Friday, January 02, 2009

GOULOSTER

This is one of our Christmas traditions. My Great grandmother and grandmother used to make this. There was no recipe, grandma would mix the ingredients and take a piece and cook it in a skillet and then taste it, adjusting as she went. So one Thanksgiving my aunt grabbed ingredients from grandma, I measured, and my sister wrote down the amounts
GOULOSTER

4-5 lbs ground pork
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 teaspoons garlic salt
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 large head cabbage
1 16 oz pkg sauerkraut

Combine pork, rice, seasonings, & onion. Form into large balls (~3/4 cup). Wilt cabbage and wrap each ball in a cabbage leaf (optional). Alternate layers of cabbage, sauerkraut, and pork balls. Add sauerkraut juice and 2 cups water. Cover, simmer until cabbage is tender and pork is cooked through, about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

About wrapping the pork balls, I only do this for very special occasions, almost never, I just cut the cabbage about 1/4 inch thick.

We made a double batch, but there was only room for just over half of it in our stock pot .... Bet you can guess! The rest just fit in my Fagor 6qt. pressure cooker - 45 minutes at 15psi, natural release, both batches were great, if you like this sort of thing - some do or some DON'T.