Cabbage Rolls, AKA, Pigs In A Blanket

Pigs In A Blanket

The first time I learned to make Pigs In A Blanket was at my Grandma Sabol's house (my mother's mother). It was truly a special experience for me. Not only did I receive 2 generations of knowledge and wisdom from the women but my Grandfather, who was an amazing cook in his own right, shared all of his with me as well! Here I was...just me, in the kitchen (only 12 years old) with 3 of the greatest cooks I've ever known. I'm sure you don't realize just how special this was. I was one out of 30 (or 31? grandchildren) So for me to have this "alone" time with them was a one in a million for me. We lived about 740 miles away, so when we went to visit, everyone that lived nearby came to Grandma's so we could see them also. It was so much fun!.......But as much as I enjoyed visiting family and playing with my cousins... the one "me day" was such a special treat.

I had helped mom make Pigs In A Blanket many times before but she would add everything to the meat and I would mix it together while she cooked the cabbage and then I would rolled them up while she cleaned the kitchen. But on this day I got to be apart of "everything" including Grandpap and Grandma arguing over whether the Pigs In A Blanket were better with or without sauerkraut sprinkled over them. My grandparents loved each other but they would "debate" things such as this, all the time. Voices were never raised.... it was actually, quite funny. I said, "Since we're making two pans anyway...why don't we make one with and one without?" My suggestion was a hit. The cook-off was on and I got to be on both teams! Whew...I got lucky on that one. It turned out to be so much fun, even Grandma and Grandpap were laughing about who won.... Grandma admitted that Grandpap's was better. She then winked at me and said, "I can't tell him he's right too often or he might get a big head".

At some point during our cooking extravaganza...I asked them why they were called "Pigs In A Blanket". My grandfather (who was from Czechoslovakia) said he could explain that and went on to tell me that this was a dish cooked often in his country but ground pork was used....get it? Pork (pigs) rolled up in a cabbage leaf(blanket) hence the term..."Pigs In A Blanket". I looked at them questioning and asked why we used hamburger instead of ground pork. Grandma explained that many recipes received substitutions during the Great Depression and some of the substitutions "just kinda stuck". 

 Grandpap Sabol's Pigs In A Blanket

Ingredients

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• 2 heads of cabbage
• 1 onion 
• 2 lbs. ground beef 
• 2 cups cooked white rice or 2/3 cup of cracker crumbs (approx. 20 crackers crumbled) 
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard 
• 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 2 large cans / jugs of tomato juice
• 1 large can tomato sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sauerkraut drained

• Prepare the white rice, according to instructions. You may also substitute minute rice.
• Cut cores out of raw cabbages, place in pot of boiling water.
• Pick off leaves as they loose from the head. Place cooked leaves on platter. Use the big leaves and then a few of the middle size. The smaller inner part of the head is now removed and chopped to create the blanket in the pan for the rolls to cook on.
• Prepare the meat mixture. Fine dice the onion, add to meat with the rice. I prefer spreading the meat out and then sprinkling on the garlic, salt pepper and breadcrumbs, this way it is evenly spread out.
• Beat egg and pour over meat, add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, ketchup and mustard. Mix all ingredients into meat. Even better...use a Kitchen Aid to mix everything together!
• Cutting sideways, reduce thickness of the center "vein" out of each leaf, place 1/3 heaped cup of meat on medium size blanket. For the first 4-5 large blankets, I added another pinch of meat to the 1/3 heaping cup. Roll all the pigs up and set aside on a cookie sheet.
• In a large mixing bowl, pour in tomato sauce, and tomato juice. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper Mix well with whisk. Cover bottom of roaster pan with some of the mixture, place cabbage rolls in the roaster pan, sprinkle sauerkraut over cabbage rolls and pour remaining mixture over the cabbage rolls in roaster until all pigs are covered.
• Bake on 350 covered for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (It may only take 1 hour to cook. After it has cooked for 1 hour, use a fork to check for softness of the hard vein in the cabbage.)  
• Makes about 20 blankets.