Tag Archives: best cabbage rolls

When I was growing up once in awhile my mom got a wild hair and decided to make a big dinner. My favorite was stuffed cabbage, cabbage rolls, galumpkis, whatever you want to call them. Now, my mom was from an Irish-Scottish-French background but her best friend in high school in the 1930s was a girl named Olga.

Olga was almost as much a part of my growing up as my mom was even though I never met her. I grew up hearing stories about Olga and mom, the trouble they got into. They exchanged Christmas cards every year until the year that Olga died. They were in each other’s weddings. And, Olga’s family was responsible for one of my favorite comfort foods – ever. In fact…several of the my kids love this stuff and so the tradition has been passed down. Thanks Olga!

The recipe used Campbell’s Tomato soup. You can use tomato sauce if you like but it isn’t quite the same. Although I generally don’t like to use commercially prepared products this is one recipe I stick the way it was written. My mom did not put much ground beef in the recipe but this was a staple food for her through the depression and World War II. Adjust the amount of ground beef up or down to your budget and your own tastes. I have used arborio rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, white rice…. it all works well. In this case, use what you have.

Mom used to put this in a big Dutch oven and cook in a slow oven for several hours… that is until she got her first crockpot. This is slow cooked for about six to eight hours to reach yummy perfection. The sauce is tangy and sweet, the cabbage is delicate and tender and the rice and beef succulent. Making the rolls doesn’t take that long at all and the house will smell amazing. Here are the steps in pictures with the recipe following: