Polish Bigos
Submitted by rosalind
Polish bigos (hunter’s stew) with beef, smoked pork, spareribs, kielbasa, bacon, and sauerkraut. The national dish of Poland, slow simmered, feeds sixteen.
YIELD
16 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
2 hrsREADY
2 hrsBigos is the national stew of Poland, and there is no pretending otherwise: it is the big, meaty, sauerkraut-forward dish that anchors family gatherings, hunting cabins, and long winters. Every Polish family has their version, and most will argue theirs is the only correct one. This one goes full tilt with five different meats: beef, smoked pork, spareribs, pork chops, kielbasa, and bacon on top. It is not a diet dish.
The technique is about separating and layering. Brown the meats in one pot, simmer them until tender in another, build the sauerkraut and cabbage base in a third, and fry the bacon and flour-onion roux on the side. Then everything meets at the end. That separation preserves the integrity of each meat’s flavor rather than mushing them together into one homogeneous stew.
Fresh cabbage cooked alongside sauerkraut is the classic bigos move. Sauerkraut alone reads as sharp and one-note. The sweet, tender fresh cabbage mellows and rounds the dish out. Bigos tastes noticeably better on day two, so make a day ahead if you can.
Chef Tips
- Rinse the sauerkraut briefly if it is very strong-tasting straight from the bag. Polish cooks disagree on this; try a forkful first and make your own call.
- Soak the dried mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, save the soaking liquid, and add it to the stew. The liquid is loaded with concentrated forest flavor.
- Skim the fat off the meat simmer liquid before adding it to the sauerkraut mixture. Leaving it in gives you an oil slick on top of the finished stew.
- Serve with dark rye bread and boiled potatoes to catch the juices. A shot of cold vodka is traditional and not negotiable at a Polish table.
Variations
- Add a half cup of prunes or dried cranberries in the final simmer for a sweet-tangy edge that some Polish regions prefer.
- Splash in a cup of red wine with the tomatoes for deeper body and a hint of acid.
- For a hunter’s version, swap some of the beef for venison, wild boar, or duck confit. The name bigos myśliwski literally means hunter’s bigos.
Ingredients
Directions
Brown the beef, pork and spareribs in a large heavey pot.
Put the browned meats and the smoked butt with 1 cup of water into a separate, covered pan and simmer until tender, the pork chops about ½ hour, the butt about 1 hour, beef 1½ to 2 hours and spareribs 2 hours.
Pour off all the fat from the first pot and put in the sauerkraut and one cup of water.
Chop the cabbage fine and add to sauerkraut.
Cover and cook until cabbage is tender, about 30 minutes.
Remove lid and keep pot on a very low simmer.
In a third pan, fry bacon until crisp, then crumble into sauerkraut mixture.
Remove most of the bacon fat and fry onions and flour until they just brown.
Mix into sauerkraut mixture.
Remove the meats from the second pan as they become tender.
Cut away fat and bone and cut into small pieces.
Add to sauerkraut mixture.
Skim the fat off the meat juices and add to sauerkraut mixture.
Take off skin from kielbasa and cut into slices.
Add to sauerkraut mixture with the tomatoes.
Salt, pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, simmer 5 minutes and serve hot.
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