The recipe I remember growing up was basically a Slovenian recipe, probably with Croatian and Slovak influences. Something like this (note: you may substitute lard, butter or another oil for bacon fat):
1 large head cabbage, about 4 pounds
1 finely chopped medium onion
1 tablespoon bacon fat
1½ pounds lean ground pork
¾ pound ground chuck
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (or to taste) pepper
2 teaspoons (or to taste) salt
1 cup raw rice
1 cup tomato juice
Prep cabbage: Remove core from cabbage. Place in a large pot of boiling salted water. Cover and cook 3 minutes, or until softened enough to pull off individual leaves. You will need about 18–24 leaves. Reserve some of the water from the boil. When leaves are cool enough to handle, use a paring knife to remove thick center stem from each leaf without completely cutting the leaf. Chop the remaining cabbage and place it in the bottom of a large greased casserole dish or Dutch oven. Saute onion in bacon fat until tender and let cool.
Filling: Combine uncooked ground pork and beef, cooked onion, egg, pepper, salt and uncooked rice, and mix well. Don’t over mix or the meat will become tough.
Rolls: Place about ½ cup of filling on each cabbage leaf. Roll away from you to encase the meat. Flip the right side of the leaf to the middle, then flip the left side. You will have something that looks like an small burrito. Once again, roll away from you to create a neat little roll.
Remove about 1 cup of the chopped cabbage mixture and set aside. Place cabbage rolls on top of the cabbage in layers in the casserole dish or Dutch oven. Placed reserved chopped cabbage on top, followed by tomato juice and about 2 cups of water reserved from boiling cabbage.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to very low, cover and simmer on the stovetop for 3 to 4 hours, making sure the rolls do not burn. We usually had it with mashed potatoes.