German Cabbage Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 lb ground pork
• 4 ounces nice smoked bacon, diced fine
• 1 tablespoon coarse black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 tablespoon good paprika (optional)
• 1 medium onion, diced fine
• 1-2 head sour cabbage
• 1 garlic clove, at the least, more is at your discretion
• 1 cup dry measure half cooked long-grain rice
• tomato sauce or tomato soup or tomato juice, depends on how tangy you prefer the end product

Directions

1. 1

   Prep - cook the rice until half done. Set aside to cool.

2. 2

   Sour cabbage is just that, sour. Very tangy, soaking the head in cold water will tone down tang. Separating the leaves and soaking the leaves will mellow the taste even more.

3. 3

   Allow all meat come to room temperature. Or at least till the chill is off.

4. 4

   Mince onion, garlic and bacon. Keep these separate and divide the garlic in half.

5. 5

   In a large bowl combine beef, pork and bacon along with the rice, onions, half the garlic and spices as desired.

6. 6

   Gently mix vegetable and spices with meat.

7. 7

   To make rolls take one leaf, Place a dollop of the meat mixture on leaf. Fold bottom of leaf up over meat then fold sides in and roll.

8. 8

   Place rolls in a roaster or dutch oven. Add the tomatoey stuff and enough water to just cover the rolls.

9. 9

   While the rolls can be cooked at 350f for a couple of hours and turn out quite edible, cooking at 250f for 5-6 hours will produce a mellower flavour and more tender cabbage and is recommended.