I don't know anything about freezing them. I use beef but it's probably good with whatever meat you are used to using in the ones made with cabbage. I blanch them until the stem is slightly pliable before rolling them up. I use the ground beef, rice, and onion stuffing with some dill. I use a basic homemade tomato sauce and sweeten it just slightly with brown sugar (not much) - I don't use anything to make it sour, but you should go with whatever you're used to. I personally like a little dill in my sauce. I also think that it tastes a lot like grape leaves, opposite of what another person stated in the other post.

Around here when someone says "stuffed cabbage" they mean 'golumpki', so I'm not sure what the sweet & sour thing is. I haven't used collards as a substitute for cabbage in golumpki, but I have used Chinese cabbage and it came out great! much easier to deal with than regular cabbage because I could separate the leaves easier for blanching without breaking them. Rolling was a breeze because of the uniform leaf shape. CC taste is more mild than regular cabbage so I think it would be better with other meats (like turkey, etc). I've only eaten collards as "greens", but I imagine it would also be better than regular cabbage to use with other meats. :)

Best tips: trim down any thick ribs before blanching. Then when rolling, start with the filling at the leaf tip end and roll so that the thickest rib end is on the outside of the roll. It helps it cook better that way.

Plllog, I also stuff them with beef, but I think other meats, if seasoned, would stand up to the flavor fine.

I freeze them unsauced, and if I'm going to use them in a couple of months, I don't vacuum pack them, I just put them into zip lock bags. Other containers would be fine too.

I favor a tomato based sauce, but Elery likes a more sweet and sour kind of sauce with a bit of heat, kind of like that sweet and sour oriental style chili sauce that comes in a bottle. Sometimes he adds cheese, depending on his mood.

My sauce is simply a quart jar of tomatoes, some tomato paste, brown sugar and worchestershire sauce to taste. I put it in the blender to make it more homogenous and break up the tomatoes, sometimes. Other times I don't, and I place the rolls on a bed of sauerkraut

I do blanch the leaves and take out the bigger, tougher stems but small tender ones can even be rolled without blanching. Actually, I have even put the leaves in the microwave for a minute or two and softened them enough to roll.

I freeze sheet trays full of them, then package in individual bags so I can just remove enough for supper, stick them in the crockpot, add sauce and cook them all day, or put them in the refrigerator so they'll be thawed for cooking by supper time.

Annie

Plllog, I'm glad you asked the question. For me, stuffed vegetables of any kind (cabbage leaves, grape leaves, peppers, eggplants, etc.) means a stuffing of beef, rice, a very light tomato presence, seasoned with dill & oregano. Sometimes mint. Plain broth is used for cooking, most of the time with lemon juice added. So there's no real sauce except for avgolemeno with the stuffed leaves from the cooking broth.

I think I'll give it a try.

Plllog, tomorrow is make cabbage roll day here. The filling is a mix of beef and pork with onion, rice and other seasonings. The cabbage head will be blanched to loose the leaves and those too small to roll will be cut and added to the sauce.

The sauce is sweet/sour...tomato sauce with brown sugar and apple cider vinegar, cinnamin, nutmeg and horseradish. With any luck, I will get 14 rolls that will carry us to next fall. I do freeze them in dinner sized portions with the sauce for a heat and eat meal with mashed potatoes. Rice or egg noodles work too.

I guess the kind I'm most familiar with are the Central European / Jewish ones. I've had Polish, Lithuanian, Jewish deli, German, and several others that all seemed to be variations on a theme, plus a few others that were really different. It seems like we have more variations here which don't have sugar and vinegar! And then there's my fridge who makes the meat as meat balls and cuts up the cabbage and cooks it in the sauce. She got tired of watching her kids unroll them and eat the cabbage separately, so this saves her a lot of time. :) It does taste the same. :)

Thanks so much to all of you for the comments, suggestions and instructions. With a regular cabbage, I just do the standard core and blanch, and have been lucky enough not to have any real issues separating the leaves. I'm intrigued by the notion of using Napa cabbage (Chinese), which I think would be very pretty and potentially easier to cut than standard cabbage.

I'll pick up some collards and do a test to see if I think the guests will like them.

My mind keeps going to turkey with herbs. I don't know why. I keep seeing it even though I've always made beef. I think my mother must have made turkey at least once. Maybe thyme?

I'm grateful for all the freezing suggestions--especially because it sounds like they'll freeze well and with some forgiveness. I'm going to do it!

Honestly, I would have to say that unless you grow your own collards or have access to very young collards at a greenmarket or farm stand, most collards have a very strong flavor that you would need to take into account. There's a reason that the traditional method of preparation was to boil them for hours with ham hocks.

The older they are when picked, the stronger they get.

