
She also mostly used just ground beef. Pork makes it taste sweeter I think.</p>
<p>[holishkes</a> - Bing](<a href=“holishkes - Search”>holishkes - Search)</p>
<p>I grew up in NY. I would kill for a good deli out here.</p>
<p>It seems like many eastern European countries/cultures grow up with different versions of this dish. My best friend from college knows these as galumpkis. Those with Polish roots tend to say halupska. (At least, they do where I grew up - don’t know if the name evolved after coming to the US but I live in a former industrial area that drew a lot of eastern Europeans back in the day). I have Czech roots so in my family it’s holubky (and we have it every Easter and Christmas). </p>
<p>I don’t think we really have a recipe per se, but this is the basic process of making holubky in the hyper household:</p>
<p>-Start by partially cooking rice. They should still be a little grainy in the middle because they will absorb more moisture from the meat. </p>
<p>-Mix the cooked rice with ground beef (maybe 1 parts rice to 2 parts beef but that is a guesstimation based on watching my dad). </p>
<p>-Form the beef/rice mixture into oval shaped balls. </p>
<p>-Boil leaves of cabbage to soften - enough so you can wrap the meat without the cabbage snapping (but not so much that the cabbage becomes mush). </p>
<p>-Wrap each of the rice/meat balls with cabbage </p>
<p>-In a large pan (must have a lid and can simmer on the stove for a long time) or a crock (recent innovation) layer the cabbage wrapped masses. At each layer, coat generously with a mixture of condensed tomato soup (no water or milk added) and tomato puree (actually I think my parents use Hunt’s tomato sauce, specifically). Salt and pepper generously to taste. </p>
<p>-Put on the stove (or in the crock) on a low heat setting for quite a long time. Stir from top to bottom every couple of hours. I would guess somewhere from 6-8 hours, or until the meat inside is completely cooked through. If you leave it too long though the cabbage will totally macerate (and your cabbage loving relatives will be disappointed). </p>
<p>-If you’re lazy, for the same flavor, less hassle, instead of wrapping them individually, you can layer the unwrapped meat with layers of raw cabbage, kind of casserole style. </p>
<p>Sorry for such an informal recipe. Personally we love to spoon the sauce over mashed potatoes.</p>
<p>Hmmmm…gosh I loved it when my mom made these. I would have had NO idea how to spell it - but phonetically it would be halupkies or in our house we referred to them as pigeons. Saying stuffed cabbage just doesn’t do it justice.</p>
<p>worknprogress2 - After many years of mystery I came to find out that what I pronounced as halupky was spelled holubky. :)</p>
<p>Both my nana’s were terrible cooks (though one might have been good she just never cooked) so I never had stuffed cabbage until I worked at the JCC and we had a kosher meal program and meals on wheels. I use to sneak a few out of the kitchen to take home.</p>
<p>When I was a kid we had Polish neighbors from New Jersey. (this was exotic in Seattle). The mom made stuffed cabbage and we understood the name to be “gwumpies”. They were wonderful. Rice and onion and ground beef wrapped up and a sweet tomato sauce ( recipe involved ketchup). Yum. I need to go look up the recipe and make a batch.</p>
<p>Thanks so much - the recipe link from the Outer Banks newspaper sounds the most like it (it’s that sweet-sour tomato sauce that I couldn’t figure out.) Going to give it a try soon. And the “galumpkis” name sounds familiar, so think I must be on the right track. Can’t wait to give it a try. Thanks again!</p>
<p>Mandy Patinkin’s mother published a book of Jewish recipes. And the stuffed cabbage is in it. The 2nd Avenue Deli also has a wonderful recipe.</p>
<p>Croatians call stuffed cabbage Sarma. The recipe below is like my mother’s (she immigrated to the US from Croatia). </p>
<p>[Croatian</a> Stuffed Cabbage Recipe - Recipe for Croatian Stuffed Cabbage or Sarma](<a href=“http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/croatianserbmaincourses/r/klarasarma.htm]Croatian”>Croatian Stuffed Cabbage Recipe)</p>
<p>I think sarma is always better the next day.</p>
<p>My Russian-Jewish grandmother, who grew up in a small village outside Kiev, somewhere near Chernobyl, made these. </p>
