Bigos
The hunter's stew: sauerkraut and fresh cabbage cooked down for hours with several kinds of meat, dried mushrooms and prunes. It is emphatically better on the second and third day, so make far more than you need.
Ingredients
- sauerkraut, drained — 1 kg
- white cabbage, shredded — 500 g
- pork shoulder — 400 g
- smoked sausage — 300 g
- smoked bacon — 150 g
- dried mushrooms — 30 g
- prunes, pitted — 80 g
- onions — 2 pcs
- bay leaves — 2 pcs
- juniper berries — 6 pcs
- black pepper — 1 tsp
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for 30 minutes, then slice them and keep the soaking liquid.
- Render the diced bacon in a large heavy pot, then brown the cubed pork in the fat and lift both out.
- Soften the sliced onions in the same pot until translucent.
- Return the meat, add the sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, mushrooms and their liquid, prunes, bay, juniper and pepper, and add water barely to cover.
- Cover and cook on the lowest heat for at least three hours, stirring now and then so nothing catches; add the sliced sausage for the last 45 minutes.
- Cool and refrigerate overnight, then reheat to serve — the flavour deepens noticeably each time it is warmed through.