Bigos is a traditional Polish recipe. Bigos traditional Polish: simple words about a complex dish

Finally, we are preparing bigos (or bigus) - a very tasty, satisfying and fragrant second course based on cabbage and meat. It is traditional for the cuisines of countries such as Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. There are a huge number of options for bigos recipes, and today I propose to get to know one of them better. Bigos in Polish - please love and favor!

You can write about bigos for as long as you can cook this second dish. But I will try not to torment you with my lyrics and keep within a few lines. So, to prepare this dish, it is customary to use a mixture of sauerkraut and fresh white cabbage, fatty meat (pork or game), any smoked meats, onions, and seasonings. Polish-style bigos contains mushrooms (dried or fresh - according to the season) and wine (originally red, but I prefer white).

In addition, prunes and raisins are added, but I do not use them, since in my family such additives have not found recognition in this dish. Sour apples, redcurrant or plum jam, tomato concentrates (paste, sauce or juice), natural honey or flour dressing - all this also has the right to exist as an addition to bigos.

It takes a long time to cook bigos (sometimes it takes almost the whole day), but it's worth it. The essence of cooking comes down to sequential stewing of sauerkraut and fresh white cabbage, separate frying of meat with onions, after which all components are stewed together on the smallest fire for a long time.

It must be said that the correct bigos will be ready only on the third day. Yes, yes, only after 3 days this dish, so to speak, will ripen - this is what connoisseurs and connoisseurs think. In other words, you cooked bigos, let it cool down completely, after which on the second day it was stewed again, cooled again, and only after the third warming up, cabbage with meat can be served on the table.

For our realities, this method is hardly suitable: well, what kind of hostess would do this, leaving home to starve? But it’s still worth a try: just cook a lot of bigos, eat some of it right away, and keep the rest (cool-warm), as it should be. By the way, bigos perfectly tolerates freezing without losing its taste and texture, so it can be harvested for future use.

When ready, bigos is distinguished by a rich color (bronze hue), a bright aroma of smoked meats, a pleasant sour taste and a very thick texture (there is no liquid at all). Bigos must be served hot, accompanied by black bread and a glass of ice-cold vodka (this is not an obligatory moment).

Ingredients:

(1 kg ) (500 grams) (300 grams) (300 grams) (150 grams) (150 grams) (200 milliliters) (100 grams) (800 milliliters) (40 grams) (0.5 teaspoon) (1 piece ) (0.25 teaspoon) (1 pinch)

Cooking step by step with photos:

First you need to soak dry mushrooms - it is better to do this the day before or at least a couple of hours before making bigos. If you don’t have time, then dried mushrooms will need to be cooked longer. I prefer to use porcini mushrooms (boletus mushrooms), which I collect and dry myself (), but those that you have in the bins are also suitable: birch mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, mossiness mushrooms ... In general, forest mushrooms - they are so fragrant. We wash the dry mushrooms, put them in a saucepan and pour about 500 milliliters of water. We put on the stove, bring to a boil (remove the foam) and cook over medium heat under the lid for about an hour.

We put sauerkraut in a suitable volume (I have 4 liters) thick-walled dishes (how to cook it at home). If it is too acidic for us, it is advisable to rinse the cabbage under cold running water and squeeze it out - this will remove excessive sharpness. My cabbage is very tasty and not very sour, so I use it just like that, just squeezing out the brine. Add about 300 milliliters of water to the cabbage, cover the pan with a lid and simmer over low heat for about an hour from the moment of boiling until half cooked. In general, the cooking time of sauerkraut can differ markedly - it depends on the variety of the cabbage itself, on its density, juiciness and crunchiness. Do not forget to open the lid from time to time and stir the contents so that the cabbage does not burn, although it should not, because we added water.

In the meantime, chop fresh white cabbage - thin and long strips. With a knife or with a special shredder - it does not matter. The cabbage has been prepared - let it wait on the table for now.

We turn to the onion - it needs to be peeled and cut into not very thin quarters of rings. Put lard (pork fat) in a frying pan and heat it. We shift the prepared onion and fry over medium heat, stirring, until a light blush is transparent.

