Description
Bigos is almost a Polish national dish. This is a traditional recipe from Poland. Bigos is a rich flavorful stew with sauerkraut, Polish sausage, beef, pork, red wine, caraway seeds and more. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.
Ingredients
- 9 cups boiling water, divided
- 3 pounds sauerkraut – rinsed, drained and chopped
- 15 pitted prunes
- 5 whole allspice berries
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 cup dried mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 onion, chopped
- 1 Polish sausage, sliced
- ½ pound beef stew meat, cubed
- ½ pound boneless pork shoulder, cubed
- ½ cup bacon strips, diced
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- salt and pepper to taste
- ¾ cup red wine
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste (Optional)
Instructions
- Place sauerkraut in a large pan or casserole dish and pour in 4 cups of boiling water. Add prunes
- allspice
- and bay leaves. Simmer until Sauerkraut is soft
- about 50 minutes.
- Pour about 1 cup of boiling water over mushrooms and soak to rehydrate
- about 30 minutes. Drain and chop mushrooms
- reserving the liquid.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium to high heat. Add onion and sausage. Saute while stirring until onion is soft and sausage is browned
- about 5 minutes.
- In a separate pan
- bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Add beef
- pork
- and bacon. Simmer until cooked through for 20 minutes
- then drain.
- When sauerkraut is soft
- add the drained meat mixture
- sausage-onion mixture
- and soaked mushrooms; mix well. Simmer uncovered over low heat
- about 20 minutes.
- Pour in red wine and cook for 15 minutes until flavors are well blended. Season with caraway seeds
- marjoram
- salt
- and pepper. Stir in tomato puree. If the stew is too dry
- pour in some of the water reserved from soaking the mushrooms
- and simmer so flavors combine
- about 5 minutes.
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 2 hrs
Total Time: 2 hrs 50 mins
Servings: 6