Light and uncomplicated in preparation, subject to every not very advanced housewife, cabbage rolls have long been fond of as an independent and rather tasty dish. You can meet them at the family table or at a banquet, it is customary to treat guests or even the most sophisticated gourmets with this dish.
Stuffed cabbage is an independent and tasty dish.
Cabbage rolls are quite simple in their preparation, it is enough to roll the meat in a meat grinder, mix it with boiled rice, wrap this stuffing in a cabbage leaf, season it all with tomato paste and stew. There is a variety of this dish and it consists in the fact that minced meat can be either meat or vegetable with boiled rice or buckwheat.
The history of cabbage rolls.
The history of the emergence of cabbage rolls is not so simple as with the preparation ... The history says that the first name of this dish was found in the 18th-19th centuries, precisely at the time when Russia was greatly influenced by a very fashionable at that time and setting the tone in many culinary aspects, French cuisine, where grilled pigeons were served, which were also called "pigeons". At the same time, “false” pigeons began to be served, in other words, cabbage leaves filled with minced meat.
Wise cookbooks say that there is another version about the emergence of cabbage rolls and it is associated with halos ... Cut meat into small pieces, mixed with millet and wrapped in cabbage leaves, was served at the court of Peter I and was called galush.
Some experts connect the origin of cabbage rolls with the Greeks and their "cabbage dolma". The first mention of them is found in the work of Aristophanes, which dates from 425 BC.
In the invention of cabbage rolls, the Turks can argue with the Greeks, as many associate the origin of this dish with Turkish sarma, which is a grape leaf stuffed with rice and minced meat. Many culinary specialists, by the way, consider Turkey to be the birthplace of cabbage rolls and claim that, having left the country, the dish has slightly changed and many began to use cabbage instead of grape leaves.
An interesting fact is that in Ukraine cabbage rolls are prepared not only from fresh cabbage leaves. In the cold season, sauerkraut leaves are used in the preparation of this dish, and this, believe me, is no less tasty! In Western Ukraine, it is customary to cook small cabbage rolls by cutting a cabbage leaf into several parts, in the south and east cabbage rolls are made from a whole leaf, large cabbage rolls are considered more juicy.
Nowadays, cabbage rolls are included in the list of traditional dishes of many countries. They occupy a special place in the cuisines of Western Asia, the Caucasus and some countries of Eastern Europe. The only difference in the preparation of this dish is often in the filling. Depending on the geography of the countries, seafood, shiitake mushrooms, pork, boiled potatoes or even jam can get into the filling!
At different times and in different countries people composed their interpretation of this dish, cabbage rolls got a different name, but in no way lost their taste!
Moreover, meat wrapped in leaves could be kept fresh and unharmed for several days, and it is possible that people did so - they stored meat in this way and did not even suspect that they had practically prepared stuffed cabbage.