Bigus (bigos) - is stewed fresh and sauerkraut with meat, which is characterized by a thick consistency, slightly sour taste and notes of smokedness. The dish is considered Polish, but besides its native country it is popular in Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia. According to legend, the bigus recipe was brought to Poland by King Władysław Jagiello from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Bigus is usually served with fatty dishes, as its sourness promotes digestion. This is also an excellent appetizer for vodka and “male” liqueurs: pepper, horseradish, Borodino, etc.
There are several hundred recipes for preparing bigus, but a number of things distinguish it from ordinary stewed cabbage:
- a mixture of fresh white and sauerkraut is used in approximately equal proportions, while the sauerkraut adds characteristic sourness, and the fresh one gives juiciness;
- The composition must contain boneless meat, ideally 2 types at once - regular and smoked. The choice of meat is wide: beef, pork, chicken (the worst option due to its low fat content) and even sausages, such as frankfurters;
- classic bigus is characterized by smoked notes; this is usually achieved through the corresponding meat, but pitted prunes are also added to enhance the effect.
As additional products, you can use any available vegetables, such as onions or carrots, as well as mushrooms.
The authors of some recipes call for separately frying the meat and stewing the cabbage, then combining and simmering them together a little. However, this contradicts the very spirit of the dish - it was originally prepared by hunters in a cauldron over a fire, which precludes cooking the ingredients separately.
Classic bigus recipe
Ingredients:
- fresh white cabbage – 600 g;
- sauerkraut – 400 g;
- meat (pork) – 500 g;
- smoked ribs – 200 g (optional);
- pitted prunes – 70 g;
- animal fat (or vegetable oil) - for frying;
- dry wine (or water) – 150-200 ml;
- onions – 1 piece;
- carrots – 1 piece;
- tomato paste – 40 g (optional);
- bay leaf – 3 pieces;
- allspice – 3 peas;
- salt, ground black pepper - to taste.
Ribs (only boneless pulp will be used) can be replaced with other similar smoked meats or add 20-30 g more prunes. Instead of fat, vegetable oil is also suitable for frying, but the taste will not be as rich. The composition of seasonings and spices can be changed at your discretion.
Natural dry wine enriches the aroma and taste. Red varieties with minimal acidity are often used. White wines are too acidic and can be paired with chicken, but first soak the sauerkraut in water to reduce the acidity. Wine is not a mandatory ingredient in bigus and can be easily replaced with plain water.
Cooking technology
1. Cut the meat into pieces 5-7 cm, together with the fat layers.
2. Heat fat or vegetable oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan, saucepan, cauldron (preferred) or multicooker bowl. Fry the meat over medium heat until the liquid has completely evaporated and is lightly browned.
3. Cut the onion into quarter rings, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, chop the fresh cabbage into medium pieces, the main thing is not too small, otherwise the bigus will boil too much. Mash the cabbage slightly to release the juice.
4. Add onions and carrots to the meat, fry over medium heat until the vegetables become soft.
5. Cut the ribs into strips, then cut the meat from the bones and divide it into pieces. If using other smoked meats, prepare them in the same way. The meat should be boneless.
6. Add smoked rib meat and tomato paste to the fried vegetables, lightly salt, pour in wine or water (the liquid should be at the same level as the vegetables), stir. Simmer for 5 minutes with the lid open.
7. Add fresh and sauerkraut (pre-squeeze until dry). Stir, cover tightly, simmer over low heat for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Attention! If the sauerkraut is very sour or the recipe uses dry white wine, you should first soak the cabbage in cold water for 60-90 minutes and then squeeze it out.
8. Pour bitter water over the prunes, leave for 3-5 minutes, then remove and dry with paper towels. Add prunes to bigus. Do not cut dried fruits into pieces, otherwise the pulp will boil and turn into porridge.
9. Add bay leaf, allspice, salt and pepper to taste. Mix.
10. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes.
11. Divide the finished bigus into portions and serve hot with fresh bread. It is believed that the dish fully reveals its taste only the next day, when it is infused under a closed lid.
Bigus with pork Interestingly, when heated, bigus loses minimal taste and aroma, so it is prepared in large batches and frozen.
