Saturday, October 29, 2022

BIGOS - POLISH HUNTER'S STEW

Adapted from the below recipes, to match the bigos I had when I lived in Chełm, Poland, in 2007.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/387982
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/polish_hunters_stew/ 


Ingredients:

1⁄2 lb meat for veal stew
1⁄2 lb pork shoulder (cubed)
1⁄2 lb meat for beef stew
Boczek (Polish pork belly, like salt pork or slab bacon), chopped into pieces
1
ʼ, or 1-2 lb kielbasa, chopped into pieces
1 smoked ham hock
1-2 large onions, rough chopped
1 head cabbage, chopped
1
1⁄2 lb fresh mushrooms
25 oz fresh sauerkraut, or more

1 oz dried porcini or other wild mushrooms (soaked, reserving the strained soaking liquid) 
Stock cubes (not actual stock, too much liquid)
Bay leaf 
1 T caraway seeds
1 T juniper berries
1 T black peppercorns
1 C red wine
Handful pitted prunes


Methodology:

Pour hot water over the dried mushrooms and submerge them for 20-40 minutes, or until soft. Grind or crush the juniper berries and black peppercorns roughly; you donʼt want a powder. 

Cut the pork shoulder into large chunks, about 2 inches. Cut the sausages into similar-sized chunks. 

Drain the sauerkraut and set aside. 

Clean off any dirt from the fresh mushrooms and cut them into large pieces; leave small ones whole.

Heat the bacon fat or vegetable oil in a large lidded pot for a minute or two. Working in batches if necessary, brown the pork shoulder over medium-high heat. Do not crowd the pan. Set the browned meat aside.

Put the onion and fresh cabbage into the pot and sauté for a few minutes, stirring often, until the cabbage is soft. Sprinkle a little salt over them. The vegetables will give off plenty of water, and when they do, use a wooden spoon to scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Once the pot is clean and the cabbage and onions soft, remove from the pot and set aside with the pork shoulder.

Add the fresh mushrooms and cook them without any additional oil, stirring often, until they release their water. Once they do, sprinkle a little salt on the mushrooms. When the water is nearly all gone, add back the pork shoulder, the cabbage-and-onion mixture, and then everything else except the prunes and red wine. Stir to combine.

You should not have enough liquid to submerge everything. Thatʼs good: bigos is a “dry” stew, and besides, the ingredients will give off more liquid as they cook. Bring everything to a simmer, cover the pot and cook gently for at least 1 1⁄2 hours. Add the cup of red wine.

Bigos is better the longer it cooks, but you can eat it once the ham hock falls apart. Check at 2 hours, and then every 30 minutes after that. When the hock is tender, fish it out and pull off the meat and fat from the bones Discard the bones and the fat, then chop the meat roughly and return to the pot. Add the prunes and cook until they are tender, at least 30 more minutes.

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