POLAND REVIEW

Making Polish bigos involves stewing sauerkraut, white cabbage, meat and sausage along with a handful of spices to create a warming, hearty dish that’s moreishly delicious. Bigos stew is incredibly simple to make, requires very little effort and makes a fantastic potluck party dish. Sauerkraut stew in green bowl with spoon with hands holding it, and grey pot with stew in background. Polish bigos for me defines traditional Polish cuisine – hearty, deliciously comforting and great for sharing. This dish is equally popular as a family meal (served with mashed potatoes or bread) as well as party food, accompanying all celebrations including weddings, christenings etc. It has withstood the test of time and remains one of the most popular dishes in Poland today (along with Polish potato salad and pierogi). Poles love comfort food! Because of its tremendous popularity countless versions of bigos exist and everyone will have their own way of preparing this dish that’s a little different from everyone else’s. What they all have in common, however, are the 2 essential ingredients: sauerkraut and meat. Top down view of sauerkraut in white bowl with spoon. SAUERKRAUT Bigos Ingredients Sauerkraut As this is an essential ingredient in Polish bigos ensure you use good quality sauerkraut. I recommend buying the sauerkraut in a Polish delicatessen as it’s likely to be better quality and tastier than sauerkraut sold in large supermarkets. Look for organic, preservative free sauerkraut that has a light yellow/greenish, rather than grey colour. White cabbage Some people recommend rinsing the sauerkraut before making the stew (to make it less sour) but I prefer simply adding some white cabbage into the bigos to create a more balanced flavour. What is sauerkraut without its sourness? Use common white cabbage or pointed cabbage, which is sweeter. Bigos with spoon in green bowl with stripy blue-and-white cloth to the right. Meat Polish bigos can be made with any kind of meat, from game to pork (used most commonly) and chicken. Having said that I’ve never encountered bigos with lamb but this is probably because lamb is hard to come by in Poland. You can also use a combination of various meats. Whichever meat you choose it is important to use dark rather than white cuts (so for example not chicken breast, which tends to get dry when cooked for a long time). I used skinless chicken thighs. When it comes to pork use ribs or shoulder, not pork tenderloin. You can adjust the amount of meat in this cabbage stew to suit your preference. I used a moderate amount as I didn’t want the meat to overpower the sauerkraut. Sausage Use smoked Polish sausage (kielbasa) for added flavour and texture. Most Polish kielbasa types are smoked so you’ll be able to find it easily (even large supermarkets tend to stock Polish sausage these days). Alternatively use pieces of smoked ham and/or smoked bacon (crisp it up first). Porcini mushrooms Dried porcini mushrooms are important to add for more depth of flavour but you don’t need to use too many. Again I recommend visiting a Polish shop as porcinis tend to be a lot cheaper there than in big supermarkets. Ensure you wash the mushrooms thoroughly by placing in a bowl, adding a little water and rubbing the mushrooms with your fingertips. Rinse again and add into the bigos. Sauerkraut bigos in green bowl with spoon, stripy blue-and-white cloth and grey pot in background. Prunes For me prunes are absolutely essential in a bigos recipe, adding a bit of natural sweetness as well as depth of flavour (along with the mushrooms). I think prunes are exceptionally well suited to sauerkraut dishes. I have used prunes in my sauerkraut casserole with chicken (with great results!), which is similar to this bigos recipe. Step-by-step recipe instructions 1.In the pot heat up 3 tablespoons of oil, add the bay leaf, caraway seeds, allspice and juniper berries and onion. Fry gently for 3 minutes stirring often.