Bigos is a traditional Polish dish based on meat and cabbage. At the same time, real bigus is as different from ordinary stewed cabbage with meat as much as imperial stout is different from Zhigulevskoe. This is an amazing, undoubtedly festive dish with an ancient, very interesting history, an unusual set of products and a complex recipe. Complex, but at the same time completely reproducible at home. Well, let's study!
According to the classic recipe, bigos is prepared from a mixture of fresh and sauerkraut, with a variety of meat ingredients, smoked meats, dried fruits and alcohol - wine or beer. But simply combining all this in a cauldron is not enough - there are a lot of nuances in cooking, compliance with each of which has a positive effect on the result. Of course, it’s an ancient dish; the recipe was honed by Polish chefs for centuries until it reached perfection. This is not for you, which is different for every housewife - here everything needs to be done according to science. Although a certain amount of fantasy is still allowed - where would we be without it?
Who and when invented bigos is not known exactly. The Poles were preparing something with this name already in the 16th century, which is confirmed by written sources. Back then, they didn’t put cabbage in bigos - it was made from finely chopped meat, especially game, fish and even crayfish. Recipes are described in the books “Compendium Ferculorum” by Stanisław Czerniecki (1682) or “The Perfect Cook” by Wojciech Wielondko (1783). The bigus of that time would hardly be to the taste of a modern gourmet - the meat was heavily seasoned with lemon juice, sugar and dried fruits, and the amount of hot spices was simply jaw-dropping - baroque cuisine, what can you say!
What can you not cook bigos according to the classic recipe without?
Like any other dish, bigus needs a certain basic set of ingredients. In my opinion, the main thing that shapes the taste of this dish is:
- Cabbage. Be sure to have a mixture of fresh and fermented – there’s no other way! Fresh, properly fried cabbage will give sweetness, a characteristic aroma, a dark, slightly caramel color, and pickled cabbage will give it sourness.
- Meat component. Of course, vegetarian bigos is nonsense. There should be meat in it, and in abundance: 1 part meat products to one and a half parts cabbage. The best choice: pork pulp, veal, smoked meats (smoked pork ribs are ideal, chicken is a little worse), sausages: from Krakow sausage or hunting sausages to blood sausages and even sausages or bacon. In general, it is believed that the more types of meat there are in bigos, the better it is. At least three meat products. My tried and tested basic set is: pork, smoked ham and blood sausage.
- Prunes, definitely smoked! I will repeat the words of one Moscow chef I read on the Internet: “no prunes - no bigos!” In addition to prunes, you can add other dried fruits to the dish: smoked pears, dried apricots, raisins.
- Spices. Classic seasonings for bigos are, in general, a basic set of “European-style” spices. Required: cumin. Variation: fennel, coriander, rosemary, thyme, sage, dill, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom. Of course, peppers: black, red, white, allspice. A little paprika wouldn't hurt for a brighter color.
- Alcohol. The standard option is red wine. But here it all depends on your imagination - I prefer bigos with dark beer, you can use wheat beer, white wine, Madeira, even cognac! But some kind of alcohol is definitely needed - both for the aroma, and for the correct acidity, and so that the cabbage has a more delicate taste.
And one more important thing you will need - time. Bigus is not a quick dish. It is in no hurry. Expect to spend a couple of hours, maybe more, preparing. Plus, bigos needs to sit for another hour before tasting. This is what - in the old days, bigus was considered ready only on the third day: after cooking, it was put out in the cold overnight, the next day it was reheated and stewed, then again in the cold, reheated again and cold again. Of course, in our time, “throwing bigos before swine” is overkill, but it won’t hurt to let the dish brew in its finished form.
There are hundreds of species of bigos. In addition to the traditional one (“Old Polish”), there are recipes in German (with sausages), Kielcewski or Świętokrzyzski (only with sauerkraut), Belarusian (without sauerkraut) and Lithuanian (with pickled or pickled apples). Hunter's bigos is made with game - hazel grouse, pheasants, quail, and juniper berries, robber's - with finely chopped lard and a small amount of meat. In addition to all this splendor, one can count several hundred related dishes, for example, Segedin goulash, with baked cabbage and wine-sour cream sauce.
