Submitted by Parsley_Just t3_11duutg in pittsburgh
Comments
haista_napa t1_jaazwz9 wrote
Very legible! Ty so much! I think the Swedish one with the onion looks most 'right'. I will advise how they (the cabbage rolls) turn out (might be a bit - I want to make with my sister and am not sure when we can get together for half a day). It is so rare to see a cabbage roll recipe that doesn't call for tomatoes or tomato soup!
Parsley_Just OP t1_jab0o52 wrote
Thank you so much - please do update me when you get the chance! :)
By the way - there's a wonderful trick to prepping cabbage leaves in this post (Widow Clinton's Cabbage Rolls, image 12) that might save you some time in the kitchen and on your feet. She has a process to prepare the cabbage by soaking, freezing, and thawing the whole head, to replace the par-boiling process. I've tried it and was very impressed, it works great!
Another time-saver you could use, which my mother did to add minced onion into her meatloaf, is to run your onion through the large holes of a cheese grater. It will put out A LOT of onion "tear gas" lol, but nothing gets the onion more fine and uniform more quickly! :)
haista_napa t1_jab2vcl wrote
Oh my! This sounds like one of those "I was today years old" things! My hot cabbage head wrangling days will soon be a distant memory. 😃 Ty lovely person for taking the time to show this!!
Parsley_Just OP t1_jab3b15 wrote
You’re very welcome! This is my favorite part of collecting these old books - collecting the little bits of wisdom tucked inside and getting to share them 🥰
rogimonster t1_jaccq5z wrote
You don’t have to soak them. Just put the whole head in the freezer. Trust me. I’m a professional.
Parsley_Just OP t1_jacj8wi wrote
Oh that’s good to know! When I tried it without soaking, I found that the larger leaves were still a little tough. But that might have just been due to them being the outer leaves and being tougher anyway :)
happyjazzycook t1_jacap9o wrote
My Mom's cabbage rolls are my favorite, she uses the same recipe (in her head...) that she makes for meatballs, and the sauce isn't a heavy tomato sauce but a "light" tomato sauce and spices mixed with sauerkraut. I could never duplicate it, and always swore that I didn't ;ike sauerkraut, until she told me her secret ingredient! 😂
wasabiplz t1_jab26sq wrote
These recipes are very similar to the ones my mom made! She was one of 13 children who all married into different ethnicities. My childhood was particularly blessed with a diversity of food to eat!
Parsley_Just OP t1_jabeyj5 wrote
That sounds like a very yummy way to grow up! It makes me curious what y’all’s Thanksgiving looked like - was it “traditional”, or did all that ethnic food culture come into play? 😄
Parsley_Just OP t1_jaaxw8q wrote
Sorry about the dirty phone camera lens lol. At least it's legible!
u/haista_napa kindly requested the Norwegian and the Swedish meatball recipes from this fascinating little book, put together by the University of Pittsburgh International Women's Club. Of course, when I open the book and find two solid pages of meatball recipes, I'm not going to leave a single one out! I hope one of these is the childhood recipe you're looking for, friend <3 either way, please let us know how they turn out!