Bigos
Bigos: Polish hunter's stew of sauerkraut, cabbage, mushrooms and pork
Bigos, the hunter's stew, is cooked in huge pots across Poland for Christmas, New Year and the long winter, and every family insists theirs is best on the third reheating. Sauerkraut and fresh cabbage stew for hours with pork shoulder, smoked kiełbasa and bacon, dried wild mushrooms, prunes, juniper and a splash of red wine; it is a pork dish through and through. The wine contains alcohol; for an alcohol-free version use 100 ml apple juice with 1 tbsp cider vinegar. Serve with rye bread or boiled potatoes. Chef's tip: taste the sauerkraut first; if it is very sharp, rinse it once in cold water and squeeze it dry.
- Total time
- 240 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
For the bigos
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Soak ⅔ oz dried wild mushrooms in 1 ¼ cups hot water for 20 minutes. Lift them out, chop, and keep the soaking liquid, pouring it off carefully to leave any grit behind.
20 minStep 2: Put 2 ¼ lb sauerkraut in a large heavy pot with 500 ml water, the mushroom liquid, 3 bay leaves, 5 allspice berries and 5 juniper berries. Simmer covered for 40 minutes.
40 minStep 3: Meanwhile fry 5 ½ oz smoked streaky bacon in 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a frying pan for 5 minutes. Add 1 ⅓ lb pork shoulder and brown for 8 minutes, then add 2 onions and cook for 6 minutes. Tip everything into the sauerkraut.
20 minStep 4: Brown 14 oz smoked Polish sausage (kiełbasa) in the same pan for 4 minutes and add it to the pot with 1 ⅛ lb white cabbage, the mushrooms, 8 dried prunes, 2 tbsp tomato purée, 2 tsp dried marjoram and ½ cup dry red wine (or apple juice with vinegar).
6 minStep 5: Cover and simmer very gently for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes and adding a splash of water if it catches, until the pork is very tender and the cabbage dark and soft. The pork must be well over 160°F. A common mistake is cooking it fast; bigos needs a lazy simmer.
120 minStep 6: Season with 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp sugar if it is too sour, and remove the bay leaves. For the classic flavour, cool it quickly, refrigerate and reheat it on 1–2 more days until piping hot each time; it keeps for 4 days in the fridge.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 470 kcal
- Protein
- 30 g
- Carbs
- 18 g
- Fat
- 30 g
- Fibre
- 7 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bigos take?
- About 240 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 210 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of dried wild mushrooms?
- Aubergine, diced, same weight.
- What can I use instead of white cabbage?
- Savoy or spring greens, same weight.
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