Bigos Recipes

BIGOS (POLISH HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Place sauerkraut in a large pan or casserole dish and pour in 4 cups of boiling water. Add prunes, allspice, and bay leaves. Simmer until Sauerkraut is soft, about 50 minutes.
• Pour about 1 cup of boiling water over mushrooms and soak to rehydrate, about 30 minutes. Drain and chop mushrooms, reserving the liquid.
• Heat oil in a frying pan over medium to high heat. Add onion and sausage. Saute while stirring until onion is soft and sausage is browned, about 5 minutes.
• In a separate pan, bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Add beef, pork, and bacon. Simmer until cooked through for 20 minutes, then drain.
• When sauerkraut is soft, add the drained meat mixture, sausage-onion mixture, and soaked mushrooms; mix well. Simmer uncovered over low heat, about 20 minutes.
• Pour in red wine and cook for 15 minutes until flavors are well blended. Season with caraway seeds, marjoram, salt, and pepper. Stir in tomato puree. If the stew is too dry, pour in some of the water reserved from soaking the mushrooms, and simmer so flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

BIGOS (HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and kielbasa; cook and stir until the bacon has rendered its fat and sausage is lightly browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and transfer to a large casserole or Dutch oven.
• Coat the cubes of pork lightly with flour and fry them in the bacon drippings over medium-high heat until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to the casserole. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, fresh mushrooms, cabbage and sauerkraut. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir until the carrots are soft, about 10 minutes. Do not let the vegetables brown.
• Deglaze the pan by pouring in the red wine and stirring to loosen all of the bits of food and flour that are stuck to the bottom. Season with the bay leaf, basil, marjoram, paprika, salt, pepper, caraway seeds and cayenne pepper; cook for 1 minute.
• Mix in the dried mushrooms, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, tomato paste and tomatoes. Heat through just until boiling. Pour the vegetables and all of the liquid into the casserole dish with the meat. Cover with a lid.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until meat is very tender.

BIGOS

Steps:

• Pat the beef very dry with paper towel. Season it with salt and pepper. Over medium-high heat, slick a large, heavy pot with oil. When the oil shimmers, sear the beef in one layer until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove to a large bowl. Pour off the fat from the pot, add 1/4 cup water and stir to dissolve the browned bits. Pour these juices into the seared meat. Rinse and wipe out the pot, and repeat this process with the pork shoulder.
• Place the clean pot over medium heat with a slick of oil. While it heats, add the kielbasa in 1 layer. Brown it until deep golden, about 2 minutes per side. Remove the kielbasa to the seared-meat bowl, but keep the fat in the pot.
• Add the garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, then add the caraway seed and allspice, and stir for 20 seconds or until very fragrant. Add the onion and a few pinches of salt. Stir to pick up any browned bits; if the bottom of the pot looks dry, add a few splashes of water. Cook the onions, stirring frequently, until soft, about 10 minutes.
• Add the carrots, tomatoes, seared meat and juices, and raise the heat to high. When it boils, add the cabbage and sauerkraut. Cook, stirring, until the cabbage is wilted and has released its juices. The liquid should nearly submerge the solids; add water if needed. Bring the pot to a simmer, add the bay leaves, then turn heat down to low to maintain a barely bubbling simmer, and cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar.
• Simmer the stew for 2 to 6 hours. At 2 hours, the meat should be tender and the flavor of the bigos will be bright and acidic. At 4 hours, the meat and cabbage will be very tender, with a balanced flavor. (This is my preference.) At 6 hours, which is more traditional, the meat will be falling apart into the cabbage. Adjust seasoning with salt or pepper to taste, and serve with rye bread.

BIGOS

Steps:

• In frying pan, cook bacon over med/med-high heat until fat is rendered and bacon is golden brown.
• Remove bacon (slotted spoon is helpful). Place in a large (10 quart or larger) pot.
• Add kielbasa to bacon fat. Brown on each side.
• Remove kielbasa, place in pot with bacon.
• Dredge cubed stew meat in flour, brown on all sides in frying pan (do not fully cook). Add vegetable oil as needed. (Usually the bacon grease is enough).
• Remove browned stew meat from pan and add to quart pan.
• Lower heat on frying pan to medium. Add garlic, onion, carrots, mushrooms, shredded cabbage, and cook until softened--roughly 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Do not brown vegetables. If you do not have a large enough frying pan, saute in batches.
• Add vegetables to pot.
• Add all spices, tomatoes, tomato paste, and beef stock to frying pan. Cook over med-high/high heat, stirring constantly until liquid boils. (Scrape up all the delicious browned leftovers from the meat as you stir!).
• Pour contents of frying pan into pot. Turn heat off under frying pan.
• Add red wine and sauerkraut to pot. Turn heat to med-high. (if it looks like you don't have enough broth, add water as desired).
• Once liquid begins to boil, turn heat to low/med-low. Cover pot and simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. (taste and adjust spices as desired).