Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)
Poland's hunter's stew — sauerkraut and fresh cabbage slow-cooked for hours with pork, smoked sausage, bacon, dried mushrooms and prunes. A winter and Christmas dish that tastes better each time it is reheated.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1 kg sauerkraut, drained
- 500 g white cabbage, shredded
- 500 g pork shoulder, cut into 3 cm cubes
- 300 g Polish smoked sausage (kielbasa), sliced
- 150 g smoked bacon, diced
- 20 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 250 ml hot water
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 100 g prunes, halved
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 200 ml dry red wine
- 3 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper, ground
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil
Nutrition (estimated)
high confidenceRecipe total: 3974 kcal · P 263.5g · C 171.7g · F 234.3g
Estimated from 16 of 16 ingredients
Approximate estimate, calculated from the ingredients.
Video
Steps
Steps
- 1Soak the dried mushrooms in the hot water for 30 minutes, then lift them out, chop them and keep the soaking liquid.
- 2Rinse the sauerkraut briefly if it is very sour, squeeze it and chop it roughly. Put it in a large heavy pot with the fresh cabbage, the mushroom liquid, bay leaves and allspice, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
- 3Meanwhile fry the bacon in the oil in a frying pan over medium heat for 5 minutes until the fat runs. Add the pork, season with the salt and pepper and brown for 8 minutes, then add both to the pot.
- 4Fry the onions and sausage in the same pan for 8 minutes until golden, stir in the tomato paste for 1 minute, then pour in the wine, scrape up the browned bits and tip everything into the pot.
- 5Add the chopped mushrooms and prunes, stir, cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 2 hours, stirring now and then and adding a splash of water if it catches.
- 6Uncover for the last 20 minutes so the stew thickens; it should be moist but not soupy, with the cabbage brown and soft.
- 7Leave it to cool, refrigerate overnight and reheat gently the next day — bigos is traditionally reheated over several days and deepens each time.
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Questions and answers
How long does Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew) take to make?
About 200 minutes: 30 min prep and 170 min cooking.
What ingredients do you need for Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)?
16 ingredients: sauerkraut, white cabbage, pork shoulder, Polish smoked sausage, smoked bacon, dried porcini mushrooms, hot water, onions, prunes, tomato paste, dry red wine, bay leaves and 4 more.
How many servings does this Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew) recipe make?
8 servings. The servings buttons above the ingredients rescale every amount.
How many calories are in a serving of Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)?
About 497 kcal, with 32.9 g protein, 21.5 g carbohydrate and 29.3 g fat. This is an estimate from the ingredients, not a lab analysis.
What cuisine is Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew)?
Bigos (Polish Hunter's Stew) comes from Polish cuisine.
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