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Prep Time: 0 Minutes Cook Time: 90 Minutes |
Ready In: 90 Minutes Servings: 8 |
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Bigos is the ultimate Polish dish. It can’t get any more Polish than bigos (only pierogi might be a serious competition). Poles eat bigos on any occasion and no wedding can take place without bigos on a table. Read more Why?….Because it’s a perfect partner for chilled vodka which is the most important constituent of any Polish party. It fills you up and slows down alcohol intoxication :P It is also a perfect food for the cold, harsh winters since it warms you up better than a glass of red wine. Ingredients:
2 ib (about 1kg) sauerkraut |
1-1.5 ib (0.5-0.7) beef and pork (or beef or pork alone) |
8 oz (250 g) sausage (preferably polska kielbasa) |
half cup salt pork or bacon |
1 large chopped onion |
handful of dried mushroom |
few prunes |
few allspice seeds |
few bay leaves |
stock |
sugar, salt and pepper |
optionally tomato juice or paste |
Directions:
1. First in a separate dish braise pork and beef with water barely covering the meet. Allow to simmer for about 40 min – 1 hour or until soft. Shortly before the ending add some salt for taste.
2. Meanwhile strain the liquid from the sauerkraut and reserve for later. You might need it in case bigos will come out not sour enough. Drain sauerkraut under cold running water. Set aside and in a deep pot fry salt pork. After few minutes add onion and let it fry together a bit.
3. When onion looks glossy add sauerkraut, mushroom, prunes, allspice seeds, bay leaves, 1 Tbs sugar and stock. Mix together, cover and let it boil then reduce the heat and let it slowly simmer for about 40 minutes. Stir from time to time and if necessary add more water or stock.
4. When meat is ready, transfer it together with the liquid to the pot with sauerkraut. Add sausage and mix thoroughly. Let it cook for about 30 minutes more.
5. I like to add some tomato juice or tomato paste to bigos. It gives the dish nice color. Also at this point if your bigos is not sour enough, you can add some of the reserved liquid from the saurkrout. You can also add more salt, sugar or pepper if you wish. Continue cooking 5 minutes more and serve with a slice of bread.
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