Polish Bigos

RE: Polish Bigos (The Mikado)

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:44:39 GMT

With Polish ancestry, I was bound to try this, sooner or later. I had it at Veselka in NYC...of course, they are techically Ukrainian, but you should go there. It's in the Lower East Side, and has been there forever. They were even open on Thanksgiving, and I believe it was 24 hours.

Then I went home, found a recipe, and made my own. I don't think I had the mushrooms in mine...I can't remember. Maybe next time.

RE: Polish Bigos (Trishkaidekaphobia)

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 14:00:40 GMT

Bigos is not bigos without mushrooms - dried porcini and/or morels add a special flavour. Some people use fresh cabbage and sauerkraut. My preference is for all sauerkraut, no fresh cabbage or at least two parts sauerkraut to one part fresh cabbage).

Here is a bigos "proto-recipe". Keep in mind that this is a basic, no-frills bigos. It works better if you add your own ingredients (including about a half cup of ketchup - I am not kidding). Traditionally, you use the same weight of cabbage as you do meat. I think it works better with more sauerkraut/cabbage than meat.

-2 kg fermented cabbage (sauerkraut)
-500 g pork or venison or beef
-250 g sausage
-250 g bacon
-a handful of dried mushrooms
-fresh mushrooms if you like
-a medium onion, chopped
-whole black peppercorns, salt, bay leaf or two, tsp or two of carraway seeds
-a tomato or two, some ketchup, leftover spaghetti sauce (they all work)
-a bit of flour for dredging the meat

(You can add a chopped apple, chopped celery, fresh cabbage, more onion etc. Whatever you like. Don't add carrots - they "sour" the mixture.)

Cut up the bacon and fry it with the onions.
Remove and leave the fat.
Chop up the meat and dredge it in the flour.
Brown it in the leftover fat.
Put this in a large pot with the sauerkraut, bay leaf, peppercorns, carraway seeds
Soak the mushrooms in about a cup of boiling water to soften.
Add them to the pot.

Now you cook this for at least three hours, adding seasonings or ingredients to taste as you go along. It improves upon reheating and is ideally made a day or two before you plan to serve it.

As Lenusz said, every cook has her/his own recipe for bigos. All amounts are approximate.

Smacznego!

RE: Polish Bigos (mayor al)

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:20:26 GMT

I will add the warning here that we put on the Polish food thread before it was moved. ANY off topic posts will cause this thread to be deleted. That may explain your question about people 'posting'.

RE: Polish Bigos (jeepguy)

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 16:10:18 GMT

You'd think old "you know who" would chime in on this one.

RE: Polish Bigos (LENUSZ)

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:19:30 GMT

Bigos^ is (Polish) hunters stew. It's made from meat that has been previously cooked, kielbasa, cabbage and/or saurkraut, and cooked slowly, for a long time, so that the flavors mingle. Every Polish family has their own version, just like every Polish family has their own version of kielbasa, pierogi, golabki, nalesniki, city chicken, potato salad, chruszciki, babka, saurkraut, dill pickles........

RE: Polish Bigos (MilwFoodlovers)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:29:52 GMT

Good Bigos can be one of world's best comfort foods. It sounds like yours was.

RE: Polish Bigos (Michael Hoffman)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:54:25 GMT

quote:
Originally posted by hatteras04

quote:
Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

Which stand was serving that?

It was the Poultry and Game stand. I think that was the full name on the sign. It is the clear to one end of the market (I think the North end).

Right. I believe it is at the north end. Thanks.

RE: Polish Bigos (hatteras04)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:27:26 GMT

quote:
Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

Which stand was serving that?

It was the Poultry and Game stand. I think that was the full name on the sign. It is the clear to one end of the market (I think the North end).

RE: Polish Bigos (Michael Hoffman)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:21:06 GMT

Which stand was serving that?

RE: Polish Bigos (kland01s)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:04:48 GMT

I used to work with a woman would had recently immigrated from Poland with her husband and mother. She took me home a few times to have bigos for lunch. Very tasty but hers was made with different cuts of whatever leftover meat she had.

Polish Bigos (hatteras04)

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 09:45:28 GMT

My wife and I went to lunch at the Columbus North Market on saturday and I tried Polish Bigos for the first time. It was outstanding. It was like a saurkraut stew served over homemade mashed potatoes. it was made with smoked sauage and smoked ham and some root vegetables. There was some sweetness to it, maybe from apples, I'm not sure.

If you ever go, it is the poultry stand across from the Vietnamese stand and this guy always has something really good. He gave me a couple of samples of his black beans and the pasta e fagiole. They were both good, but once I tasted the Bigos, that had to be my choice.