Last year I showed you one of my non traditional dishes for the New Year. I threw together a mean slow cooked black eyed pea and ham dish.

Black Eyed Peas with Ham Hocks

This year I followed family tradition and made cabbage rolls smothered in sauerkraut. (My Grandmother would have been proud!)

I would love to give you a recipe for this dish, but the technique has been passed down from generation to generation in my family. It’s more of a technique than a recipe.

I start with a large head of cabbage. I cut the core out and boil it on the stove until I can start peeling the individual leaves off. If I’ve learned anything from my family of cooks; it is to season every layer of a dish. I started with the cabbage water by adding a generous amount of Bells Seasoning. If you haven’t ever used Bells, I highly suggest finding yourself a box. Amazing stuff!

As the cabbage cooks, I remove the leaves as the soften and set them aside to drain and cool. The leaves at the core of the cabbage are much too small to use for stuffing. I hate to waste anything so I take the left over cabbage and dice it up and throw it in with my sauerkraut.

After the cabbage is cooked I get my stuffing and meats ready. For the stuffing I use freshly ground pork and beef. For the casserole there is pork country ribs and fresh handmade sausages. (See…I missed a string in the photo to the left)

To make the stuffing I combine the ground meats with a half cup of uncooked rice, one whole egg, sautéed onions and my house seasoning, Cavenders. I stuff and roll the cabbage rolls and begin the process of putting together the casserole.

To start the casserole throw in a thin layer of sauerkraut into the bottom of the pan. Then you can start layering your meats and cabbage rolls. I season each layer as I go. Just a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. When you get to the top layer, add your rinsed and drained sauerkraut. One day I will learn to crock my own sauerkraut, but until then I use bagged sauerkraut. Please don’t insult your good cooking by using the canned variety. It sucks! After you have the sauerkraut on top, pour on a cup of vegetable or chicken broth then sprinkle it liberally with brown sugar, fresh dill, house seasoning and fresh garlic cloves. Cover the casserole with a heavy lid and cook at 275 degrees for several hours. Normally I let them slow cook for 4 to 5 hours. This dish is perfect for the crock pot. Unfortunately all of my crock pots (4 of them) have been claimed by my soap making studio. They are fantastic for making hot process soaps!

I really wish that I had a photo of the finished dish to show you. As soon as the cabbage rolls came out of the oven I went to get my camera. When I got back to the kitchen the cabbage rolls were being devoured by the hungry folks waiting for dinner. Here’s a photo of right before they go in the oven. Still beautiful, aren’t they?