When the onion is cooked, add the pork to it. I advise you to take that part of the nonsense that is suitable specifically for stewing - a shoulder, a brisket, ribs with meat ... I had a fatty loin in the refrigerator, so it went into use. We cut the meat into fairly large pieces so that during the stewing process they do not fall apart into fibers.

Fry the meat with onions until a beautiful ruddy color, not forgetting to stir. As long as we rest.

Dried mushrooms have already boiled - they have become soft, and the broth is saturated. For bigos, we will need both mushrooms (cut smaller if they are very large) and broth (strain to get rid of the sediment).

We have almost finished the preparatory work - it remains only to chop the smoked meats. By the way, they can be absolutely any of your choice. I like smoked sausage and hunting sausages, but ribs, chicken, ham, ham, knuckle (all smoked, of course) are great. We cut into not very large pieces, so that later it would be convenient to eat.

Oh, I almost forgot - we also have boiled dried mushrooms! We put them in a saucepan, and pour the fragrant mushroom broth (as much as we have) into the same place. We mix everything and cook under the lid on the smallest (!) Fire. It’s hard for me to say about the cooking time, since I didn’t time it, but it will definitely be a long time (the bigos will be stewed for at least another 2-3 hours). During this time, you can go about your business and occasionally remember the pan, stirring the contents. By the way, I didn't say anything about salt, did I? The fact is that the amount of salt (as well as the need to add it in general) is a very individual moment. Just think: sauerkraut is sour-salty, and smoked meats are salty, so always taste the dish and decide for yourself whether to add salt or not. I literally needed a tiny pinch to slightly adjust the taste of bigos almost at the end.

How to understand that the dish is ready? Firstly, when cooking, even with minimal heat, no liquid should remain under the lid at the bottom. I'm not talking about fat (of course there will be), but the water, wine and broth should be completely evaporated. In addition, the finished cabbage will change color - the correct bigos turns out to be quite dark, almost bronze in color. Well, of course, the cabbage itself should be soft. Yes, according to the rules, we must let the finished dish cool completely, then transfer it to the cold, stew it for about 30 minutes the next day, let it cool again for a day and eat only on the third day. Unrealistic for our modern life, isn't it? We will not wait - we lay out the fragrant bigos in portioned dishes and enjoy it sooner!

Modern Poles are adherents of bigos, which appeared in the 18th century. Until then, crayfish, a variety of fish, hazel grouse, sorrel, gooseberries and citrus fruits were used. They warmed up in pots with a lid, tightly stuck around with dough, until a noisy crackling sound was heard - an “explosion” indicated the desired temperature. Respected gentry went hunting, on long trips, received important guests on their estates with obligatory and symbolic food.

Usually, sauerkraut and fresh cabbage are taken with meat in equal proportions, and the more types of meat products (including smoked ones) are included, the tastier bigos will be - a traditional Polish recipe is proof of this. As before, it is served hot as a main course. But even after cooling, the stew, saturated with aromas, does not lose quality. After all, it was not in vain that they once stocked up for future use, the brew was first frozen and thawed on the appointed day, reheated.

Prep time: 100 minutes / Serves: 5

Ingredients

• pork 250 g
• beef 250 g
• chicken fillet 250 g
• smoked brisket 50 g
• hunting sausages 150 g
• sauerkraut 300 g
• fresh cabbage 300-350 g
• prunes 100 g
• dry red wine 200 ml
• tomato paste 75 g
• onion 1 pc.
• carrot 1 pc.
• apples 1-2 pcs.
• vegetable oil 30 ml
• coriander, pepper, thyme, salt - to taste

How to cook bigos according to a traditional Polish recipe

We chop large juicy carrots, onions into cubes or in another convenient way - first we throw onion slices into a pan with hot vegetable oil, fry for two or three minutes until translucent, do not let it burn. Then add the carrots, mix and, with moderate heat, continue to sauté for the next 5-6 minutes. Vegetables should be thoroughly soaked in oil. In parallel, we chop fresh white cabbage with a long straw - we use a knife or a grater board, a combine harvester with a special nozzle.

