Cooking With Grandma's Recipes - Part 1 Pierogi and Golabki

With the large amount of snow so far this winter and the distance that now separates me from my beloved Chicagoland; I often find comfort in my kitchen. The idea for this meal really began as a labor of love. For Christmas I used lulu.com to create a book of my family's most loved recipes from my paternal Grandmother's collection. Although the project ended up costing $50 a copy and many more hours than originally planned, it was well worth it after seeing the faces of each family member on xmas evening. After spending countless hours translating her handwriting onto the website I felt a need to use her words to make dinner.

Pierogi:

Is there a food that defines a culture more than a form of stuffed pasta? Asian's have the Dumpling, Italians the ravioli, Indians the papusa, and Latinos the empanada. I could go on all day, but you get the picture. For my family nothing was as a stark reminder of our Polish heritage more than the pierogi. My Grandmother's recipe for the dough is very simple: flour, sour cream and eggs.

I forgot to get a picture of the mise en place ala Bridgestone, but here is the mixture after kneading for a few minutes in the kitchenaid.


The recipe states to let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 4 hours. After resting we're ready to roll.

I added this photo just to display one of the jars and the rolling pin I recieved after Grandma passed a couple of years ago.

Rolled to about 1/8" thick and cut into 3" circles

Filling Ingredients (clockwise from top: potato flakes, sharp cheddar, chives and milk)

I also made the family favorite saurkraut filling, but no pics

Ready to boil

After boiling I also sauteed the pierogi in butter with onions. Although this isn't how I grew up eating pierogi, it's the way the wifey likes it.

Golabki aka Cabbage Rolls:

The Cabbage roll was the focal point of what we now believe to be a humorous interchange between my Mother and Grandmother shortly before she passed. When my parents married my mother requested a few of my Dad's favorite recipes so she could prepare them. Evidently, and according to g'ma accidentally , the tomato soup was omitted from the recipe given to my mother. Needless to say my father never like my mother's cabbage rolls as much as his.

Ingredients from the top down: cabbage, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato soup, egg, cooked rice, meatloaf mix (g'ma just used beef, but pork makes everything better), 1/2 onion

Put the whole head of cabbage into a pot 1/2 covered with water and bring to a boil, turn off heat and let sit, covered for 15 minutes. Then peel off as many leaves as you can. While the cabbage is cooking saute the onion until translucent. Mix the stuffing ingredients.

Stuffing mix

Stuff and Roll:

The toothpick dispenser was given to me by my mother after I jokingly added it to our wedding registry. btw, I love having it on my kitchen island.

Ready for the sauce

Mix the sauce ingredients and pour over the top, sprinkle with caraway seeds and into the oven with a lid on.


Hot and steamy, fresh from the oven.

And finally, combine the items on the plate and enjoy.

Finished Plate

I could eat this food every day.

Flip

Thanks for the post, Flip, and for fixing the pictures. Everything looks delicious. I was particularly fascinated by the technique for steaming the cabbage. Is the pot covered while it sits those 15 minutes?

Thanks for posting. Although I never grew up eating either of these foods, I've really grown to appreciate them in my adulthood. It's even better considering it's a connection to the past. I'll have to try my hand at making them myself. Pics look great as well.

Ann Fisher wrote:Thanks for the post, Flip, and for fixing the pictures. Everything looks delicious. I was particularly fascinated by the technique for steaming the cabbage. Is the pot covered while it sits those 15 minutes?

Ann,

The lid is on the pot for the 15 minutes. As soon as the cabbage is cool enough to touch you use a knive to remove the core and the leaves almost fall off. I also removed the tougher thick ribs in the center of the leaves.

Flip

I would love to get the components for the saurkraut filling.

Barnew wrote:I would love to get the components for the saurkraut filling.

1 lg can (14oz?) saurkraut
1 medium onion diced
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp butter
salt & pepper

saute the onion mix everything together. I also add a pinch of sugar.

Flip

Nice post! This is the same method my mother uses for making stuffed cabbage. But I seem to recall reading someplace that there is an easier way to prepare the cabbage leaves that involves freezing the head. Does anyone know what I'm thinking about? I want to try to make this but am hoping to find an easier way to produce the wrappers.

