Seven fishes. Latkes. Stollen. Black eyed peas. Holiday foods bring to mind hand-written recipes, passed down through generations, that keep family traditions alive. My family, however, wasn’t big on tradition, giving me the freedom to discover my own. 

Inspiration came when I was invited to Christmas Eve dinner at the home of a friend’s parents in Queens. Elsa and Bundy were, respectively, Jewish and Roman Catholic. But both were first and foremost Hungarian, which set their cultural—and even spiritual—priorities around good food, good drink, and good friends. 

That chilly Christmas Eve, a few of us took the 7 train out to Forest Hills and walked a few blocks to Elsa and Bundy’s second floor apartment where, even on the stairs leading up, a pleasantly savory aroma captured my interest. While Elsa fussed in the kitchen, Bundy, who had the craggy good looks of an aging matinee idol, served his signature martinis in the living room, while we munched on smoked cheese and liverwurst spreads on toast. 

When the time was right, we were led into the kitchen where a Formica table was set with assorted china and glassware under a glaring fluorescent light. By the stove, Elsa—cheeks rouged, lips a slash of crimson, shoe-polish black hair pinned back in a twist-— was ladling cabbage and ochre-colored broth into bowls that Bundy delivered to each of us. After a round of toasts, we were encouraged to dig in. 

Christmas Cabbage was nothing short of a revelation. At once simple and remarkably sophisticated, its balanced complexity comes from a combination of fresh and fermented cabbage (sauerkraut), and fresh and smoked meats. The cabbage leaves, filled with a ground beef and pork mixture liberally seasoned with paprika, cook nestled in a moist bed of sauerkraut and smoky ribs. Sweet, sour, savory, salty, acidic, smoky, Christmas Cabbage delivers nearly the entire dynamic range of gustation. 

I was lucky enough to enjoy Elsa and Bundy’s holiday dinners a number of times, until time and age took their inevitable toll. Some years later, while planning the menu for my own holiday celebration for friends, I found myself recalling Elsa’s Christmas Cabbage—wondering if I could make it myself. 

Online I found a number of recipes that looked authentic. Yes, rolling the leaves took time and got a bit messy. But as the rolls cooked, that savory, smoky aroma brought back pleasant memories.  

The evening of the party, guests arrived to find big pots of cabbage rolls simmering on the stove, with bowls, spoons, and sour cream for the taking nearby. As they helped themselves, lifting spoons to lips, I watched their faces closely. None had ever heard of—much less tasted— Hungarian cabbage rolls before. When their first reactions reminded me of my own, I knew that I’d found my holiday tradition. 

Christmas Cabbage isn’t elegant. But for an informal winter open house, it’s hearty and satisfying, delicious and appealing. To complement the cabbage, I lay a table with my own potato salad and smoked ham, hearty rye bread, assorted mustards and horseradish, a few links of kabanos (a long, thin, dry smoked Polish sausage), pickled mushrooms, and poppy seed cake—all from the J Baczynsky East Village Meat Market on Second Avenue. And I can count on friends to complete the feast with their own brilliant sides and desserts.

If the dish sounds good, but you can’t see yourself rolling individual leaves, layered cabbage, which you can also find online, piles the same ingredients into a casserole—to nearly the same effect. 

Stuffed Cabbage, Hungarian style

(can be doubled or tripled)

1/4 cup uncooked rice

1 pound ground pork

3/4 lb. ground beef 

3 garlic cloves, mashed

1 large or 2 medium sized onions, finely chopped

1 egg

1 Tbsp. Diamond Crystal kosher salt

1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground 

3+ Tbsp. sweet Hungarian paprika 

1-2 heads of fresh cabbage (depends on size 

2 lbs. sauerkraut 

2 cups quality tomato juice, like Sacramento

1/2 lb. smoked pork butt, sliced

1/2 lb. tiny smoked riblets, if you can find them

3 Tbsp. lard or rendered pork fat

3 Tbsp. flour

Lots of sour cream (for serving)

Instructions:

1. Cook rice in 1/2 cup water for 10 minutes and drain.
2. Mix the ground pork and beef with the egg, garlic, drained rice, half the chopped onion, salt, pepper, and 2 Tablespoons of the paprika. 
3. Core the cabbage with a knife. Fill a soup pot with enough water to completely immerse the head of cabbage. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 10-15 minutes.* Place the cabbage on a large wooden cutting board (preferably with wells at the side to catch liquid) and let it cool.   
4. Meanwhile, place sauerkraut, tomato juice and sliced smoked pork butt and (optional) smoked ribs in a heavy casserole. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes and turn off the heat. 
5. When the cabbage is cool enough to handle, separate the leaves. Working one leaf at a time, curved side down with the stem end closest to you, spoon a Tablespoon of filling into the center. (If the leaves are thick, use a paring knife to remove heavy veins at the stem end. 
6. Fold once from the bottom up, then bring in the sides. Continue rolling until you’ve formed a roll. Don’t make them too tight because the stuffing expands a bit in cooking. And don’t worry about perfection.  
7. Depending on what runs out first, form tiny meatballs of remaining meat mixture. Shred remaining cabbage, as center leaves are too small to roll. 
8. Bring the sauerkraut mixture on the stove back to a simmer. Using a wooden spoon, nestle the rolls inside it. Add a cup of water. Add meatballs, if any, and shredded cabbage and cook, covered, over low heat for about one hour. Keep the can of tomato juice next to the stove. Check on the amount of liquid every now and then. The sauerkraut should be moist, but not soupy, in an ochre-colored broth.
9. After one hour of cooking, make a roux of hot lard, flour and the remaining chopped onion. Cook for about 10 minutes until the mixture is golden, but don’t let it brown or burn. Off heat, add another tablespoon paprika and whip the mixture with a cup of water. (Don’t skip this step! Pork fat is good fat.)
10. As gently as possible, transfer the cabbage rolls from the casserole into a large bowl. Pour a ladleful of broth into the roux and whip it up. Return the roux to the casserole and stir well. Bring the pot back to a simmer. 
11. Gently place the cabbage rolls back in the pot. Cover the pot and cook on the stove another 15 minutes or in a 325 oven. The dish is done. For your party, you can keep the pots stovetop over a very low flame. 
    
    Serve with sour cream. 

Top photo: Shutterstock