<p>She called them “prockus” (accent on first syllable. We loved them, too. </p>
<p>I do sometimes joke that my grandma’s idea of Vegetable Side Dish was a cabbage leaf stuffed full of ground beef.</p>
<p>I make them often. Always use combination of beef and pork as beef only will make the dish very dry. You have to boil the cabbage head until leafs start coming apart. Rice is a filler here, so do not use too much. For the sauce, possibilities are endless - I use my own tomatoes/ or my own tomatoe preserves as a starter…
Look at this recipe:
[Cabbage</a> rolls with rice and minced meat (go??bki) | Ania’s Kitchen](<a href=“http://aniapol.■■■■■■■■■■■■■/2010/09/03/cabbage-rolls-with-rice-and-minced-meat-golabki/]Cabbage”>Cabbage rolls with rice and minced meat (gołąbki) | Ania's Kitchen)</p>
<p>Obviously, the Jewish version of this dish does not contain pork ; I can’t say I’ve ever found it dry. Joan Nathan has a tasty recipe for this in her Jewish Holiday Kitchen that contains raisins in the sauce (which was not my family’s tradition, though I don’t think I have my grandmother’s recipe).</p>
<p>Another way to peel leaves is to freeze cabbage night before, then defrost on day of cooking. Cut out as much of core as possible.
I just use beef, but some people combine with veal.</p>
<p>This is my friend’s Rhoda’s recipe. I always cut it in half.</p>
<p>2 green young cabbages
4 large onions, diced
3 lb. lean ground beef or veal
2 eggs
1 large onion, chopped & sauteed in 2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp salt (I use sour salt)
1 tsp pepper</p>
<p>Sauce:
2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes in thick puree
2 (8 oz) cans tomato sauce
1/2 c dry Marsala or sherry
12 gingersnaps
1 c water (I never need this)
3-6 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white raisins
1/2 c dried apricots, coarsely chopped</p>
<p>Meat: mix beef, saut</p>
<p>My grandmother (also from near Kiev) called them prakas as well. I read that this is a very local term, like frappe for milkshake or hoagie for submarine sandwich. </p>
<p><a href=“http://forward.com/articles/13845/philadelphia-prakas-/[/url]”>http://forward.com/articles/13845/philadelphia-prakas-/</a></p>
<p>You can buy (at Costco, probably elsewhere as well) a prepared version that tastes very much like my grandmother’s (a sweet/sour tomato-based sauce) with the brand name Mon Cuisine. It is kosher for Passover so doesn’t have rice. My grandmother’s version also had raisins, which I believe this product does not include.</p>
<p>My mother says my grandmother’s secret ingredient was crushed gingersnaps. (Not for Passover.)</p>
<p>Yes, I’m guessing that her grandmother did not use pork, but since I don’t have to worry about the Kosher thing, I would think the pork would make it even better. 
I think I have a few recipes to try…</p>
<p>Using pork is up to you, but the dryness of the dish depends on the amount of fat in the meat, not what animal it came from. You can have very lean ground pork or very rich ground beef, depending on what goes in the grinder. Our Jewish grandmas were NOT grinding 93% lean sirloin! They were probably pouring all the schmaltz from the fried onion into the mixture, too, if my grandma was any example.</p>
<p>You can substitute crushed matzo farfel or mashed potato for the rice at Passover, or just skip the filler.</p>
<p>DeskPotato, thanks for that article! My grandmother emigrated as a teen from Russia right to Baltimore! In your article, it notes that the name “prakas” is regional – specific to Philadelphia and (wonders the author) perhaps Baltimore. </p>
<p>Now I understand why my husband’s Russian immigrant family, who settled in Western Pennsylvania, didn’t know what I was talking about, even as we enjoyed eating the same dish. </p>
<p>I will try gingersnaps, then raisins. The casserole idea is welcome, too, since I find all this stuffing too labor intensive. But I crave the dish.</p>
<p>Many thanks!</p>
<p>The recipe link from Second Avenue Deli Cookbook is pretty much the recipe I used to use, although haven’t made in a long time. Funny because we had dinner with friends in a Mediterranean/Turkish resturant last night and my husband dish that he ordered was essentially stuffed cabbage …so familiar dish across many nationalities</p>