Traditional Polish bigos
So, we prepare bigos in the old Polish way, from sauerkraut and fresh cabbage with pork, chicken and blood. In the photo below are the ingredients that I used for my bigos (meat was not included in the frame).
As already mentioned, smoked chicken is not the best option; bigos turns out better with pork ribs. But - what can you do! – normal ribs (not boiled-smoked, but hot, or even better, cold-smoked) are not always on sale. It is better to choose meat that is not of the highest grade - it should contain inclusions of connective tissue, maybe even bones - this way the broth will be tastier and richer, and the pieces of pork will definitely not boil over during cooking.
Step 1. Preparation
Almost everything that goes into bigos is pre-fried. In order not to make the dish too fatty, it is better to use a small amount of sunflower oil; cabbage can generally be fried in a dry frying pan with a non-stick coating. I use a large metal cauldron for cooking. This is the most correct option, since the “everything in one pan” principle is generally most characteristic of Eastern European cooking.
- Cut the meat into pieces the size of a matchbox. If the pork is tough or you are using beef, you can simmer it a little after frying. But usually this is not required - in an hour and a half, while the bigos is stewing, the meat will already become soft.
- Add chopped smoked meats to the meat and fry over high heat. I put the leg along with the bones - this makes the dish tastier, and during the cooking process the bones soften so much that they can be eaten whole.
- Cut the onion into rings or half rings, place in the cauldron and fry until golden brown.
- You must first prepare both types of cabbage. Fresh - chop or cut thinly, sprinkle with salt and knead thoroughly with your hands or with a rolling pin on a board. It is especially important not to skip this step if you are using coarse, tough winter cabbage. You need to squeeze out the sauerkraut and cut it, leave the brine - it will come in handy later.
- First, add fresh cabbage to the cauldron, fry until the color changes and a characteristic aroma appears, with light caramel notes. Add the sauerkraut and fry again – now you need to be careful so that it doesn’t burn.
- Add a little salt, paprika, bay leaf. Fill our mash with beer and the remaining brine from the cabbage - the liquid should completely or almost completely cover the vegetables; if there is not enough, add a little water. We wait until it boils, stir, reduce the heat to low, and cover with a lid. That's it, we're completely free for the next hour!
It is believed that the taste of bigos was finally formed in the 18th century, at the time of the partitions of Poland. The importance of this national dish for the Polish people cannot be overestimated. For example, the saying “rąbać Tatarz na bigosy drobne”, “to chop the Tatars into small bigos” means someone’s warlike attitude, “narobić bigosu” means “to do some bad things”. In general, it is customary to call “bigus” something finely chopped, as well as – contemptuously – something yesterday’s, not the first freshness. In Roman Zaluzsky’s film “Anatomy of Love”, the main character, trying a dish, says to Barbara Brylska’s heroine - “Bardzo dobry jest bigos!”, which was translated into Russian as “you turned out very tasty!”
Step 2. Braising
To cook bigos correctly, you shouldn't rush. Before proceeding with the last steps, the cabbage must be completely ready - become absolutely soft, tender in consistency. This can take less than an hour, or much more - it depends on the cabbage itself, the temperature and much more.
- Finely chop the prunes. You can throw a few whole berries into the cauldron for beauty.
- Cut the blood sausage into thick slices and fry in a separate frying pan on both sides - it acquires a beautiful, almost black color.
- We prepare the spices - cumin and coriander grains and other large spices can be heated in a dry frying pan to intensify the aroma, and then crushed.
- Place the blood clot, prunes and spices into the cauldron and mix thoroughly. Bigos only has about 10-15 minutes left to simmer.
- At this time, peel and chop the garlic. Prepare the lemon and sugar - you may need to adjust the acidity of the dish.
- That's it, it's time to take the first sample! Add what you think the dish is missing – salt, pepper (it’s better to use red). If there is not enough sourness, add the juice of half a lemon; if it is too much, add half a tablespoon of sugar. Not enough spices? You have the last chance to enrich the taste of bigus with additional spices! Throw in the garlic and let the dish bubble for another 2-3 minutes.
