Cabbage Rolls ('Krautwickel')
Cabbage Rolls ('Krautwickel')
- Prep time
- 14 min
- Cook time
- 31 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- For the cabbage rolls:
- 1 head white cabbage
- 1 tablespoon clarified butter
- 4.5 ounces (125 g) button mushrooms, finely chopped
- 12.5 ounces (350 g) minced meat (50 % pork / 50 % beef)
- 1 white bread roll, cut into small cubes
- 1/4 cup finely chopped curly parsley
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- a few drops of Maggi seasoning sauce, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
- salt, to taste
- For braising the cabbage rolls:
- 2 tablespoons clarified butter
- 1 cup beef broth
- For the sauce:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- braising liquid (+ extra beef broth if you want to make more gravy)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- red wine vinegar, to taste
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the cabbage rolls:
- 2
Preheat your oven to 430 °F (220 °C).
- 3
Heat a large pot of salted water until boiling. Remove the stalk from the cabbage and blanch the whole head for about 1 minute. Pull away the outer layer of leaves. Once it gets too tough to separate them without breaking, return the cabbage into the boiling water for another minute. This recipe makes about 7 cabbage rolls so that you will need 14 cabbage leaves for wrapping.
- 4
Heat the clarified butter in a nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat and add the chopped mushrooms. Saute them until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms begin to brown. Set them aside.
- 5
In a mixing bowl, combine the minced meat, bread roll cubes, mushrooms, parsley, mustard, milk, and sugar. Mix well and season to taste with a few drops of Maggi, black pepper, and salt.
- 6
Take about 3-4 tablespoons of your filling and wrap inside a cabbage leaf. Take a second leaf to wrap around the first one. Squeeze the cabbage roll tightly by wrapping it inside a kitchen towel so that it will hold together by itself. Place the cabbage roll seam-side down on your counter and proceed to assemble cabbage rolls until all the filling is used up.
- 7
Braise your cabbage rolls:
- 8
In a large saute pan, heat the clarified butter over medium heat. Add the cabbage rolls, seam side down, into your hot pan. Sear for 3-4 minutes on the seam side. Add the beef broth and place the pan on the middle rack of your preheated oven. Leave the cabbage rolls to braise for about 45 minutes or until cooked through and lightly browned on top. Reserve the braising liquid for the gravy. Turn off the oven and place the cabbage rolls back inside to keep them warm while you prepare the gravy.
- 9
Prepare the gravy:
- 10
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour and whisk continuously. Cook the butter-flour-mixture ('roux') until it turns brown but is not burnt for about 5-10 minutes. Add the braising liquid from your cabbage rolls bit by bit while stirring constantly to prevent your sauce from turning lumpy. If you want more gravy, simply add some extra beef broth (you might also want to add more butter and flour to thicken the gravy then). Let the gravy simmer on the lowest possible heat for at least 10-15 minutes to cook out the raw flour taste. Once finished, season the gravy with soy sauce, vinegar, and salt to taste.
- 11
Serve the cabbage rolls together with the gravy. They go great with potatoes on the side.