Polish Bigos also known as POLISH HUNTERS STEW
Channel: Jessica Janczar-Jantzen
Date: 27/05/2021

RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM....

You should know that there is no one set way to make bigos. Every cook has their own secrets.  It may not look pretty? But the flavour is AMAZING.

As a dish that does not spoil quickly and only gets tastier with each reheating, bigos has been traditionally used as a provision for travellers and campers or consumed at outdoor events, such as a hunt or a carnival sleigh ride known in Polish as Kulig.  It may be also eaten indoor, for breakfast, supper or as a hot starter served before soup at a dinner party.  It is commonly found on the menus of milk bars, pubs and bistros throughout Poland.  

Bigos is particularly associated with major Catholic holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, as it can be prepared in ample quantities beforehand and only reheated on the holiday itself and the following days.

The principal ingredients of bigos are assorted kinds of meat chopped into bite-sized chunks and a mixture of sauerkraut (pickled cabbage) and shredded fresh white cabbage. The meats may include pork (ham, shoulder, bacon, ribs, loin, etc.), beef and veal, poultry (chicken, duck, goose, turkey) and game, as well as charcuterie, especially various kinds of kiełbasa, or Polish smoked sausage.

Use as many different kinds of mushrooms as you can, and definitely try to find dried porcini – most bigos recipes call for it. I used, dried wild mushrooms, fresh portabello mushrooms and plain.

The original bigos was made with wild game, but over the centuries—the dish is said to be close to 700 years old—it has become a stew of many domestic types of meat. Smoked sausage, mostly kielbasa, is a given, as is either bacon or a smoked ham hock. Fresh sausages, pork shoulder, veal or beef are also used.

INGREDIENTS
*    1 an a 1/2 cups of dried mushrooms and about 1 1/5 cups of water for soaking
*    Roughly 500g of beef and/or pork (or leftover roast)
*    6 strips of smoked bacon
*    1 large onion
*    225 g of fresh button mushrooms ( I used portobellos)
*    1 small cabbage
*    Roughly 500g of smoked sausage
*    170g of tomato paste or 1 can of tomatoes
*    1 cup of chicken/beef/ vegetable stock
*    4-5 bay leaves
*    1 clove of garlic
*    3 tsp of salt
*    10 pepper corns black and white (well really I just grab a handful and through in.
6-8 allspice seeds
1/2 tsp of pepper
About 56 oz / 1.5 kg of sauerkraut