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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   4327 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 23, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Cabbage stuffed with ground beef wrapped with bacon, with a "cheese cream" (not cream cheese!), heavy cream, and pickle sauce, for instance.

Yeah, are cabbage rolls somehow unfamiliar to Americans? It's a pretty normal Finnish recipe, I haven't heard of people using cream cheese and pickle sauce in them but sounds like a pretty logical modification tbh.

I'm from Pittsburgh and they're definitely not unfamiliar in areas that have historically had heavy Eastern European immigration; they're occasionally called "Hunky Hand Grenades" and are a staple of weddings, graduations, communions, or any other large gathering. I can understand, though, that someone from the South or West might not be familiar with them since they don't seem to have had the same level of penetration as, say, Italian food, though I'm sure I'd be surprised on that front as well.

But it's hardly only those places that eat cabbage rolls though. Its common in northern and south eastern Europe as well, in addition to Asia and the middle east.

Surely people have at least had steamed cabbage rolls at a Chinese buffet at some point?

Just seeing this now, but some things just don't have the penetration you'd expect. For instance, in Pittsburgh, Italian bread is a grocery staple. I rarely buy anything other than Italian bread, unless it's rye or something. Every grocery store large enough to have a bakery has fresh, unsliced loaves made the same day, even national chains like Wal-Mart (where it's attractively priced at a buck and a half). The deli has the local brands that some people swear by, Cellone's and Mancini's, and even the bread aisle has inferior but still acceptable mass-market versions from Nickles and Schwebel's. Then a couple years ago friends who had moved to North Carolina some years prior were visiting and mentioned how they needed to grab a loaf of Italian bread before they left. Apparently, the stuff is virtually unheard of in the South, even in major metros like Charlotte, and it's not the kind of thing that lends itself to ordering online. Even Schwebel's and Nickles, which I had long assumed were major national brands based on the volume they sell here, are evidently only regional. All kinds of stuff you'd think other people would know about, they just don't know about.

Cabbage rolls are the sort of thing people in the south are familiar with but consider exotic.

I wouldn't say they're unfamiliar, but cabbage rolls are uncommon outside southeaster meat + 3s.

Largely, Americans consider themselves "above" cabbage which is crazy cause it's so cheap.

Not to mention incredibly tasty.

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