Bigos: Polish Hunter's Stew

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook Time 2 days

Total Time 2 days 2 hours

Yield: 6/7 portions

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of sauerkraut
• 0.5 lbs white cabbage (fresh)
• 2 onions
• 1 lbs of dry wild mushrooms (or fresh, if you have some)
• 1 lbs of bacon
• 1 lbs of venison
• 0.5 lbs of Polish sausage
• 1 cup fo red wine
• 1/4 cup of dry plums
• spices (2 tablespoons each): salt, pepper, cumin, paprika
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 seed of juniper

Instructions

1. Soak wild mushrooms in a bowl overnight. Once soft, remove from the water but keep the water in a separate bowl.
2. Squeeze thoroughly your sauerkraut from the water, chop it and put it in a pot. Cover it with water.
3. Finely chop the fresh cabbage and scald the cabbage with boiling water from the kettle. Add it to your pot with sauerkraut and cook it all under the cover for about an hour.
4. Chop your venison into small pieces and fry on a low setting for about 30 minutes, mixing occasionally.
5. Add your meats and soaked mushrooms to the giant pot with the cabbage. Then add all the spices and red wine, mix it all together and cook at the lowest setting under the cover for about 2 hours. Mix it once every 30-40 minutes.
6. Leave it for a day. Repeat the process with frying the Polish sausage with bacon this time. Once cooked, add it to your pot along with mushrooms and finely chopped dry plums and water from mushrooms. Cook under the cover for additional 2 hours.
7. Serve warmed up with bread. You can heat up your bigos as many times as you need over the course of a few days. It can only get better ;-)