Bigos (hunter's stew)
Sauerkraut and fresh cabbage cooked slowly with smoked bacon, kiełbasa and mushrooms. It's best on the second or third day, after a few reheats.
- Serves 8
- Prep 30 min
- Cooking 2 h 30 min
Ingredients
- 1 kg sauerkraut
- 500 g white cabbage
- 1 ring of kiełbasa wiejska (about 500 g)
- 250 g smoked pork belly (half a slab)
- 500 g pork shoulder
- 2 onions
- a handful of dried mushrooms (about 20 g)
- 8 prunes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 150 ml dry red wine (optional)
- 2 bay leaves, 5 allspice berries, 1 tsp juniper berries
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Pour a cup of boiling water over the mushrooms and leave for 30 minutes. Squeeze them out and chop them, keeping the water.
- Squeeze the sauerkraut (rinse it if it's very sour) and chop it. Shred the white cabbage.
- Put the sauerkraut in a large pan with the bay leaves, allspice and juniper, add a cup of water and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.
- Add the white cabbage and the mushroom water and simmer for another 20 minutes.
- Dice the pork belly and fry it in a pan until the fat runs. Brown the diced pork shoulder in that fat and add it to the cabbage. Soften the chopped onions in the same pan.
- Slice the kiełbasa into half-moons, fry it briefly and add it to the pan with the pork belly, onions, mushrooms and chopped prunes.
- Stir in the tomato purée and wine and simmer gently for about an hour and a half, stirring now and then. Add a little water if it gets dry.
- Season with salt and pepper. Leave it overnight and reheat it the next day: bigos gets better every day.