When the bigos is almost ready, you need to cover it with a lid and let it sit for at least an hour. If you have enough time and patience, you can simply take it out onto a cold balcony, and the very next day you can heat it up and serve it, it will be even tastier.
Step 3. Submission
Our dish is a self-sufficient thing; bigos is not supposed to be served as a side dish. Although I have come across recipes for bigus with rice - perhaps this makes sense if the food turns out to be too fatty and some kind of sorbent with a neutral taste is needed. Otherwise, a few pieces of black bread are enough - the Poles like to eat bigus with Radziwillsky or Narochansky, but Borodinsky, Belovezhsky, preferably pure rye, are quite suitable - it has a characteristic sourness that perfectly sets off the taste of cabbage. Additionally, you can serve pickles - cucumbers, mushrooms, pickled hot peppers. Well, of course, sprinkle fresh herbs - dill, parsley - just before serving.
But with alcoholic accompaniment - there is a lot of room for imagination! Bigus prepared according to the classic recipe goes well with many European vodkas - , Ukrainian pepper, . But the best choice is, of course,! If you want something lighter, take dark or rye beer, always with a pronounced bitterness and a bright hop aroma.
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 were heated in pots with a lid, tightly sealed with dough, until a noisy crack was heard - the “explosion” indicated the desired temperature. Respected nobles went hunting, on long hikes, and 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) are included, the tastier the 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 stewed mixture, infused with aromas, does not lose quality. It was not in vain that they once stocked up for future use, first froze the brew, thawed it on the appointed day, and reheated it.
Cooking time: 100 minutes / Number of servings: 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.
- carrots 1 pc.
- apples 1-2 pcs.
- vegetable oil 30 ml
- coriander, pepper, thyme, salt - to taste
Preparation
Big photos Small photos
Chop large juicy carrots and onions into cubes or in another convenient way - first, throw the onion slices into a frying pan with hot vegetable oil, fry for two or three minutes until translucent, do not let them burn. Then add the carrots, stir and continue sautéing over moderate heat for the next 5-6 minutes. Vegetables should be thoroughly soaked in oil. At the same time, chop fresh white cabbage into long strips - use a knife or a grater board, or a food processor with a special attachment.
We immediately stock up on another frying pan. You can start cooking in a cauldron - I find it convenient 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 and dry three pieces of meat: chicken fillet, pork and beef. Divide into relatively large cubes. When the fatty brisket is thoroughly rendered, add the meat, stir occasionally and fry at high temperature until golden brown for about 5-7 minutes. At this stage, we don’t season it, we just “seal” the meat on the outside, preserving the juiciness and moisture inside.
Now we throw the softened carrot and onion sauté, chopped fresh cabbage and sauerkraut along with brine into a spacious cauldron. In my case, the sauerkraut turned out to be so salty that the dish did not need to be salted at all. Don't rush with the salt, leave it aside until the end of cooking. Stir the vegetable mix, simmer for about 20 minutes on your own - the tough cabbage will release its juice, become saturated with steam, and become softer.
Load in fried semi-cooked pork, chicken and beef. Add concentrated tomato paste (you don’t need to dilute it with water, since there is usually more than enough moisture and we will add wine first). We flavor it with spicy coriander grains, laurel, for spiciness we omit hot black peppercorns - grind the spices if desired. Once again, stirring, maintain moderate heat, continue to simmer for the next half hour to forty minutes. Sometimes we lift the lower layers with a spatula and separate them from the walls.
We divide sweet and sour strong apples of green varieties into cubes - additional freshness and fruity sourness of bigos according to a traditional recipe with a photo will not hurt. Sometimes they take pickled apples and pickled cucumbers.
Next we add the last components: smoked plums (pitted), divided into three or four fragments, rings of hunting sausages or other meat products from the category of delicious smoked meats. Pour in dry wine - white is often used instead of red. After stirring, boil, reduce the temperature and, at a moderate boil, evaporate the liquid almost completely - about 20-30 minutes. During this period, all ingredients thoroughly exchange odors and pass through with aromatic steam.
