Bigos

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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.

Step 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).

Step 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.

Step 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.