Immediately stock up on another pan-brazier. You can start cooking in a cauldron - it’s convenient for me to fry separately and then combine everything in a large container. Finely chop a piece of fatty smoked pork breast, throw it on a hot surface and let the fat melt. Immediately wash, dry three meat preparations: chicken fillet, pork and beef pulp. Divide into relatively large cubes. When the fatty brisket is well rendered, add the meat - mix occasionally and fry at high temperature until golden brown for about 5-7 minutes. At this stage, we do not season, we only “seal” the meat from the outside, keeping the juiciness and moisture inside.

Now we throw softened carrot-onion sauteing, chopped fresh and sauerkraut along with brine into a spacious pan-cauldron. In my case, sauerkraut turned out to be so salty that the dish did not have to be salted at all. Do not rush with salt, leave it aside until the end of cooking. We mix the vegetable mix, simmer for about 20 minutes on our own - hard cabbage will extract juice, be saturated with steam, and become softer.

We load fried semi-finished pork, chicken and beef. We add concentrated tomato paste (you can not dilute it with water, since there is usually more than enough moisture and we will pour wine ahead). We flavor with spicy coriander grains, laurel, for spiciness we lower the peas of hot black pepper - if desired, the spices are crushed. Having once again stirred, we maintain a moderate fire, we continue to simmer for the next half hour to forty minutes. Sometimes we lift the lower layers with a spatula, separate from the walls.

We divide sweet and sour strong apples of green varieties into cubes - additional freshness and fruity sourness of bigos according to the traditional recipe with a photo will not hurt. Sometimes pickled apples, pickled barrel cucumbers are taken.

Next, we lay the last components: smoked plums (pitted) divided into three or four fragments, rings of hunting sausages or other meat products from the category of appetizing smoked meats. Pour in dry wine - white is often used instead of red. After stirring, boil, lower the temperature and, with a moderate boil, evaporate the liquid almost completely - about 20-30 minutes. During this period, all the ingredients thoroughly exchange odors, pass fragrant steam.

Agree, bigos according to the traditional Polish recipe with a photo does not cause difficulties? One of the important advantages is that the dish remains incredibly tasty when chilled. Bon appetit!

Currently, bigos is a traditional dish in Lithuanian, Polish, Belarusian and even Western Russian culinary traditions.

Bigos is prepared from minced meat and white cabbage (fresh and/or sauerkraut), in appearance and consistency it most of all resembles thick cabbage soup.

In general, this dish is considered to be originally Polish, but there is a legend that the bigos recipe was brought from Lithuania and spread thanks to King Vladislav Jagiello. This Polish monarch liked to refresh himself with a thick stew of cabbage and meat during hunting halts.

That is, bigos is a rural and hunting dish. The first mention of it (prepared from a light wolf!) dates back to 1534. There is also a very flattering mention of this dish in the poem "Pan Tadeusz" by the classic of Polish literature Adam Mickiewicz.

What is bigos made from?

There are many options for preparing bigos. Usually classic Polish bigos is made from a mixture of fresh white cabbage and sauerkraut. Naturally, fresh cabbage bigos is more logical to cook at the end of summer and at the beginning of autumn. Pork meat can be used, in particular, undercut or neck or meat of several types (in the sense, combine the meat of different animals and poultry). Also use game and even sausages (smoked). You can cook bigos with sausages, it is better to use Polish smoked hunting sausages. Sometimes bigos is prepared with mushrooms, and ingredients such as prunes, quince, apples, and tomatoes are also added. Sometimes bigos is cooked with red wine and seasoned with various spices (primarily black and allspice, cumin and bay leaf).

How to cook bigos?

First, chopped cabbage is stewed separately, and the meat or sausage is fried, then everything is mixed and stewed for a long time (at least an hour) in one dish (for example, in an earthenware pot or in a cauldron). Ready bigos has a slightly sour taste and a characteristic smell of smoked meats. This dish is hearty, thick and rich. Bread is always served with it, and sometimes vodka and various strong tinctures. Bigos is often cooked in a large dish for future use, and then frozen. When heated, this dish retains its taste well.

