Notorious B.I.G.O.S. (a recipe for Polish stew)
Everyone brings stuff back from their holidays, a tradition stretching all the way back to the mid-16th Century when John Hawkins brought tobacco to England after a blinding weekend in the New World. And so it was that a couple of weeks ago, as I started writing up my notes from my travels around Europe, I began to crave some of the food I’d had out there. I wanted pork, I wanted sour cream, I wanted cabbage, dammit. So Dominic “Other Half” Parsons and I got in the kitchen and whipped up some familiar dishes, with mixed success.
Bigos for two (with plenty of leftovers)
-A pack of pork (cheapest option is fine)
-Two or three big kielbasa sausages (we couldn’t get any, so opted for bratwurst)
-Some bacon (optional)
-A jar of sauerkraut (or bigos sauce, which is basically just spiced sauerkraut)
-Half of a white cabbage
-One big/two small onions
-Carrots (however many you reckon you’ll fancy)
-A can/bottle of cheap lager (or a nice pilsner if you haven’t burned any money recently)
-Three or four bay leaves
-Paprika
-Mustard (hotter the better, if you ask me)
-Juniper berries (optional, but recommended)
-Tomato puree (optional, but useful for controlling consistency)
-Salt and black pepper
UTENSILS: a sizeable frying pan/wok, a big saucepan/oven-friendly pot/slow cooker, a slotted spoon, chopping board, sharp knife
…Got all that? (I realise it’s a lot of stuff, but we were able to get hold of everything we didn’t already have in the cupboard for about a fiver.) Then we’ll begin.
Chop the pork into cubes of the size you’d want a chunk of meat in a stew/sauce to be, and chop the sausage about the same thickness. If you’re using bacon, chop it to lardon size (alternatively, just buy lardons). Chop the onion into big chunks, and finely chop the cabbage.
Fry the pork off in your frying pan/wok along with the bay leaves. Feel free to season. You want it just browned at the edges (don’t worry about cooking it all the way through right now).
Remove and quickly fry the sausage (and bacon if using), to about the same degree. Remove and put with the pork. Mmm, don’t they look good together?
Fry the onion and cabbage (and a few crushed juniper berries) on a low heat, to soften them. Sprinkle a little salt over them as they cook. This should take about 15 minutes. You want them as wet as possible, so if it seems appropriate, you can add a little of the sauerkraut/bigos jar here. Start to add spices, mustard, seasoning towards the end of this stage. Be as liberal as you like.
(Transfer to your saucepan/pot whenever’s most practical during this next step. It’s going to get big at this point, so keep that in mind.)
Gradually add the rest of the sauerkraut, your carrots (chopped however you like ‘em - we used frozen baby ones) and the meat (including bay leaves). Then start to pour in the beer, tomato paste if using, and more mustard, juniper berries, paprika etc.
Once you’ve got a nice thick mixture that a test spoon suggests is sufficiently tasty, put a lid over the pot, turn the heat down so it simmers, and go and have fun.
Give it at least an hour (the longer the better) on the heat, occasionally checking and stirring as necessary.
And voila! Serve it up, and enjoy a thick, hearty meal that suits a good beer wonderfully. We reckon it’d make great winter food, but also we ate it in Poland sitting outside in beautiful sunshine, so don’t let that stop you.
Post-script
My bigos turned out pretty well, but I think I should have piled on the seasoning/spices/mustard especially just a little heavier. It’s a hefty dish, so I reckon it’s hard to be too heavy-handed, but this is - as always - a very delicate line to tread. Use your judgement.