I have several recipes for Bigos. I have made it once, and I must say mine dish had a very strong sauerkraut taste to it. The bigos I had in Poland had more of a plain cabbage taste to it. Does anybody know if it has to do with the kind of sauerkraut or what. Is it just a matter of rinsing the sauerkraut really well to make it less pronounced? Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Tom
Bigos needs to be prepared with sauerkraut and boiled cabbage. If you're just using the kraut, it'll be too sour. Check the recipes in the forum. Mine is the best ;)
How funny, I always find this thread when i type Bigos in Google :-) anyway, i just wanted to say that in Russia we also make bigos only we call it tyshenaya kapusta (stewed cabbage?). I guess that'd be yet another variation of much loved bigos! It is quite funny to read this thread; reminds me a lot of never-ending discuccions in Russian cookery blogs which borsch recipe is more authentic :-)
As this is Polish forums and the title of the thread is entitled 'Bigos Recipe' then we don't need to know all the other alternative names for it depending which country you wish to quote.
Wiem, wiem. I'm glad this old thread has re-emerged. I'd like to have a go at cooking bigos. I'm not sure about the bit someone said about lamb shank though. That looks very un-Polish.
Wiem, wiem. I'm glad this old thread has re-emerged. I'd like to have a go at cooking bigos. I'm not sure about the bit someone said about lamb shank though. That looks very un-Polish.
I was thinking that, because I found lamb to be quite hard to find, and expensive in Poland. Unlike here where it's cheap as chips.
My gfs dad tols me that lamb isnt so popular in Poland now because it was once the food of peasants, so I guess thats still the mentality. Strange for me because in Ireland lamb and beef would be everybodys preference. Having said that I love my simple Irish lamb stew, but bigos is a close second...love it !!! Especially how my gfs mother cooks it, she told me it gets better each day its left in the pot and I have to say thats true . . . delicious !
A friend of mine brought me bigos from Poland to UK , by the time he arrived it was a little bit sour I thought it gone off a bit, though I still liked it.
As I recall a lot of sauerkraut produced outside of its home countries (eg in the USA) is made with far too much salt to be palatable (or healthy). This is for reasons of 'regulations' or something.
Hence a lot of the time American recipes will talk about rinsing it with fresh water which is really bad as it will remove most of the vitamins. Theres a lot of vitamin C in sauerkraut, its a waste to throw that away with the rinse water.
I never saw a Pole rinse sauerkraut and when I have made bigos I've not rinsed it. Here in New Zealand we get imported German 'white wine' sauerkraut which makes the most excellent bigos.
If draining sauerkraut, save the drippings in a sealed jar abd refrigerate. It's keep almsot indefintiely.You can use it to make the bigos tarter if it isn't tart enough or for other souring needs, eg soups such as bean, pea, lentil. cabbage, barszucz, etc.
That DOES sound good! Another idea - instead of rinsing away all the vitamins, why not let the water evaporate with some pre-cooking of the sauerkraut? If you need to you can then add more water and let THAT evaporate as well? Just a thought.
Years and years ago some groceries (kind of 'fresh fruit and veggie/organic' shops) were selling 'freshly made' sauerkraut straight from the barrels. I loved it. And it didn't need rinsing.
But I don't think you can find any of those anymore.
I use Krakus or Victus sauerkrat and my mum's advice was to rinse the sauerkraut or, if needed, add some fresh cabagge.
Different regions have different recipes for bigos. I make it using sauerkraut only (I'm lazy), my mum does it sweet+sauert or just sweet (fresh cabbage).
If you use saurkraut, put a little bit oil in the frying pan/pot and let it cook for half an hour. The saurkraut will change a colour a bit and will become more translucent (like onion when you fry it) and soft. Then you can put it in the pot/mix with the sweet cabbage and cook it with the rest of the ingredients.
Always good idea to leave some of the liquid aside (as advised above) in case it's not 'sauer' enough. It's really easy.
You have to add fresh cabbage to sauerkraut.When my wife makes it,she takes samples as she mixes in the sauerkraut to the fresh cabagge until she it's how we like it.
Its my understanding that in, for example, the USA, there are food hygiene regulations which stipulate that sauerkraut *must* be made with far more salt than would be used in Poland.
I think that definitely counts as 'improper'. They change the recipe for arbitrary pseudo-scientific reasons and thereby ruin it.
