Cabbage roll

Cabbage rolls, cabbage rolls, cabbage sausage and cabbage rolls are a common particularly in Europe and western Asia dish of stuffed cabbage leaves in different variants, which are cooked, steamed or braised.

Preparation variants

In the spread in Germany variants savoy or white cabbage leaves are blanched, multiple sheets superimposed to a strong flavored meat mixture ( ground beef, bacon, onion, salt, pepper and to taste a pinch of marjoram ) wrapped and tied with a kitchen string or skewer or wooden skewers (even toothpicks ) put together. In little meat broth they are simmered over medium heat until the sauce is creamy and aromatic. After some recipes, the fill may contain rice or sauce tomato puree and bacon. The usual side dish is boiled potatoes or mashed potatoes.

In the Balkans, cabbage rolls are made from soured cabbage leaves, green cabbage or vine leaves and usually cooked with sauerkraut and smoked meat. They are called there as well as in Turkey, where they are often cooked in lemon broth, Sarma (Turkish: roulade ). In Romania, the Sarmale (plural of Sarma ) are smaller than the usual in Germany cabbage rolls, even served only by the size of a walnut, and with Mămăligă in the northeast of the country. In Austria they are called " cabbage rolls ", referred to in Hungary as " töltött Káposzta ", in Poland and in Russia as Gołąbki Golubzy. In the Eastern European recipes, the filling is sautéed in seasoned corn, onions and ground beef usually before filling and then rolled until cabbage leaves. The cabbage rolls are cooked in tomato sauce or served in a creamy sauce, which may also contain fungi.

A similar preparation with different ingredients can be found in the Grisons specialty capuns.

See also: Krautshäuptchen

Historical Roots

The basic preparation ( vegetable ) to cook stuffed leaves, goes back to the kitchen in the Byzantine Empire. Were used at that time leaves of various plants, so among other things, still in the eastern Mediterranean under various names common Dolma, a variant in which the filling is wrapped with vine leaves. The circulation area around the eastern Mediterranean, where to this day meaty or vegetarian stuffed dolma variations have received is equal to the then- expansion of the Byzantine Empire. In most of these countries there are also stuffed cabbage, wherein the respective country's recipes do not differ significantly, regardless of whether the specific flavored fillings with vine leaves, cabbage or other leaves such as chard are wrapped. In the rest of Europe, stuffed cabbage leave on the distribution of carbon attributed as the main ingredient. This was particularly popular in the cooler regions of Central and Eastern Europe as a source of vitamins in the winter. Even today, cabbage dishes, including explicitly cabbage rolls, a high priority in the country kitchens not only the German-speaking countries, but also in Eastern Europe (eg Poland, Ukraine, Hungary and Romania) or the Balkans. A special story have cooked with cabbage cabbage rolls in Sweden, where they are called " kåldolmar ". The name implies that use of the contacts comes directly with the Ottoman Empire, which were taken during the protracted residence of the Swedish army in Bender in today's Moldova 1709-1713.