So, the bigos recipe is more or less close to the classic version.

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of fresh white cabbage and the same amount of sauerkraut;
• 400 grams of pork meat;
• 300 grams of veal or beef tenderloin;
• 200 grams of smoked sausage (for example, Krakow);
• 200 grams of chicken meat;
• 100 grams of natural butter;
• 50 grams of dried mushrooms;
• 1-2 bulbs;
• 1 glass of red wine or table madeira;
• 20 pieces of steamed pitted prunes;
• Bay leaf;
• peppercorns;
• caraway;
• garlic;
• salt.

How to cook classic bigos:

Steam the mushrooms, drain the liquid and cut them coarsely.

Chop the peeled onion and sauté lightly in butter in a large deep frying pan.

We cut the meat of all kinds into small pieces, add to the onion and stew under the lid over low heat.

Towards the end of the process, add chopped sausage, wine and spices. Evaporate up to half the volume of the liquid.

We chop fresh cabbage, add salt and stew with a small amount of water in a large thick-walled dish (not aluminum!). A stewpan or ceramic cauldron with a lid is most suitable.

Add the washed sauerkraut and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, adding water and stirring if necessary.

Add the contents of the pan to the saucepan and stir. Also add chopped mushrooms. Stew (well, or cook) from this moment for at least an hour.

10-20 minutes before readiness, add plums and at the end - garlic.

Now it’s good to let the boiler cool down and put it away for a day in a cool place. And in a day we will warm it up on a very low heat for another 40 minutes, and then you can serve bigos. It is even better to cook more bigos and eat it on the second day - then this dish will be even tastier.

Hello friends! Today I'm talking about bigos- a traditional dish of the Polish national cuisine, although they say that in ancient times the Poles stumbled this recipe from the Lithuanians. I am for the friendship of peoples and peace throughout the world, so I try not to delve deeply into such historical subtleties. The essence of bigos is a lot of different meat with smoked meats in half with fresh and sauerkraut, with all kinds of additives in the form of onions, carrots, mushrooms, apples, prunes and various seasonings. The “correct” bigos is prepared within three (!) days. In the sense that on the first day the dish is stewed for a couple of hours until the ingredients are ready, on the second day the poor fellow is taken out of the refrigerator and stewed again for an hour, and on the third day - the same strange procedure. Allegedly, in this case, bigos reaches unearthly goodness.

To be honest, I am quite satisfied with the option that is obtained on the first day. Very satisfied. There are a lot of options for bigos, of course, I will tell you about my own, adapted to the harsh reality of a working Russian woman. I will say right away - in my version there is a little fuss, the products are all available, and the taste of the dish is more than. With bigos, you can safely begin to pave the way to the heart of a man, if it is relevant for you. Do not be greedy with meat, and you will be happy.

So, the recipe for bigos in Polish.

To create bigos, we need: mail: :

• 300g sauerkraut
• 600g white cabbage
• 400 g of any meat (pork, pork + beef, pork + duck)
• 200 g smoked meats (I have a Hungarian half-smoked sausage)
• 1 bulb
• 250 g mushrooms (I have champignons)
• 100g prunes
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 150 ml dry wine
• 300 ml of water (approximately depends on the rate of boiling in your conditions)
• Oil or lard for frying

Bigos according to a simplified scheme, recipe:

1. Thinly chop the white cabbage, lightly crumple with your hands.
2. In a saucepan with a thick bottom or in a cauldron, put sauerkraut and ordinary cabbage, mix, pour water and let it boil after boiling for 20-30 minutes over medium heat.
3. At this time, we cut the meat into small cubes, fry in a small amount of oil or lard. Add to cabbage. The contents of the pot continue to stew.
4. Now chop the onion, fry and - there, in the pan.
5. We cut the mushrooms into slices and immediately send them to the pan without frying.
6. After the mushrooms, it is the turn of smoked meats and prunes. Grind into medium cubes and pour into a saucepan.
7. Add ground coriander, salt if necessary (I do not salt), pour in wine and, if necessary, a little more water. Stir and simmer over low heat. The total time the pot is on fire from the very beginning is about 1.5-2 hours. The cabbage should soften very well.
8. I highly recommend not to eat bigos right away, but cover the pan with a towel and let it brew for a couple of hours. The taste is just magical!

