Recipe: Gołomki (Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Growing up in a Polish-American family, I learned about my cultural roots through the food - which is a big part of Polish culture. Feeding others is how we express our love for them! 

Polish food can be time consuming to make from scratch, which is why many people have come up with short-cuts to make it easier for weeknight cooking...but in doing so, something is lost, which is why I save my Polish cooking for weekends and special occasions. With the holidays approaching, I thought I would share a family favorite - Gołomki (pronounced "gowomkey" or - in a more casual tongue, "gwumkey"; the crossed "L" has a "w" sound).

Gołomki is made with a combination of beef and pork, with rice holding the mixture together. If you are on a tight budget, you can reduce the amount of meat used and increase the rice without sacrificing flavor - something many of us need to consider in this time of inflation and supply-chain difficulties that is causing our grocery bills to outstrip out budgets. 

When I was growing up, gołomki was a familiar dish at my family dining table - partially because it was economical and partially because it is drool-inducingly delicious! As an adult, I could always count on my mother to make enough to share with me, as a full head of cabbage makes for a lot of delicious little bundles of Polish love! With the passing of my mother this past spring, the family recipe books that have been passed down through the past several generations have been passed to me, and I am now the keeper of my family's food heritage. Having no children of my own, I choose to pass along this recipe to the food lovers of the Internet, and as I say to those who share my Polish roots, Na Zdrowie!

Gołomki (Polish Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

1 pound ground beef

1/2 pound ground pork

2 cups dry rice (NOT instant) & 4 cups water

1/4 cup onion, diced or 1 Tbsp. onion powder

salt and pepper, to taste

1 can tomato sauce

5 slices bacon

1 large head cabbage

 

Directions

To prepare cabbage:

Remove core of cabbage and put cabbage in large pot of water to simmer (45 minutes – 1 hour). Drain water and leave cabbage to cool so it will be easy to handle.

To prepare filling:

Put 4 cups of water in large pot and add rice; bring to a boil and immediately lower heat to simmer rice for 10 minutes. Rice is now half-cooked. Add uncooked ground beef and ground pork to rice and mix well. Add onion (or onion powder), salt and pepper, and other seasonings if desired.

To prepare gołomki:

When cabbage is cool enough to handle, gently pull each leaf off, being careful not to rip the leaves. Fill each cabbage leaf with ground meat and rice mixture, and fold leaf to enclose mixture. Put each complete roll into a large casserole dish, making a single or double layer of cabbage rolls. Tuck any small pieces of cabbage and/or shredded leaves in between the rolls and top the dish with raw bacon; cover the whole dish with tomato sauce.

Bake in 300-degree F oven, uncovered, for 2 hours. Serve hot. Tastes even better the next day!

If you are not a fan of cabbage, take heart! You can prepare the filling as directed and bake it en casserole by putting it directly into a casserole dish and topping it with bacon and tomato sauce. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F and serve with your choice of vegetable on the side...and for the full Polish experience, a nice thick slice of crusty bread!

KJM

11.20.2021