Do you agree that bigos according to a traditional Polish recipe with a photo is not difficult? One of the important advantages is that the dish remains incredibly tasty when chilled. Bon appetit!
"...There is bigos in the cauldrons. There is no such word to describe it by taste and color. What is a word? The fruit of the mind. What is a rhyme? Just fog. The stomach of the townspeople will not capture the essence. Those who have not lived in Lithuania will in his assessments, he is insipid, Does not know the food, and has not tasted the songs. Yes, bigos is a delicacy, a special composition, Where is the combination of all the spices and seasonings. The sauerkraut is crumbled there with love, It fits into the mouth itself, according to the proverb. The cabbage sweats, steams on the fire , Underneath it, a layer of meat languishes in the depths. But now the boiling juices have fermented, And drips splashed along the edge with steam, The strongest aroma crawled along the clearing. Done! Three times everyone exclaimed “Vivat!” They rushed, armed with spoons for battle, Ramming the copper cauldrons in a ferocious crowd. Where is bigos? Where? Disappeared. Only in the depths of the cauldron, In a faded crater, the darkness still smokes..." This is how bigos sang in the poem "Pan Tadeusz" by a poet officially considered the most national poet of Poland, a poet who in the 19th century comprehended the national spirit Poles and who expressed it in his work - Adam Mickiewicz. But why does Mickiewicz write that bigos is a Lithuanian dish! Yes. Because bigos is popular in Lithuania, as well as in Belarus, the Czech Republic, and Germany, but it became a truly national dish only in Poland. Only in Poland they treat it with such love and recommend it to guests who want to experience the Polish spirit. It is no coincidence that this word has become part of many Polish proverbs and sayings, and it does not always sound in them in a culinary sense: rąbać Tatarz na bigosy drobne (“chop the Tatars into small pieces, into small bigos” - a joke about someone’s warlike mood ); narobić bigosu (“do bigos” - do things), takie bigosy (“such bigos” - such things). By the way, I recently rewatched the old Polish film “Anatomy of Love” by Roman Zaluzski. There is a scene when Adam (Jan Nowicki) and Eve (Barbara Brylska) find themselves in the kitchen. Adam stands and tries something. In the Russian translation, he says to Eva: “You turned out delicious!” Although in the original it actually sounds like this: - Bardzo dobry jest bigos! (Very tasty bigos!) I think that it would be quite possible to translate Adam’s words into Russian literally. So, what is bigos? The Dictionary of the Polish Language lists several modern meanings of this word: - a dish of different types of chopped meat and cabbage; - dish revelers, revelers; - hunters' dish; - yesterday's food; - something stale; - everything that is cut is chopped. The word “bigos” itself most likely came into the Polish language even before all the main components of the dish itself were finally formed. On a Polish website I read an article by Polish etymologist Andrzej Bankowski about the possible origin of the word “bigos”. A. Bankowski suggests that perhaps this word is formed from the participle of the German verbs begießen (“to water” - begossen) and beigießen (“to top up” - beigossen). This word is mentioned in the monuments of Polish writing already in the 16th century, but not in relation to a dish of cabbage and meat, but in the meanings of “fish broth”, “small fish soup” and “strong meat broth". This is why some researchers also suggest that the word comes from the Italian name for a pot for preparing broth, and also made from this broth and finely chopped meat or fish (a kind of jelly). This pot is called bigutta. What else can be said about bigos? Poles usually cook a lot of it. They say that the more often you reheat bigos, the tastier it becomes, and the most delicious It’s done only on the third day. Exactly the same as they say about borscht! This is probably why the Poles sometimes jokingly call yesterday’s dish bigos, and in relation to something stale, bad they will pronounce this word condemningly, rudely. They ate bigos everywhere: both in a poor peasant house and in a rich nobleman's palace (palace), they ate it while hunting, they ate it on a long hike. Just as the Russians, setting out on the road in winter, froze cabbage soup in special containers, so the Poles took frozen bigos with them, and at the parking lot they simply cut off the desired piece and reheated it. You can find many options for preparing this dish, like borscht, in Poland, more than one in different parts of the country. I've tried many variations, but the classic one is definitely Old Polish bigos. It is believed that in proper Polish bigos, one part of different types of meat should be one and a half parts of cabbage. Cabbage can be used fresh or pickled, both together and separately. In Warsaw, in one of the churches, I tried, for example, bigos made only from sauerkraut, the so-called Kielce or Świętokrzyzka version. But mostly they put both sauerkraut and fresh cabbage in bigos.
