Golabki a.k.a. Pigs in a Blanket

Yesterday we went over to my Aunt Jeri's house to participate in the annual tradition of making pigs/golabki (which is actually pronounced more like gwumpkees). Every year a bunch of my family get together the week of Thanksgiving and make up an enormous batch of these. My mom's dad is 100% Polish and this recipe is an old family recipe of his parents' families. We've always had pigs at Thanksgiving and sometimes at Christmas, too. Golabki are basically just stuffed cabbage rolls that are cooked for a long time - the longer the better... the more black the cabbage becomes (it doesn't taste burnt) the better they are. There are so many different variations in cabbage rolls and they're called different things depending on the culture. They're generally from the Slavic cultures. We generally just call these pigs in a blanket - and up until the time that I met Kevin I never knew the "american" version of pigs in a blanket (the hot dogs wrapped in crescent rolls). To this day, I can't refer to those as pigs in a blanket... golabki will always be pigs in a blanket to me.

Golabki a.k.a. Pigs in a Blanket

6 pounds hamburger
2 1/2 pounds sausage
2 large onions, chopped
4 large cabbage
5 teaspoons sage
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cup uncooked rice
bacon
ketchup

Begin by steaming the cabbage in large pots on the stovetop (core out the center and then plop the entire head into the pots to steam). Cook the rice as directed on the package - you can use minute rice or the long-cook stuff as long as you cook it first. In a very large pan (we use a huge roaster), mix together the hamburger, sausage, onion, sage, salt, pepper, and cooked rice (use your hands).

Once the cabbage has steamed, use tongs to peel each piece away from the head. We lay the cabbage leaves on cookie sheets.

Roll some of the meat mixture into each cabbage leaf, folding in the ends and place them seam side down into a large roaster coated with cooking spray. Make one layer across the bottom then top with bacon strips. Then layer more cabbage rolls, then more bacon, etc. Until your roaster is full. Squirt a lot of ketchup on top of the last layer of bacon and cabbage rolls. Put the lid on the roaster and bake them at 350 for at least 3 hours. The longer they cook, the better they get. These freeze well.