Shines' Palace

Sometimes it’s crazy to me how the things I dreaded eating as a child, I have come to crave as an adult.  Enter the Cabbage Burger.  My mom has been making these for as long as I can remember and I used to really not be a fan (thank goodness my taste buds also matured with age).  There is even a fast food chain named Runza where you can go and eat one of these delectable concoctions (but I strongly suggest you make your own at home!!).  Every recipe is just a little different (my mom uses Hot Roll Mix, which I prefer to make any type of dough from scratch) so on my search it just so happened the very first recipe I found was the restaurant version, so I thought I would give it a try.

I will preface this by saying I have never eaten one of Runza’s cabbage burgers.  I’ve bought them for my grandmother who swears by them (even my Aunt and gets a dozen frozen bake-at-home), but they just don’t look all that appealing to me.  Kind of like meatloaf, I only eat it at home.  Runza makes a hell of a cheeseburger, though.  I will eat those all day.  And maybe after using this recipe, I need to have a change of heart because they are excellent.  As always I made a few changes; I altered some of the measurements and added jalapenos and cheese into some of them (stolen from a loaf version of this that my mom also makes in which she smothers with a creamy mushroom cheese sauce).

Cabbage Burgers – (makes 8 pockets)

Dough:

2 ½ cups flour

½ cup sugar

3/8 cup milk

¼ cup shortening

½ teaspoons salt

2 ¼ teaspoons dry yeast

¼ cup water

1 egg

Filling:

2 pounds ground beef

2 cups chopped cabbage

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons jalapenos, chopped, optional

Cheese, optional (I added smoked gouda, but you can use any)

Directions:

Dough- in a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ¾ cups of the flour, sugar, salt and yeast; set aside.  Place water, milk and shortening into a small sauce pan fitted with a candy thermometer.  Heat until temperature reaches 130 degrees and shortening is melted.  Let cool to 120 degrees and add to flour mixture.  Add in egg and whisk until combined.  Add in rest of flour and stir until most of flour is taken up.

Turn contents of bowl out onto a lightly floured counter top and knead for 3 minutes.  Place back into bowl and cover with a kitchen towel and let rest on the counter for 20 minutes.

Filling- Combine hamburger, salt, pepper and onions into a large sauté pan and brown, 7-9 minutes.  Add garlic and let cook until fragrant, 1 minute.  Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of fat.  Add in cabbage and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in jalapenos, if using.

Cut dough ball in half and roll out into a 12”X12” (roughly) square.  Cut into 4 6X6 inch squares.  Place a scant ½ cup of hamburger mixture in the middle of each square.  Add cheese, if using.  Fold up corners into the middle, package like, pinching where the dough touches to seal in the mixture.  Place onto a baking sheet and brush on an egg wash (we also spruced a couple of these up using poppy seeds.  You could also use sesame seeds if you wish).  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.