I would use meatloaf mix or maybe add some lamb to stand up to the collards. If you want to try something else different, use savoy cabbage.

They freeze beautifully, btw.

Yeah, bumblebeez, I grow Green Glaze collards, which are an old heirloom variety that isn't easy to find. They are greener with less of the heavy white ribbing and very tasty when picked small, but the big coarse collards I mostly only eat voluntarily on New Year's Day, with hoppin' john.

Oooh! The only Hoppin' John I know is a fella in a song! Do tell!

Savoy is another interesting idea, Mimipadv.

Oh, you have to eat hoppin' john on New Year's, for luck. Here's some history on it. Always served with collards and usually with corn bread, of course:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/southern-hoppin-john-new-years-tradition.html

ETA I believe that more properly it's hopping john, but the G has disappeared completely as far as the internet is concerned.

Incidentally, if you want to try the Carolina Gold Rice, the price is less than half if you order it directly rather than through amazon:

http://www.carolinaplantationrice.com/store/products/Carolina-Plantation-Gold-Rice.html

I used to use Konriko wild pecan rice, but that's gotten outrageously expensive these days. I mostly use whatever kind of black-eyed peas I have on hand, but the article is very right about how impossible it is to stop cooking them at just the right moment.

I planted a variety called "Georgia Southern". They have grown quite large, as I planted them in May and they are still in the garden, I was always told not to pick them until after a frost or two, they would be sweeter. Truthfully, I can't tell the difference, but they are definitely neither young or small

I've not had grocery store collards, so I don't know how strong they would be, but mine are definitely not strong, as greens go. However, they are not as tender as some others, like spinach or chard, and that is why I thought they got cooked for such a long time. I like them for canning, as they do not break down in the canner and go to mush like spinach can.

I did find a picture:

I blanch them for about 30 seconds, then they are plenty pliable to roll.

Hoppin' John? I'm not crazy about black eyed peas, but we still eat it on New Year's Day. Peas and greens. The peas are for good luck, the greens for money, Elery tells me...

Annie

My cabbage rolls come from a college friend's Hungarian mother.. Jewish....no pork!
Lots of garlic,ground beef, rice, onions, cabbage leaves, shredded carrots, more onion shredded the rest of the cabbage, canned tomatoes, brown sugar, juice of a lemon and topped with ketchup.
And I read, but haven't tried it, that the best way to soften a head of cabbage so you can separate the leaves is to freeze it....and then thaw it

That's very cool, Writersblock! I'm quite indifferent to rice, in general. Anything from Chinese take out to arroz con pollo, after the first glimpse of the must have rice, I'm happy to just eat the meat and veggies. There was this one rice that I bought randomly at the store and then seems to have been discontinued, which was field ripened. What a difference!

For New Year's, I'm more in the buñuelos camp, but I really enjoyed reading the article and learning about Hoppin' John. I don't believe any of the derivations. If it's a sounds like, it had better sound more like. I wouldn't be surprised if the true story was that it's named after a guy.

Thank-you so much for the introduction! And I'm thinking I'm going to have to try that cauldron method for cooking beans and rice, though mine would be about the chilis and onions rather than bacon. :)

Annie, thanks for the picture and the more information. We don't have frost, but I learned from the green grocer that the best artichokes are the ugly frostbitten ones. They have more intense artichoky flavor.

You're welcome, plllog.

I don't believe any of the derivations. If it's a sounds like, it had better sound more like.

I agree.

It was suggested that I ask my question here instead of in my new post:

I've got collards in the garden and want to try making rolls for the freezer. Just need a few more details.

So, can you share your basic recipes, especially for the filling--rice cooked vs raw; beef/portk raw I assume, egg? (prefer not), etc. and any tips.

And if you have some really good sauce recipes, esp. sweet/sour I'd love those too.

Cooked rice- YES!

Meat- ground meat of your choice. Raw.

Other- sauteed minced onion, garlic, bell peppers, celery all add wonderful flavor.

Spices- totally up to you!

Egg- I never use

Tips- Cook your rolls low and slow for about 1 1/2 hour-2 hours. The sauce depends on what direction your taking your stuffing. My typical sauce involves tomato puree, brown sugar and cider vinegar. I like it tangy with a little sweetness for balance.

Here's the recipe I use:

Cabbage Rolls from

Sara Rosen

Separate cabbage leaves by putting head of cabbage in a
large pot of boiling water and letting it sit for 20 minutes or so.

Separate out individual leaves and fill with the following:

Mix together....

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 egg

1/2 cup beef broth.

1/4 cup uncooked long grain rice.

2 or 3 cloves fresh
garlic, crushed

Pepper to taste

Mix together and place about 1 1/2 Tablespoons full in each
cabbage leaf, roll up and fasten with a tooth pick.

