Irish Eggrolls or Romanian Sarmale
When I think back of my grandma this dish is the first thing that pops into my head because my brother and I always begged for it. Heck to this day we still beg mom to make it and I know more than once we have threatened not to show up at key holidays unless she was making it.
I do not really remember that much about my grandma so I am not going to get all sentimental and poetic about her. What I do remember is her being an amazing cook and baker and always in the kitchen. My mom swears that is where my love of cooking comes from and that the ability skipped a generation. I still think my love of cooking comes from a love of eating good food but being broke so it was either learn to make food or lower my standards.
I wish I could think of some awesome cool things I have been up to lately but between work and yard work it feels that I have zero time to play catch up (well I still have to make sure to feed my video game addiction). Soon winter will be here and I will have to bunker down in the house and suffer from vitamin D deficiency.
I still have been playing around with the camera and wondering does it ever get easier? I swear the little picture window shows great pictures and then I download them, view in Photoshop, and the picture is not perfect but over exposed or under exposed (over exposed here). Some days I have the motivation to push through, plate the dish again, and shoot until I am happy. In this dish yeah motivation not found. One of these years I will have pictures I can proud of.
p.s. Credit to my buddy for naming this dish Irish eggrolls because that is freaking perfect. My grandma and mom call this dish gulstah and it is one of many variations of the Romanian dish sarmale.
For this recipe you will need:
- 1 head of cabbage
- 2 cups of dill
- 1/4 cup of fresh savory
- 2 lbs ground chuck
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 cup rice
- 2 large bags of sauerkraut
- 2 cups of stock
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 onion sliced thinly
- 1 pig’s feet
- Slices of bacon
Steps:
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add one cup of dill, two tablespoons of savory, and one teaspoon of black peppercorns along with the head of cabbage.
- Kill the heat, cover, and let this rest overnight and a couple times add hot water just to keep the water warm.
- The next day combine the 2 lbs of ground chuck, 1 lb of ground pork, and the 1 cup of rice in a large bowl.
- Peel off a cabbage leaf (if they are not peeling easily bring it to a boil for a couple minutes until they are pilable).
- Add in a handful of the meat mixture in the middle. Wrap the cabbage around the meat and set in a large roasting pan.
- Add the pig’s feet, sauerkraut, stock, remaining dill, remaining savory, sliced onions, and whole peeled cloves of garlic along with the cabbage rolls.
- Top with bacon, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for a couple hours at 375 degrees.
- Serve and enjoy!
Um, Jeff? These look freaking awesome! Why didn’t you tell me about these before I went vegan? *kick!*
And your photos look great–what are you talking about?
Beautiful pics, as always, Jeff; and I love the name - “Irish Eggrolls”!
I will definitely try these!
Oh my that is porkalicious heaven!
My grandmother used to make a Lithuanian dish very similar to this!
Irish eggrolls is a great name. There is never enough time, although we always hope one day there will be an extra hour or two.
Great! I have the same problem with exposure, even when I shoot in natural light. *sigh*. I wish someone besides me liked cabbage in my house.
Aren’t family recipes the best? I love the sound of these!
With photoshop have you tried playing with the contrast and brightness?
Yep I like the Irish Egg roll name! This looks terrific!
This is such a great meal. It’s so comfort food.
The Irish eggrolls look yummie! Nice pictures as well
The pictures are great, what are you talking about?
Love the Irish Eggrolls, I have never had anything like that before.
For pics - I just take about 40 and hope a couple are good!
Thanks for stopping by my blog, Jeff! I would never even consider showing up for dinner without a gift! Those eggrolls look good enough for me to travel all the way to Indiana!
Jeff, that picture turned out great!
I think I would like this…. minus the pigs feet!
With that much pork it has to be delicious! There is just something about grandma’s food huh?
These look so good Jeff! I love recipes with a story behind them. And yet I have so few…
I am not looking forward to vitamin D deficiency either. By which I mean I’m not looking forward to not having even a slight tan. My marathon in San Francisco fortified my summer tan a little but even that is fading now…
Personally I think your pictures look awesome but I can empathize with your feelings of inadequacy and despair. I am asking for a better camera for Christmas though, so things can only get better
This is the dish that my husband and son will really love. Looks so delicious Jeff!
Wow. That’s a meal that would really stick to your ribs in the best kind of way.
yeah Jeff these do look awesome man. I’ve had these before and love them. Some little tapas joint in florida somewhere. I battled with the whole photo issue like you and finally bought a lowell ego light, big difference. you need to play around with it, but the light s/b in the front of the food and you need to angle yourself so you are behind the light shooting at the food. basically you need to be in the same position as the light, not from above or below, but straight on in the middle. does that make sense?
That sounds delicious! In my family cooking is in our genes (although my sister didn’t get that particular set, LOL) and I’ve heard stories of my grandma making delicious creations at the restaurant all the time. So many good memories
they look great.
These look terribly good. I would enjoy this meal