Bigos is a famous and much-beloved Polish dish. It is a traditional hunter's stew and there are a dizzying variety of recipes out there for it. The foundation is always cabbage and pork, but approaches diverge from there.

It usually involves a mix of sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, although some recipes may use only sauerkraut and you can also find instructions for making it with only fresh cabbage. As far as I've seen, it always involves some sort of bacon or salt pork and some may also add fresh pork and/or ham. Most recipes call for kielbasa and/or dried Polish sausage as well. Venison is a very popular inclusion, although some recipes call for beef and/or veal either instead of or as well as the venison. A few recipes suggest incorporating chicken and/or duck, while others say that bigos must never contain poultry. And, as a hunter's stew, mushrooms are also a popular ingredient, either fresh or dried.

Onion, garlic, bay leaves, allspice, salt, and pepper seem to be the popular choice for seasonings. Although some recipes rely on Maggi sauce for whatever flavour is needed above and beyond that coming from the cabbage and meat. Most -- but not all -- of the recipes I looked at included a sweet element. For many, that simply meant adding a bit of sugar, but one actually suggested chopped pitted prunes to add a bit of sweetness. (A suggestion that I chose to follow in my rendition of this delicious stew!)

So, as you can see, there's quite a bit of variety in how this one-pot meal can be put together. The recipe that follows is based on combining elements of several different recipes, both from published cookbooks and personal family recipes that were sent to me by a friend. The resulting stew was fantastic! (Although I do think it probably would have been even better with some venison added to the pot, but I didn't have any venison and I did have a lot of beef, so that's what I used.)

This makes for a wonderful, satisfying dinner. Especially with a slice or two of fresh, home-made bread! And I'm looking forward to enjoying some of the leftovers with perogies tonight as well.

Bigos

Adapted from Applebaum, two different Polish Cookery recipes, and two family recipes

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. bacon grease (or lard), divided
• 400g back bacon, diced
• 450g stewing beef
• 300g kielbasa, diced
• 2 onions, chopped
• 6-7 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 c. white wine
• 1 1/2 c. water (or as needed), divided
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 allspice berries
• 1 cinnamon stick¹ (optional)
• 2 carrots, julienned or minced
• 20g dried procini mushrooms
• 1 cabbage, thinly sliced and chopped
• 900g sauerkraut, drained
• 1 c. pitted prunes, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided

Directions

1. Melt 1 Tbsp. of the bacon grease over medium-high heat.
2. Add the bacon, beef, and keilbasa and cook, stirring as needed, to sear the outside.
3. Once the meat has some colour on all (or at least most) sides, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
4. Reduce heat to medium and add the remaining bacon grease.
5. Add the onions and garlic and cook until softened, stirring frequently (~10 minutes).
6. Add flour and cook, stirring frequently, until flour is no longer raw (~3 minutes).
7. Stir in wine, mix well, then add 1/2 c. of the water and stir to combine.
8. Add the bay leaves, allspice, and cinnamon (if using).
9. Add the carrots, mushrooms, another 1/2 c. of water, and as much of the cabbage as you can fit² and still have room for the meat.
10. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
11. Add the sauerkraut and prunes and return the meat to the pot.
12. Season with ~1/2 the pepper and (carefully) stir to combine. Add another 1/2 c. of water if it seems to need it, but be aware that the meat and cabbage will release some liquid as they cook.
13. Cover and simmer for ~1 hour, stirring occasionally.
14. If you couldn't fit all of the cabbage into the pot before, add the rest now if there's room.
15. Add more liquid if necessary (depending on whether you like a thick or brothy stew).
16. Cover and simmer for another hour (or longer if you have time), stirring occasionally and adding more water as necessary.
17. Add the remaining 1/4 tsp. of pepper and stir to combine. You may want to taste the broth at this point. Adjust the seasonings as necessary.
18. Serve with buttered bread.

