Bigos

Ingredients

Cabbage and mushrooms

• 1 kgsauerkraut (kapusta kiszona), drained and chopped, juice reserved
• 700 gwhite cabbage, shredded
• 40 gdried wild mushrooms (borowiki or porcini), soaked in 300 ml hot water

Meats

• 400 gpork shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
• 300 gbeef chuck or venison, in 3 cm cubes
• 250 gPolish smoked sausage (kiełbasa wiejska), sliced 1 cm thick
• 150 gsmoked streaky bacon (boczek), diced
• 2 tbsplard or oil

Aromatics

• 2onions, diced
• 12prunes, stoned and halved
• 250 mldry red wine
• 2 tbsptomato purée
• 6juniper berries, crushed
• 3bay leaves
• 8allspice berries
• 1 tspcaraway seed
• 2 tsphoney
• salt and plenty of black pepper

Directions

1. Render the diced bacon in a heavy casserole over medium heat for 6–8 minutes, then brown the pork and beef in the fat in batches until properly crusted. Set the meat aside.
2. Fry the onions in the same fat for 8 minutes until golden, stir in the tomato purée and cook 2 minutes more.
3. Add the fresh cabbage with 200 ml water, cover and sweat 15 minutes until collapsed and sweet.
4. Add the sauerkraut, the mushrooms with their strained soaking liquid, the browned meats, juniper, bay, allspice and caraway.
5. Pour in the wine and enough water to come three-quarters of the way up, and bring to a bare simmer.
6. Cook at the gentlest simmer for 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes so nothing catches, uncovered for the last hour. A 150°C (300°F) oven is safer than the hob if you have the space.
7. In the last 30 minutes add the sliced sausage, the prunes and the honey. Taste: it should be sour, smoky and faintly sweet, deep brown, with almost no free liquid left.
8. Cool completely, refrigerate, and reheat it fully on each of the next two days. The third day is the one Poles wait for. It freezes well.

Technique

• Bigos is deliberately a leftovers dish. Hunting parties threw in whatever game and cured meat they had, and the only proportion that really matters is fresh cabbage to sauerkraut, usually about 1:1.
• The repeated cooling and reheating is not folklore. It breaks the cabbage down further and darkens the whole pot. Cool it quickly and keep it refrigerated between reheats.
• Do not rinse the sauerkraut unless it is fiercely sour; its acid is the backbone. Stir in the reserved juice at the end if the pot has gone flat.
• Dried wild mushrooms are not optional in a good bigos. Their soaking liquid carries most of the forest flavour, so strain it and use every drop.

Substitutions

• No wild mushrooms: 250 g chestnut mushrooms browned hard plus 1 tsp mushroom powder. Milder, but honest.
• No red wine: 200 ml dry cider, or an extra ladle of the sauerkraut juice.
• Prunes can be replaced by a spoonful of powidła (plum butter) stirred in at the end.

Variations

• Bigos myśliwski, the hunter’s version, with game and a shot of vodka stirred in off the heat.
• Bigos staropolski, sweeter, with dried plums, honey and a grated apple.
• A lighter summer bigos made with fresh cabbage only and no dried fruit.

History

Hunter’s stew of sauerkraut, fresh cabbage and mixed meats, praised at length in Adam Mickiewicz’s national epic Pan Tadeusz of 1834.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bigos?

Bigos is a soup & stew from Poland: hunter’s stew of sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, meats, sausage, prunes. Hunter’s stew of sauerkraut, fresh cabbage and mixed meats, praised at length in Adam Mickiewicz’s national epic Pan Tadeusz of 1834.

How long does Bigos take to make?

Bigos takes 40 min of preparation and 3 hr, plus reheating over 2 days of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Bigos?

Yes, within limits. No wild mushrooms: 250 g chestnut mushrooms browned hard plus 1 tsp mushroom powder. Milder, but honest. No red wine: 200 ml dry cider, or an extra ladle of the sauerkraut juice. Prunes can be replaced by a spoonful of powidła (plum butter) stirred in at the end.

What is the most important thing to get right in Bigos?

Bigos is deliberately a leftovers dish. Hunting parties threw in whatever game and cured meat they had, and the only proportion that really matters is fresh cabbage to sauerkraut, usually about 1:1.