Polish Hunters Choucroute Bigos Recipes

BIGOS (POLISH HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• 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.

POLISH HUNTER'S CHOUCROUTE (BIGOS)

Steps:

• Place onions in a bowl and mix with salt; set aside. Place a large skillet over medium heat; sauté bacon until brown and crisp. Remove from pan and set aside. Add onions to pan; sauté over medium heat until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat; set aside.
• Place sauerkraut in a heavy casserole without rinsing it unless you find the taste too strong. If you do, rinse in cold water and press water out in a colander. Add to sauerkraut the onions, potatoes, garlic, peppercorns and all meats except frankfurters, sausages and kielbasa. Peel and core apples, cut into quarters, and add to casserole. Mix well. Add enough consommé and wine to barely reach surface of sauerkraut. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally and scraping bottom of casserole.
• Allow casserole to cool. Throw out bones and outer skin of knuckles. If not serving dish the same day, cover and refrigerate. If serving the same day, add sausages and kielbasa, and cook over low heat for 1 hour before serving.
• Fifteen minutes before serving, pour vodka over mixture. Place on a platter with raised edges (to prevent liquid from spilling), arranging sausages on top. If desired, serve with coarse grain mustard and lightly buttered boiled potatoes sprinkled with chopped dill.

CHEF JOHN'S BIGOS (POLISH HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Place mushrooms in warm water to soak and soften, 10 or 15 minutes. Drain and chop.
• Heat butter in a heavy pot or Dutch oven; add sauerkraut and sliced cabbage. Cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally. Brown the meat and add it to pot while sauerkraut is cooking per directions below.
• Heat skillet over medium-high heat; add bacon and cook until browned but not crisp. Transfer bacon to pot with cabbage, leaving bacon grease in skillet.
• Brown pork shoulder pieces in bacon grease over medium-high heat. Sprinkle with salt. Cook and stir until browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer pork to pot. Add beef chunks to skillet; sprinkle with salt. Cook and stir until browned, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add sausage slices to skillet and cook and stir until browned. Transfer slices to pot.
• Reduce heat under skillet to medium. Add chopped onion and a sprinkle of salt; cook and stir until onion turns translucent and starts to take on some color. Stir in chopped mushrooms and diced prunes. Cook and stir about 2 minutes. Pour in dry red wine; raise heat to medium-high. Simmer until wine is reduced to where very little liquid remains. Transfer onion mixture to pot with cabbage and meat. Add paprika, caraway seeds, thyme, allspice, bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Stir to evenly distribute all ingredients.
• Cover tightly; simmer over medium-low heat until meat is tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Allow stew to cool slightly; refrigerate overnight to let flavors blend.
• Place pot over low to medium-low heat and add a splash of water. Bring stew to low simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until hot, 10 to 15 minutes.

POLISH BIGOS / HUNTER'S STEW

Steps:

• Brown pork and spareribs in a large heavy pot.
• Add smoked butt with 1 cup of water and simmer for 1 hour.
• Add the sauerkraut and one cup apple juice.
• Chop the cabbage fine and add to sauerkraut.
• Add lots of pepper and salt cover and simmer 1 hour.
• Remove lid and keep pot on a very low simmer.
• In a pan, fry bacon until crisp, then crumble into sauerkraut mixture.
• Remove most of the bacon fat and fry onions and mushrooms and flour until they just brown.
• Mix into sauerkraut mixture.
• Cut kielbasa into slices add to sauerkraut mixture with the tomatoes.
• Bring to a boil, simmer 30 minutes and serve hot with rye bread and mashed potatoes.