Revisiting one of my first posts for Stuffed Cabbage Leaves, Golabki in Polish. These little bundles of ground beef and rice, wrapped in cabbage and topped in a rich tomato sauce are named after pigeons!
My first exposure to this dish was with Ed’s family. Their part of Pennsylvania is an ethnic and culinary mosaic, as in all of Europe comes to the New World. When my mother and her sister would cook a big meal for our combined families in Arizona, they would have made a big pan of enchiladas.
For my PA in-laws, it would be a roaster full of stuffed cabbage. We could always count on there being cabbage rolls to greet us when we visited. It was the sign of a special occasion.
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I fixed this for Ed and one of his colleagues as they prepared to make the initial trip to Poland. We talked with excitement about the travel arrangements, what it might be like, the plans for apartment hunting.
We had pierogi with the stuffed cabbage. I’m embarrassed to say the pierogi were frozen; I had yet to make my first pierogi back then. Things have changed! I make a pretty good pierogi ruskie now.
Novice that I was at the time with Polish cuisine, I still stand by this recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Leaves. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Smacznego!
Lois
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Cookbook
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A Polish favorite, meat and rice filling in cabbage with tomato sauce
Ingredients
- 2/3 c. white rice
- 2 heads green cabbage
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1 1/2 lb. ground beef
- 1 c. chopped onion
- 1 t. salt
- 1/4 t. pepper
- 8 slices bacon, cut in 1-inch pieces
- 2 16-oz. cans tomatoes
- 2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions, cool
- Remove core from cabbage; run hot water into cored area to help in removing outer leaves
- Remove 8 – 12 leaves from each head of cabbage, chop remaining cabbage and place in two baking dishes (or a large dutch oven), sprinkle with salt
- Boil cabbage leaves until limp, about 5 minutes, drain and rinse in cold water
- Cut about 2 inches of the heavy center vein from the leaves
- Cook bacon with 1/2 c. onion till bacon is crisp
- To the bacon and onion mixute, stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, and bay leaf, simmer, covered, while preparing the rest of the dish, remove bay leaves before adding to dish
- Combine cooked rice, egg, ground beef, the remaining 1/2 c. onion, 1 t. salt, and pepper; mix well
- Place about 1/4 c. rice mixture in center of each cabbage leaf; fold in sides and roll ends over rice
- Place rolls, seam side down, on top of chopped cabbage
- Pour tomato mixture over cabbage rolls
- Cover; bake at 350 degrees from 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours
- Freezes well
Anula
We call them ‘golabki’ (means little pigeons, I have no idea why…). Love it! Especially when my Dad makes them… Oh, I’m so home sick right now… Cheers!
Elizabeth Beaudoin
I was told by my mom that the little pigeons refers to the pigeon’s breast which is smooth and round when you pluck the feathers much like the golobki. Lois, your recipe sounds interesting. Mine is different but then every family must have their own just as with pierogi. Thanks for all your contributions. I think that your Szarlotka recipe is the best that I have made…..so easy and delicious.
Elizabeth from Canada
polishhousewife
Hi Elizabeth, I agree. I think recipes vary a bit from family to family. The first time I made lasagna for my husband he was put off because I used Italian sausage and his mother would have used ground beef. (He’s come around.) Thank you for your kind words. I have to give my dear friend Basia credit for my szarlotka recipe. I asked for suggestions, got several, but I made hers because it was so simple. . . and delicious!
Denise Rajewski Matushek
Would you please share the recipe for szarlotka, I missed it. Thank you
polishhousewife
Hi Denise,
Here’s the szarlotka recipe! Smacznego!
https://polishhousewife.com/szarlotka-polish-apple-pie/
David
Another dish I look forward to trying soon! Have you ever used Savoy cabbage?
polishhousewife
With the pronounced veins? I dont know that I have. I’ve only branched out to red and Napa.
