Kohlrouladen - My Adventure With A Cabbage!

Kohlrouladen is one of my favourite German dishes. And as I have recently rediscovered the joy of cooking, I decided to try to make it. For a first attempt, it was pretty good, I think. But I will probable have to make a few changes to perfect it. To start, I got a few ´after the fact´ tips from German mum-in-law, who I must add, was quite pleased to have her new daughter-in-law calling to ask about recipes. She was reminiscing about how she used to watch her mother-in-law to learn how to cook stuff and is already planning a day of cooking together the next time I am there to stay!

I found this recipe on about.com :

600-700g cabbage

350g minced meat (half beef, half pork)

1 egg

5 tbsp cup bread crumbs

½ tsp. Paprika powder

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp dried marjoram or oregano

Freshly ground pepper

1-2 strips bacon (40g)

240ml beef broth

1 tbsp cornstarch in 60ml cold water

Recipe: peel any old or discoloured leaves from the outside of the head of cabbage, which I think really goes without saying. Then use a sharp knife to cut out the "strunk" or stem out from the cabbage, leaving a cone-shaped hole. Then place the cabbage head in a large pot and fill the pot with water to cover or almost cover the cabbage head. Add a teaspoon or two of salt. Bring the pot to a boil, remove from heat and let the cabbage sit for several minutes. Peel the outer leaves off, one by one and drain the water from them. If, after you remove several leaves, the rest are sticking together, put the rest of the cabbage back in the hot water for a few minutes and try again.

However, mum-in-law says that she usually just peels the leaves off carefully first, then puts soaks them in boiling water for a little while, just long enough that they loose the whiteness and softens.

Recipe: while the cabbage water is coming to a boil, mix the hamburger (in Germany this is usually half pork, half beef) with the egg, bread crumbs, paprika, salt, marjoram and pepper until smooth.

Okay, so this bit did not really turn out that well in my attempt. Mainly because I did not have bread crumbs. I used a bun instead, because I remembered that mum-in-law makes meatballs / hamburger with a bun. So I basically crumbled and tore up a bun and mixed it in. What I forgot, which mum-in-law reminded me, was to soak the bun in water till soft, then squeeze out the excess water before adding the bun to the meat. Mum-in-law also adds a bit of nutmeg and mustard.

Recipe: Form 10 - 12, two inch long "meat rolls" using about 1/4 cup meat mixture each.

I have no idea now much 1/4 cup meat is, seeing as I don´t have a measuring cup. So I just randomly rolled them out. I also disregarded the two inch length instruction, mostly because I didn´t want to make 10-12 rolls. Instead I ended with 8 dumpy rolls instead.

Recipe: Lay out a cabbage leaf and cut out the thickest vein (only 1/3 to 2/3 of the way up the leaf) as necessary so you can roll the leaf.

Recipe: place a meat roll in the thinner, cupped portion of the leaf, and fold the roll on three sides, then roll to the thickest part (like a burrito).

Recipe: tie like a gift package (in quarters) with kitchen string or, in a pinch, regular thread. This works well with two people.

I, being the amateur chef that I am, had never even heard of kitchen string before coming across this recipe, naturally used regular thread, which incidentally, I managed all on my own!

Mum-in-law says that there is some fancy "paper clip" type thing that you could just stick into the middle and clip on to hold the leaf in place. I cannot imagine how thing thing looks like, but will go a-hunting in a couple of days. Although, if I were to be honest, I am hoping and half-expecting that mum-in-law would go out and get me some. ;-)

Recipe says to cut the strip of bacon into small pieces and brown it in a large sauce pan. Remove the bacon. Brown the cabbage rolls on two sides in the bacon fat.

This bit did not work out so well for me. I bought teeny bacon bits, thinking it would save me the trouble of cutting it into small pieces. I am not sure if that is the reason, but there was hardly any fat to speak of. So I browned the cabbage in butter instead.

Recipe: add 1/2 cup beef broth (or enough to cover pan to 1/4 inch depth), cover the pan with a lid and simmer 40 - 50 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep the cabbage rolls in 1/4 to 1/2 inch broth.

I only made three rolls because I figured that was all I would manage to eat. I should have probably at least halved the quantities and made less, but as I was boiling the whole cabbage head anyway, I thought I would just follow the recipe as it was this time. I will freeze the rest and reheat it another day. I hope it freezes well.

Mum-in-law says that she makes it in a pressure cooker, which cuts down the cooking time by miles. She´s going to copy out the conversion instructions for the pressure cooker that we have, which she obviously knows well, since it used to be hers and which she gave to her son when he moved out. Although I am guessing that the son has probably only ever used it more as pot and less as pressure cooker.

Recipe: remove the cabbage rolls to a warm serving dish (remove the string, too), add the cornstarch and water to the beef broth and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until thickened. Pour over cabbage rolls. Serve with boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes.

I realised halfway into cooking that I forgot to get potatoes. And it was too late to go to the supermarket. I tried to get a potato donation from my neighbours but they were out. Or at least, there was no answer at the door. So all I had on the serving dish, which was no more than a regular plate and not warm in my case, were my three rolls.

All in all, it was fun. I enjoyed cooking it, and enjoyed cooking it too. Although I really wish I had some potatoes with it. Next time though, I will make the rolls smaller, and maybe wrap the rolls in two layers of cabbage leaves. I really like the cabbage bit and felt that there was not enough cabbage.

PS. This is the first time I actually managed to cook and photo-document all the steps I wanted to document in the process!