Another cabbage post.....

After reading the comments on my post about braised cabbage below, I realize that cabbage is comfort food for me because it triggers some very pleasant childhood memories. Around holidays, my mom would make a huge roaster of cabbage rolls, done in that old-country rustic Polish way. The meat would be sauteed in salt pork, and I recall getting out of school, which was several blocks away from home, and picking up the distinctive smell of rendering salt pork, and knowing that my mom was preparing cabbage rolls. The meat was always a combination of pork, beef and veal, mixed with a rice. My mom would line the roaster with cabbage before loading in the rolls for roasting. She would also put a strip of back ribs on top to cook with the cabbage rolls. As they roasted, the smell of the cabbage lining the pan carmelizing was intoxicating.