Bigos
Poland's legendary hunter's stew — sauerkraut, mixed meats, and mushrooms slow-cooked to perfection.
Comfort Food
Meal Prep
One Pot
Ingredients
- 500g sauerkraut, drained and roughly chopped
- 300g fresh white cabbage, shredded
- 200g pork shoulder, cubed
- 200g kielbasa (Polish sausage), sliced
- 100g smoked bacon, diced
- 30g dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in warm water
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (400g) crushed tomatoes
- 5 prunes, halved
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- 1 tsp caraway seeds
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- 1 Soak dried mushrooms in 1 cup warm water for 30 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid. Chop mushrooms.
- 2 Heat oil in a large heavy pot. Brown pork cubes on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- 3 In the same pot, cook bacon and kielbasa for 3 minutes until bacon renders its fat. Add onion and garlic, cook 3 more minutes.
- 4 Return pork to pot. Add sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, crushed tomatoes, mushrooms with their soaking liquid, prunes, bay leaves, allspice, and caraway.
- 5 Stir well. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook on low heat for 1.5-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
- 6 Season with salt and pepper. Remove bay leaves.
- 7 Serve hot with dark rye bread. Reheat leftovers the next day — it only gets better.
About This Recipe
Bigos is Poland's national dish and one of the oldest recipes in Eastern European cuisine. Known as "hunter's stew," it combines sauerkraut with fresh cabbage, various meats, dried mushrooms, and prunes into a rich, deeply savory stew.
The golden rule of bigos: it gets better every time you reheat it. Traditional Polish cooks make a huge pot and reheat it over several days, each time deepening the flavor. Some say the best bigos has been reheated at least three times.