Cogito wrote:Nice post! This is the same method my mother uses for making stuffed cabbage. But I seem to recall reading someplace that there is an easier way to prepare the cabbage leaves that involves freezing the head. Does anyone know what I'm thinking about? I want to try to make this but am hoping to find an easier way to produce the wrappers.

Freezing would have a similar affect on the cabbage leaves. The whole point is to make them workable. Just as if you were to freeze any other vegetable, once it is thawed it will be easier to work with. This recipe will work fine with thawed cabbage. btw, I've done it in the past using the thawed cabbage method.

Flip

Thanks for a very nice post and pictures.

I know it's not traditional, but I have used savoy cabbage for cabbage rolls and found that neither boiling nor freezing is necessary to soften the leaves. Just peel and stuff. The savoy is a bit thinner and more tender than green cabbage but still very good, and it saves a step.

Flip wrote:The Cabbage roll was the focal point of what we now believe to be a humorous interchange between my Mother and Grandmother shortly before she passed. When my parents married my mother requested a few of my Dad's favorite recipes so she could prepare them. Evidently, and according to g'ma accidentally , the tomato soup was omitted from the recipe given to my mother. Needless to say my father never like my mother's cabbage rolls as much as his.Flip

Great story! I wouldn't be surprised if a whole thread couldn't be put together of stories like this one. There's one in my family too. My great-grandmother left out one ingredient in her super secret recipe for her Viennese Sacher Torte, and it took my grandmother years to figure out what it was. As in your family, Flip, the recipe passed down was a beloved one, passed from a mother-in-law to a daughter-in-law.

Beautiful post, Flip - I've got a few recipes from both grandmothers that I treasure. The stories behind them are just as much a part of our family as the recipes themselves.

EvA wrote:

Flip wrote:The Cabbage roll was the focal point of what we now believe to be a humorous interchange between my Mother and Grandmother shortly before she passed. When my parents married my mother requested a few of my Dad's favorite recipes so she could prepare them. Evidently, and according to g'ma accidentally , the tomato soup was omitted from the recipe given to my mother. Needless to say my father never like my mother's cabbage rolls as much as his.Flip

Great story! I wouldn't be surprised if a whole thread couldn't be put together of stories like this one. There's one in my family too. My great-grandmother left out one ingredient in her super secret recipe for her Viennese Sacher Torte, and it took my grandmother years to figure out what it was. As in your family, Flip, the recipe passed down was a beloved one, passed from a mother-in-law to a daughter-in-law.

There's one in my family, too. My family has an old cherished recipe for Slovak-style "kolach" (a rolled yeast-bread with various fillings). My grandmother's version far exceeded her sister's and mother's versions due to the addition of a secret ingredient that her sister and mother didn't know she added. For years, my grandfather (being kind of a hellraiser) would torture my grandmother's sister, his sister-in-law, proclaiming that her version wasn't as good as his wife's ("what was she doing wrong?"), while my grandma's sister, agreeing, would drive herself batty attempting to re-create my grandma's work, to no avail.

Being my grandma's favorite, I know what that ingredient is. Nobody else does.

Great pics and tutorial, Flip!

Flip wrote:

Cogito wrote:Nice post! This is the same method my mother uses for making stuffed cabbage. But I seem to recall reading someplace that there is an easier way to prepare the cabbage leaves that involves freezing the head. Does anyone know what I'm thinking about? I want to try to make this but am hoping to find an easier way to produce the wrappers.

Freezing would have a similar affect on the cabbage leaves. The whole point is to make them workable. Just as if you were to freeze any other vegetable, once it is thawed it will be easier to work with. This recipe will work fine with thawed cabbage. btw, I've done it in the past using the thawed cabbage method.

Flip

So that's all? Just freeze it, thaw, and use it?

Yup, just freeze thaw and use. Freezing breaks down the cabbage just as well as boiling/steaming. All you are trying to do is be able to remove the leaves whole. I find it easier just to boil though unless I have a frozen head of cabbage in the freezer; which is never.

Flip

Flip wrote:

Barnew wrote:I would love to get the components for the saurkraut filling.

1 lg can (14oz?) saurkraut
1 medium onion diced
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp butter
salt & pepper

saute the onion mix everything together. I also add a pinch of sugar.

Flip

We have always added lima beans to our kapusta...mash about half of them up, and leave the rest whole. It adds a bit of texture.