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Bigos Recipe [151]
I was at my Polish teacher's house yesterday and she showed me how to cook bigos. Traditional bigos is made with wild game meat but this is what we did yesterday:
Day 1
Ingredients:
5 or 6 small pieces of lard
2 medium onions
Cold cuts ends
Cooked chicken
Staropolska sauerkraut without carrots (very important)
6 or 7 black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
commercial bigos seasonning
I think she also added 6 or 7 juniper berries
About one cup of wild mushrooms
Cut lard in small pieces and cook in large pot. Cut onions in small pieces and add to pot. Add cut meats. Add liquid from sauerkraut. Cut sauerkraut in smaller strands and add to pot. Add peppercorns, bay leaves and other seasonning. Cook on low heat for about one hour. Set aside to cool. (I left it on the counter overnight and it was fine this morning.)
Rince mushrooms well under warm water. Soak overnight in 2 cups cold water.
Day 2
Bring mushrooms in their soaking water to a boil and cook for about 30 minutes, adding water if necessary. Half cover with a lid.
Add water to bigos.
Pat mushrooms dry and chop. Add to bigos.
Cook bigos over a low heat for about one hour.
Day 3
Add 7 or 8 prunes, pitted and sliced; one apple, peeled and diced (a Cortland apple preferably); 2 tablespoons of tomato paste; and one glass of red wine.
Cook again one hour over gentle heat.
Leave outside for 2 or 3 days, providing the temperature is relatively cool (it is between 2 and 10 degrees Celsius here, these days), on a balcony or in a shed perhaps.
Then reheat and eat. You can freeze it also.
Hopes this helps.
