Cabbage rolls prep

Bring a large pot of water to boil, reduce to slow boil. Remove the core out the cabbage and place in boiling water. As cabbage boils, separate leaves carefully (you should get 12-15 leaves), and remove from water when firmness goes away. Try not to use the real small leaves. Use them to line the bottom of the pot; this prevents scorching.

Mix ground beef with pork, add eggs, onion, paprika and salt and mix well. Mix in 1 pound of rice. Using an ice cream scoop or table spoon; lay out on wax paper 1 ball of mixture for each cabbage leaf. Just the leaf sizes to the meat. Place meat on leaf and roll from back of leaf once, then fold sides over and roll the rest of the way.

Place rolls in pot (seams down) on bed of remaining cabbage, place sauerkraut on top (don’t mix in). Add water to almost cover; bring to boil and reduce heat to a slow boil. Cook for 2 hours, keeping an eye on the water so it doesn’t boil away. You can add water during cooking time. Yield: 12-15

Rue prep

Melt the shortening in a frying pan and stir in flour. On low heat and constantly stirring bring to a light brown color. Once brown, add about 1 cup of cold water – stirring constantly, and pour into the cabbage pot (down the sides). This only needs to heat a few minutes in the pot to thicken the juice. You want to make sure the flour mixture dissolves. That’s it.