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¹ None of the recipes called for any cinnamon and I didn't use any when I made my bigos. But after tasting it, I do think that a hint of cinnamon would go nicely with the other flavours, so I might try it out next time. ^Back
2 I could only fit ~1/2 the cabbage into the pot at this point, but I was able to add the rest later one the stew had cooked down a bit. Just be patient and let it simmer. ^Back

I was planning on making myself some savoury sausage crumbles for breakfast the other day. But then breakfast rolled around and I wasn't really feeling it. And come dinner time, I was looking at the recipe and the recommended portion size and thinking that it didn't really look substantial enough to be satiating. So I started casting about for something else to do with chicken sausages. That I could make with the ingredients I already had on hand. And wouldn't take too long. And would be tasty and satisfying. Oh, and wouldn't put me over my Points target for the day. So... a fair few requirements.

Eventually I settled on a recipe for a fairly simple combination of chicken sausage, sauerkraut, and potatoes. I made a few tweaks to match what I had on hand and cut the Points a bit, but I kept the general idea.

It's honestly pretty similar to how we often do perogies. Just with potatoes standing in for the perogies. And, because you're cooking the potatoes in the skillet, it gets a bunch of liquid added as well. (If you decide that you want to make this with perogies, just boil them separately and omit the broth/stock and wine.)

I added a chopped apple to my skillet. I figured it would go nicely with the caraway and sausage. I think a red bell pepper would also be a nice addition. And, if you are doing this with perogies (and you're not dieting), you can always top it with cheese and/or sour cream. Oh, or some good grainy mustard. I think that would also be excellent.

Sausage and Sauerkraut Skillet

Adapted from Eating Well

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 450g potatoes, sliced
• 450g chicken or turkey sausage, cooked and sliced
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1/4 tsp. caraway seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 1/2 c. sauerkraut, rinsed
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 apple, chopped (optional)
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add potatoes, and cook, stirring frequently for a minute or two.
3. Add onion and sausage and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add caraway and bay leaf and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
5. Add sauerkraut, wine, chicken stock, pepper, apple, and bell pepper (if using).
6. Cover and cook until potatoes are tender (10-15 minutes).
7. Serve alone or with sour cream and/or grainy mustard.

This recipe was meant to be made with pork tenderloin. I didn't have any pork tenderloin, but I did have a cottage roll that I'd picked up on sale a while back. I figured that maybe if I left the salt out of this recipe and boiled the roll for a while first, I could get away with using it here.

My cottage roll was a little over 1.7kg and the recipe only wanted 900g of pork, so I ended up boiling it until it was cooked through and then cutting it in half and using half for this recipe and half for a boil-up type dinner the next night.

I'm really happy with how this came out. The apples were delicious. And TF really appreciated the generous quantity of caraway. Unfortunately the Kidlet wasn't a big fan of the apples. But we all liked the pork. And it went really well with some mashed potatoes.

Caraway Pork with Sauerkraut and Apples

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2016

Ingredients

• 2 pork tenderloins (~450g each)
• 1 Tbsp. caraway seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. oil or bacon grease, divided
• 2-3 apples, halved, cored, and sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 450g sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill¹

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250°C (475°F).
2. Pat pork dry and sprinkle with caraway seeds, salt, and pepper.
3. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the pork and cook until browned on all sides (5-6 minutes). Transfer to a plate and set aside.
5. Add remaining oil, apples, and onion to pan and cook over medium heat for ~5 minutes.
6. Add sauerkraut and sugar.
7. Place pork on top of sauerkraut mixture.
8. Bake at 250°C (475°F) until pork reaches an internal temperature of 60°C/140°F (10-15 minutes).
9. Remove from oven, cover, and rest for 5 minutes.
10. Slice pork and sprinkle sauerkraut mixture with dill.

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¹ I didn't have any fresh dill so I subsitituted 1 tsp. of lightly bruised dill seeds. I added them in with the sauerkraut instead of waiting until the end since I felt like that would give better flavour. If using the fresh herb, I would've added it at the end like the recipe says. ^Back