Meanwhile....shred the rest of the cabbage, an onion, a
couple stalks of celery finely sliced and a carrot chopped fine, and a 1 pound
12 0oz can of whole tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes.

Place cabbage rolls in a Dutch oven alternatly with a
mixture of the veggies in layers.

Add water to almost cover the cabbage rolls and between 1/2
and 3/4 cups brown sugar, juice of a lemon and a crushed clove of garlic.

Cover the rolls and sauce with a couple of whole cabbage
leaves and top with a drizzle of catsup over all.

And bake in a 250 degree oven for 4 hours......check often
to see that it doesn't cook dry.

I always cook my rice first, because my very lean homegrown ground beef just doesn't have enough fat/moisture to property cook the rice, and I don't want it hard and crunchy in there. Here's my favorite recipe:

Stuffed cabbage rolls

• Filling
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup cooked rice
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup milk
• Sauce
• 1 cans (8 ounces ) tomato sauce
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 tbls Worchestershire sauce

Mix all the filling ingredients, stuff the cabbage rolls, mix all the sauce ingredients and pour over top. Bake at 350F for about an hour, or put them in the crockpot all day on low. I usually put a bed of sauerkraut under them.

Elery just made a batch with burrito filling (no beans), and used enchilada sauce for baking and salsa and sour cream when serving.

And there's this, which I haven't tried yet:

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Bacon and Cheese

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 teaspoon ground sage
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 2/3 cup fine dry bread crumbs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup beef broth
• 6 strips bacon

Mix beef, onion, sage, cheese, bread crumbs, milk and salt. Roll up into cabbage leaves, pour beef broth over rolls and top with bacon strips. Bake at 350F for 50-60 minutes.

Sweet and sour? Yup, got that too, from America's Test Kitchen!

Sweet and Sour cabbage Rolls

1 head green cabbage, cored

1/4 cup long-grain white rice

2 onions, grated on the large holes of a box grater

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

pepper

1 (14 1/2 ounce) cans diced tomatoes

1 (28 ounce) cans tomato puree

2 cups water

6 tablespoons light brown sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 onion, peeled

8 whole cloves

12 small gingersnaps, pounded into course crumbs

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to boil in large dutch oven over high heat. Add cored cabbage and cook until outer leaves just begin to wilt, about 3 minutes. Use tongs to gently remove leaves (outer 20) one by one and transfer to a colander to cool. Remove any remaining head of cabbage and let cool. Do not discard water.
2. Return water to boil over high heat. Add rice and cook until tender, about 13 minutes. Drain the rice through a strainer, rinse it to cool, and let drain thoroughly. In a medium bowl, combine cooked rice, onion, beef, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
3. Trim tough ribs from cabbage leaves and tightly roll 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture into each leaf. Shred the remaining blanched cabbage both the head and any remaining leaves.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Scatter half the shredded cabbage leaves in a large dutch oven. Arrange rolls seam side down snugly on top of the shredded cabbage. Sprinkle any remaining shredded cabbage on top of rolls.
2. Combine diced tomatoes w/ juice, tomato puree, water (I use water left over from rice) 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pour liquid over cabbage. Stud peeled onion with cloves and submerge in liquid. Bring mixture to boil, then reduce to simmer, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Discard clove studded onion. Sprinkle crushed cookies and raisins (if using) into the pot and shake to incorporate them without disturbing rolls. Simmer uncovered until sauce begins to thicken, about 1 hour.
4. If you desire more liquid, add 1 cup of beef broth.
5. Transfer rolls to serving dish and add remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar to sauce and season with salt pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over rolls and top with sour cream and chopped parsley if desired.

I like them all!

Annie

Thanks, everyone!

I have always done the freezing method instead of blanching to soften the leaves. Works like a charm!

Annie, a question about your favorite stuffed cabbage roll recipe. I've been feeling really lazy lately. And I know there are plenty of unstuffed cabbage roll casserole recipes out there. Your recipe sounds good. Do you think it would work using chopped cabbage instead of rolling the individual leaves? I was thinking of layering it like lasagna. Maybe omitting the egg. What do you think?

I like the sweet & sour aspect of it, but I don't think I could make the stuffed rolls that way. It just goes against my upbringing. You know -- Greek style with dill, oregano, and avgolemeno sauce. But a casserole would be a totally different dish. Now, that could be sweet & sour. Get my twisted logic?

Yes, of course I get your logic, it makes perfect sense to me. You can't mess up an old favorite, but you could experiment with a new recipe. Yeah, that's it.....

I think it would come out fine as a casserole, I just made a cabbage roll casserole with the shredded cabbage in lieu of "rolls". I really like it as well, maybe better, because I can get a higher ratio of "sauce" to "roll"...

Annie

OK, good. Now all I have to do is remember to buy some cabbage. Thanks!