Recipie Research: Hillbilly Eggrolls

One of the things I miss most about the Norfolk restaurant scene is The Taphouse...a great mix of good food, beer and outdoor patio kickback dining. The greatest thing they ever served on their menu were Hillbilly Eggrolls.

Hillbilly Eggrolls disappeared for a short while from the menu and although we wanted to try and decipher the mystery without using chunky eggroll skins, we didn't have access to good spring roll wrappers...until we moved to Philly.

Hillbilly Eggrolls are your standard eggroll/springroll made with:

1 lb. Cooked Ham
1 can Black-eyed Peas
4oz. Gruyere Cheese
10oz. Cabbage
1pkg. Spring Roll Wrappers

Serve with Texas Pete or Tabasco dipping sauce

(Beware! This yields about 1 1/2 to 2 dozen rolls)


A quick Google search revealed that nobody has a good recipe even more reason to try and figure this one out.


Attempt #1

-Ham & Cheese were sliced into large matchsticks
-Cabbage was wrapped uncooked

You can see roughly the amounts added to a single roll.

Deep-fried in 375-400 degree peanut oil (canola is fine, but peanut gives more flavor) here's the results.

Attempt #1 was decent, but when the cabbage cooked down in the wrap, it left alot of vacant space in the roll...not very satisfying. Plus the cheese didn't' really blend in well.


Attempt #2

Elizabeth had a better idea...cook the cabbage beforehand so that it wouldn't wilt in the wrapper.

Next, we diced some of the ham a little smaller to match the size of the black-eyed peas. Also, we shredded the cheese so that it would fold into the cabbage and flavor it without running out.

The end result was perfect. The rolls came out of the hot oil bath plump withHillbilly goodness...chunks of ham, strong cheese flavor and little punches of beany texture, all dripping with hot sauce.

Now that we've got the third and final member of the Decadent Springroll Trio...Duck Confit & Dried Cherry, Philly Cheesesteak, & Hillbilly....although the Duck confit is a little too upscale...maybe we'll try the Redneck Eggroll...pork BBQ, cabbage and pickles.



C & E