Bigos is ready! In general, it is supposed to add tomato paste to it during cooking, but I basically don’t do this - it clogs the taste of prunes and draws all the attention to itself. From the indicated amount of products, approximately 2 liters of meat with vegetables and mushrooms are obtained. It's a lot or a little - decide for yourself, and adjust the proportions in the direction you need. I repeat that I do not salt the dish - there is enough salt from sauerkraut and smoked sausage. Focus on your taste and be sure - everything will work out.

P.S. Reheated the next day and stewed for another hour with a little water, bigos really tastes even better! Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about the taste on the third day - the analyzed material is mercilessly eaten.

Friends, bigos (bigus) is an old traditional Polish dish that is very rich in flavors. It consists of cabbage (fresh and sauerkraut), meat and smoked meats. But today there are already a huge number of variations of this dish. For example, as it happens with us, Polish housewives also keep their culinary secrets accumulated by experience, and use all sorts of tricks to prepare the dish.
wants to tell you how to cook a classic bigos - with cabbage, pork and smoked meats. This recipe can be an excellent base for experiments, because there is no certain strictness in the Polish bigos recipe. The composition of the products can be supplemented or modified as desired, depending on personal preferences and the availability of products. It should be borne in mind that cabbage will always remain unchanged, both fresh and sauerkraut, meat and smoked meats. After all, these products are the main ones for Polish dishes. But the more different meat products are present in the dish, the tastier it will turn out!
This dish is perfect for cold weather. Due to the high content of meat fillers, bigus turns out to be very satisfying, besides, cabbage saturates the body with essential vitamins. However, if you love it, then I strongly advise you to cook bigos, I am sure that this dish will become your favorite!

And now let's look at the step-by-step preparation of bigos, the recipe is provided for you with a photo step by step.

White cabbage - 400 g
Sauerkraut - 250 g
Pork - 600 g
Any smoked meat - 250 g
Carrot - 1 piece
Onions - 2 pieces
Garlic - 2-3 cloves
Tomato paste - 2-3 tablespoons
Dry white wine - 200 ml
Salt and pepper - to taste
Pork fat - for frying

1. Let's pick up a heavy pan and put a few chopped pieces of lard into it to melt. To prepare bigos, any pan with a thick bottom, for example, cast iron or a cauldron, is suitable.

2. Peeled and grated carrots are saved in melted lard.

3. Wash the pork, cleaned of fibers and film, cut into medium pieces and put in a saucepan with carrots.

4. Fry the meat over high heat until a light brown crust forms. Although you can adjust the degree of roasting yourself.

5. Add tomato paste to the meat. Instead, you can use crushed tomato puree.

6. Wash the cabbage, finely chop and add to the pan.

7. We put sauerkraut there, with which we squeeze the brine with our hands.
Some housewives, before adding sauerkraut, wash it under running water to wash off some salt and remove sourness. You can do it too. But here, it should be borne in mind that during the washing of cabbage, most of the nutrients will be washed off from it.

8. Mix the food well and put the dish on the stove to simmer over low heat after boiling for about 20 minutes.

9. After this time, add the smoked meat cut into bars and peeled garlic cloves into the bigos.

10. Pour in the wine, season with salt and pepper and leave the dish to simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes under a closed lid.

11. Ready bigus can be served at the table immediately after preparation. Use it either on its own or with any side dish, such as boiled potatoes or rice.

Bon appetit!

I suggest watching a video recipe on how to cook Polish traditional bigos.

Friends, if you liked the recipe, then vote for it by pressing the buttons of social networks. So you say thank you to the blog. And don't forget to subscribe for new treats. I am waiting for your feedback, it is very important for me to know your opinion, this will make the site more interesting and useful. I will be glad to see you among the members of the Tasty Cuisine group in Vkontakte.
Sincerely, Lyubov Fedorova