Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls recipe. This German recipe for delicious cabbage rolls is one of many that has been prepared in our family for many years. I remember well how my grandmother prepared these savoy cabbage rolls since my childhood. Savoy cabbage is super popular here in Germany, especially in autumn and winter, and is the basis of many delicious dishes. In our family recipe, we stuff the large cabbage leaves with ground meat and braise the rolls in the oven. This classic recipe for savoy cabbage rolls is a bit more time-consuming but not difficult at all and above all worth every minute of work. In addition, the stuffed savoy cabbage rolls can be stored in the freezer and served for several more dinners without any effort.
When I do the grocery shopping for savoy cabbage rolls, I always try to get hold of the largest cabbage possible with the outer leaves intact. These cabbage leaves are perfect for stuffed savoy cabbage and provide enough surface area to fill and roll up. You can then use a sharp knife to cut off the stalk and easily peel off the large leaves. I then cut the bottom, thick leaf vein out of the cabbage leaf as well. Before I fill the savoy cabbage leaves with minced meat, I blanch them for a few minutes in boiling water and then cool them again in cold water. Blanching makes them more flexible and prevents them from breaking when you put the minced meat filling in the savoy cabbage leaves afterwards.
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls- German Recipe
For the ground beef filling, I soak a bread bun in a small bowl of water and let it sit for a moment while I peel and dice the onion. Then mix the minced meat with the bread bun, diced onion, egg, mustard, nutmeg, pepper, and salt to make a paste. The savoy cabbage leaves should be patted a little dry with kitchen paper. To fill them, I place two to three savoy cabbage leaves overlapping on a board or on the work surface and fill a portion of the minced meat oblong in the middle.
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Then fold the savoy leaves in on the right, left, and either the top or bottom and then roll them up. To keep
them from falling apart and holding their shape during roasting and braising, wrap them with some kitchen twine. Make sure the twine is cotton because only then is it safe and suitable for cooking.
How to make stuffed Cabbage Rolls
After that, there are two methods of preparing the stuffed savoy cabbage. My grandmother always sautéed the rolls in a roaster and braised them on the stove, but a few years ago I got into the habit of braising the savoy cabbage rolls in the oven. This has the advantage that you don’t have to spend hours cleaning up grease splatters, and you can do other things while the cabbage roulades are braising in the oven. If you decide on this variant, you simply put the filled savoy cabbage rolls into a greased, ovenproof dish and let them cook for 25 to 30 minutes in the oven.
Afterwards, I pour 300 to 500 ml of vegetable broth over the stuffed savoy cabbage rolls and let everything stew together for another 20 minutes. I use the liquid afterwards for the sauce, which I cook quite classically on the stove. The detailed steps of the preparation can be found further down the page. By the way, I do the same with frozen cabbage rolls and the best thing is that you don’t even have to defrost them. The frozen cabbage rolls are placed in a baking dish and baked in the oven for 60 to 70 minutes. After three-quarters of an hour, you can add broth and then simply follow the recipe.
Stuffed Savoy Cabbage Rolls
What I like best along with the stuffed savoy cabbage is homemade mashed potatoes, where the potatoes are just roughly mashed. Here in Germany, this is called ” Stampfkartoffeln” (mashed potatoes) and I love this side dish with a variety of hearty dishes. But you can also serve other lovely side dishes with the delicious savoy cabbage rolls.
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Equipment
- 1 cutting board
- 1 paring knife
- 1 large bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Casserole dish
Ingredients
- 1,5 kg Savoy Cabbage preferably two big cabbage heads
- 750 g minced Meat (beef and pork)
- 2 Eggs
- 1,5 tablesspoon Mustard
- 1,5 dry buns
- 1,5 tsp Salt
- pepper from the mill
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 vegetable onion (2/3 for the minced meat 1 tbsp for the sauce and the rest goes into the
casserole dish)
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- 2 Tablespoons clarified butter
- 4 cherry tomatoes or one small tomato
Bacon Sauce
- 80 g bacon
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp clarified butter
- 2 tbsp chopped vegetable onion
- 500 ml vegetable broth (liquid from the casserole dish)
- cornstarch to bind
Instructions
Cabbage rolls
- In a small bowl of water, soak a dry bread bun. Fill a large pot 2/3 full with water and bring to a boil. Peel the onion and cut into small cubes. Remove the bun from the water and squeeze well so that no more water comes out. Mix minced meat with 2/3 of the onions, the eggs, the soaked bun, mustard and spices in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Remove the large outer leaves of the savoy cabbage from the cabbage head and blanch in boiling water for a few minutes. Then rinse the savoy cabbage leaves under cold water and drain well.
- Cut out the lower stalk from the leaf and place about 3 leaves on top of each other, overlapping. Then fill with a portion (about a handful) of the minced meat.
- Fold the savoy cabbage around the filling like a parcel and roll it up.
- Wrap the roulade with kitchen twine so that it does not open during cooking.
- Preheat the oven to 170 to 180 degrees and grease a baking dish or roaster with clarified butter.
- Place the savoy cabbage rolls in the baking dish and add some of the leftover diced onion and the cherry tomatoes.
- Braise the savoy cabbage rolls at 170 to 180 degrees on the middle rack for about 45 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, add 300 ml of vegetable stock to the rolls.
- Take the cabbage rolls out of the oven and remove the kitchen twine, then place them back in to keep them warm at a low temperature.
Bacon sauce
- Fry the bacon cubes in a little clarified butter and add the tomato paste and the last remaining onion cubes and sauté until it gets a nice brown color.
- Add the roast stock and, if necessary, pour in additional broth and boil everything together once and stir well with a whisk. Season to taste with salt and thicken with a little cornstarch if necessary.
