Recipe: Cabbage rolls

One our more popular dishes not on banquets but for take home.(yes we make up things for you to take home occasionally) is Cabbage Rolls. Why am I always making these for people? My guess is that everyone thinks it's lots of work and the ones we make are a little unusual and quit good. They developed from a Dine Alberta menu we made a few years back. The original used local bison instead of beef and had barley in them. Here is what they became. We make them all the time and you can order them from me. I line up a few customers then make several hundred at a time. Or you can make them yourself.


Frozen cabbage defrosted ( freeze it for a couple of days then let it thaw and you don't have to steam it)

Ground beef and ground pork 1/2 and 1/2
Fried bacon and onions (lots of onion)
Par cooked pearl barley (about equal to the amount of beef you use)
Seasoning salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chicken base (for you that don't have it around in buckets use knor soup base)

Combine all meat, onion, barley and seasoning and yes add the fat from cooking the bacon. Mix well then roll in separated cabbage leaves. place in baking dish. (you want to have enough room in your dish to hold the sauce and it will not boil all over your oven)

The sauce for this is simple - one can of diced tomato, one can of tomato sauce, sliced onion and lots of seasoning particularly pepper. Top the rolls with onion then pour the tomatoes and sauce over the top season well and then cover with plastic wrap (yes plastic wrap in the oven , it keeps the tomatoes from dissolving the foil) and foil back at 325 for several hours. How long depends on how big your pan is. My inserts take anywhere up to 6 hours but the average for a domestic pan would be about 3