Laurel
Thanks for the recipe. I remember my babcia making this dish. For anyone not Polish gołąbki is pronounced gaw-wump-ki.
polishhousewife
My pleasure, Laurel; smacznego!
lew
took your halupki recipe cuz i had the craving and the institutional memory is gone
love you all
lew williams
polishhousewife
Enjoy, Lew!
Jim Kwasnik
My rice for golabki usually is a grain mixture of 80% rice, 1% wild rice and 19% buckwheat groats. This gives a stronger flavor.
★★★★★
polishhousewife
Thanks for the tip!
Elizabeth Beaudoin
Interesting mixture. I will give it a try. Thank you.
Crash
My nana always called halupki “blind pigeons.” I wonder how the translation went from “little pigeon” to “blind pigeon?”
polishhousewife
It may always be a mystery!
P
I always figured blind pigeons can’t see inside the cabbage,right? 🙂 My grandmother and dad also called them blind pigeons. I never use egg to hold mine together like some people say you have to and neither did my straight out of Poland grandma. I think it’s because I use the beef/pork mix and they never come apart. My grandmother used beef, pork and veal no egg 3 pounds of meat to 1 cup cooked rice, and of course onion so maybe that is the difference. Either way,they are delicious. It’s definitely a meal that says family. 🙂 Enjoy your site!
P
I enjoy your site!
polishhousewife
Thanks, P! So many variations, and yours sounds yummy!
Gary
Awesome recipe, Been looking quite awhile for a recipe that rivals my Aunt Ida’s polish cabbage rolls. Thank you
★★★★★
polishhousewife
Thanks, Gary! I hope Aunt Ida would be pleased ❤️
Monica
We never had them with tomato sauce, but with with gravy. Same recipe inside, but just brown gravy to cook them in.
polishhousewife
Sounds good, Monica!
Marilee
We put salt pork in ours does anyone else do that it makes a big difference…
★★★★★
polishhousewife
In the sauce or inside the rolled cabbage?
Marilee Sheridan
Mixed in with the meat and rice
Marj
I use salt pork as well. The stuffing I make is with rice, gr pork & gr beef. No egg.
Rose Marie
I am delighted to have found your site, Lois! I’ve been researching my Mother’s family from Poznan, Wielkopolski region and am determined to learn as many recipes from this area that I can. My Mother never used bacon with her Golabki, but always used a small bit of sauerkraut with the tomatoes. Not much, but enough to give a small tang to the dish. She learned this from her Mother. But, Golabki recipes vary so much family to family. I have other Polish friends who recoil at the idea of a tomato sauce on their Golabki….they have only ever used a mushroom based sauce. So fascinating….the vast world of Polish food is!
polishhousewife
You’re so right, Rose Marie, so much variety from family to family and region to region! I look forward to sharing our culinary journies!
Dee
I saw your comment about a little bit of sauerkraut in your recipe. The recipe I have from my grandmother calls for a little bit of vinegar in the tomato sauce. I think your recipe and mine are similar because the sauerkraut has a vinegar base. Honestly, I’ve never had “pigs in the blanket” with a brown sauce. Then again, the town I grew up in in PA was predominantly Polish from the same region in Poland.
Mike D
To be accurate, sauerkraut does not have a vinegar base. It consists only of chopped cabbage and salt. It makes its own liquid as it ferments. The sour taste is a product of the fermentation.
Those who like a sour taste in this recipe may also like a little brown sugar or n the sauce – a sweet and sour version, alluded to by other posters.
★★★★★
Mary P
We knew a Polish lady who made a roll with cabbage that had a meat filling but they were thin like cigars and she used a clear, dark, sort of sweet glaze on them – have you heard of this variation? I’ve been trying to find anything that is like this with no luck. I do love this version you do here of cabbage rolls, this is the way my grandma made them. But I’d still like to find a recipe for the ones Betty made as well 🙂
polishhousewife
I haven’t seen the long skinny ones, Mary, but I’ll bet you could use your usual filling and just roll them long and thin. When I googled sweet and sour cabbage rolls, a lot of recipes came up. If you don’t see a glaze that sounds like you remember, it could give you a starting point to modify.
