cook.
Töltött Káposzta
Pork and rice rolled in soured cabbage leaves, layered with smoked meat and sauerkraut...
Ingredients
600 g minced pork shoulder
100 g rice, rinsed
1 egg
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp caraway seeds, ground
salt and black pepper, to taste
14 leaves soured cabbage leaves
800 g sauerkraut, shredded
400 g smoked pork neck or hock
100 g smoked bacon, diced
2 bay leaves
800 ml water
2 tbsp plain flour
60 g lard
200 ml sour cream
Method
Taste the sauerkraut before you do anything to it. Rinse it in cold water only if it is sharp enough to make you wince - washing it out of habit leaves the whole pot flat, and the sourness is the point of the dish.
Mix the minced pork with the rice, the egg, the onion, the garlic, the paprika, the marjoram, the ground caraway, salt and pepper, and work it together with your hands until it is even.
Keep the rice to the amount given and no more. It goes in raw and swells to three times its size inside the roll - too much and every parcel bursts open in the pot.
Roll a heaped spoon of filling in each cabbage leaf: fold the sides in, roll it up, and tuck the end in with your finger so it cannot unwind.
Render the diced bacon in a wide heavy pot until the fat runs and the pieces are golden.
Build the pot in layers: the smoked pork and half the sauerkraut on the bottom, the rolls sitting on top of it in one or two layers, the rest of the sauerkraut and the bay leaves over them. The rolls must never sit directly on the base or they catch and burn.
Pour in the water until it just covers everything, bring it to a simmer, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 2 hours.
Shake the pot instead of stirring it whenever it needs moving. A spoon breaks the rolls open and the filling ends up in the cabbage.
Lift out the rolls and the smoked meat onto a plate and keep them warm, leaving the cabbage and liquid in the pot.
Make the roux: melt the lard, stir in the flour and cook it to a pale straw colour, then take the pan off the heat before stirring in the remaining paprika - on a hot roux it burns bitter instantly.
Whisk the roux into the cabbage liquid with a ladleful of it first to loosen it, then simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens and loses its floury taste.
Slide the rolls back in, warm them through, and serve with the sliced smoked meat and a spoon of sour cream on each plate. It is better reheated the next day.
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