Rose Marie Fury
Mary P. & Lois:
I have never heard of the thin rolled golobki, but the Ashkenazi version of stuffed cabbage tends to have a sweeter sauce. I have seen the addition of brown sugar, finely chopped apples and raisins (all cooked down) in some Ashkenazi recipes. I wonder where your friend was from, and if there was perhaps Ashkenazi influence in her golobki?
Either way, Happy Cooking everyone! ❤
Rose Marie
polishhousewife
Thanks, Rose Marie!
Kimm
I’m thinking the long small rolls could be Greek dolmas?
Kimberley
My great grandmother, Josefa, from Poland passed her recipe to Gram Hattie,.. being immigrants they were very poor and a big pot of golabki went a long way! The difference with our families recipe is we use tomato soup!! Then.. you mash your potatoes and spoon tomato soup sauce over mashed potatoes and cabbage rollls!! Yum!!
Pete
Kimberly, that was my grandmother’s name too. Josefa. Can you tell me what type of tomato soup you use, just regular soup? I am trying to make my mothers recipe, and I know she didn’t use sauce. Thx.
★★★★
Carole Adjemian
I’m not Pete but my family used condensed tomato soup. I can of soup to 3/ can of water. Usually 3 small cans or two family sized cans if you like the sauce.
Jennifer
My Polish mother taught me to freeze the cabbage for a week or so. When it defrosts it’s wilted and there is no need to cook the cabbage. Saves time and tastes the same. I also put a bit of the sauce in the meat mixture to keep it moist.
Glog
Use cambels tomato soup but didn’t add water
Kaye
I am preparing to freeze a batch of blind pigeons. Do I cook them before freezing or freeze uncooked? Thanks for your help.
polishhousewife
I usually freeze them uncooked. If you think of it, pull them out of the freezer the day before and let them thaw in the fridge overnight. Let the pan sit on the counter for half an hour before baking. It may be necessary to increase the baking time to get to an internal temp of 165° F.
John
Can someone answer me this?
I see all these recipes for Polish Cabbage Rolls, and they all call for rice. Isn’t the authentic grain used barely? I didn’t think rice grew in Poland or even the region. If this is so, then how can it be authentic if it uses rice. I know our family never started using rice in the 70’s and later. And why is that?
Mary Ann
My great-grandparents came from Poland. I believe near Warsaw and Galicia. They settled in southwestern Pennsylvania and my great-grandfather was a coal-miner. I recall this recipe being made with ground pork but I could be wrong. Please advise.
polishhousewife
Pork is one of the most common meats in Polish cooking, but recipes sometimes change based on what is available.
Daniel Garbinski
Instead of plain ground pork we use Jimmy Dean’s seasoned pork sausage. The added flavor is unmatched to anyone’s I’ve ever tried. Also, instead of tomato paste we use Heinz ketchup, way more flavor. Cooking in a covered Roaster is also key to tender, melt in your mouth deliciousness! In the old days at the Polish Wedding Receptions at the VFW’s they were always slow cooked in big electric roasters, City Chicken too! Live bands, open bars, and the food never got put away! Those were the days!
michael wenderlich
Am I supposed to eat the bacon/onion mixture by itself? Lol You never mentioned it again after cooking it. Is it sprinkled on top. Before cooking in oven or after so it doesn’t burn ?
polishhousewife
I’ve edited the instructions to make it more clear, Michael. After you cook the bacon and onion, it says to stir in the other ingredients, they’re being added to the bacon.
Tracy
Hi. Says 2-16oz tomato’s, what kind of tomatoes? I see the other is say e.
polishhousewife
I usually used diced tomatoes, but if you get whole and break them up that’s fine. Fire-roasted would be good too.