Description
The Polish national dish is far from the easiest to prepare. However, all the effort we put into creating this dish is worth it.
The taste of meat and cabbage prepared in this way will seem literally cosmic to you. A huge number of different meat tones that saturate our bigos will be fully felt in the mouth.
This step-by-step recipe for preparing traditional bigos with photos will describe in detail the process of creating this dish at home.
Don't be intimidated by the number of ingredients for bigos: Poles often prepare this dish in huge portions and freeze it for the winter.
In addition to the specified spices and seasonings for our bigos, we allow the use of the following flavoring additives: E0123, E456, E789, E1011, E1213.
Bigos will be prepared in several stages and several days, however, this is what will allow us to ultimately enjoy the taste of the original real Polish bigos.
Let's start preparing such an unusual dish as the Polish traditional bigos with sauerkraut.
Ingredients
-
(800 g) -
(spatula, 400 g) -
(neck, 400 g) -
(100 g) -
(1 PC.) -
(1 tbsp.) -
(1 kg) -
(500 g) -
(50 g) -
(green - 2 pcs., red - 1 pc.) -
(20 pcs.) -
(2 pcs.) -
(1 handful) -
(150 g) -
Cooked smoked sausage
(6 pcs.) -
(6 pcs.) -
(150 g) -
(taste) -
(1 tbsp.) -
(1 handful) -
(1 handful) -
(1 pinch) -
(1 pinch) -
(taste)
Cooking steps
To prepare bigus, purchase a whole fresh duck, wash it thoroughly and separate it into breast, frame, wings and drumsticks. We won’t need the breast for this recipe, so you can safely cook whatever you want from it. Carefully cut off the thick fatty skin from the legs and chop them quite finely as shown in the photo.
Place the frame of the bird, as well as the not too fleshy wings, into a deep and very large pan, pour water into it to the very top and set to cook over medium heat. To prepare bigus you need a lot of rich and thick broth, so don’t skimp on water.
We wash a piece of the same fresh beef and dry it with a paper towel, then cut it into fairly large cubes: it is better to take the meat from the shoulder blade.
We wash the indicated amount of pork neck in the same way as beef and dry it.
Cut the pork to match the beef.
We should have more than a kilogram of finished meat for making bigus.
The easiest way to prepare such a dish is in a special duck pot, but any other cast-iron pot or deep enough frying pan will do. Place the prepared duck fat and previously shredded skin on the bottom of the dish chosen for cooking. Fry the skin until it begins to turn golden and the fat has completely melted.
Using a slotted spoon, remove pieces of fried skin from the frying pan or roasting pan onto a paper towel, and instead place chopped onions at the bottom of the dish.
Fry the onion slices until soft and transparent over medium heat, then remove the dishes from the stove.
In an additional, equally dense frying pan, heat a small amount of vegetable oil and place the chopped pork neck on it. Fry the pieces of meat until they acquire an appetizing golden brown crust.
Place the pork from the frying pan into the roasting pan with the fried onions.
In the same frying pan, now fry the pieces of previously chopped beef. Cook the ingredient until it has the same delicious thick crust and send the beef slices to the duck roaster. We repeat the manipulations with the remaining duck legs.
Pour half of the entire specified amount of dry red wine into the bottom of the frying pan in which all the meat was previously fried. Using a wooden spatula, carefully scrape off from the bottom of the pan everything that has stuck to it while frying the meat, mix the fat with wine and cook until the structure of the sauce becomes a uniform color. Pour the resulting liquid over the meat and onions.
Return the duckling to low heat, add the previously fried duck skin and half a glass of broth bubbling on the adjacent burner. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Cover the duckling with a tight lid and simmer the ingredients for 30 minutes.
During all this time, the duck broth should have already been cooked, so we filter it through a colander or sieve. Return the clean broth to the lowest heat in a clean saucepan so that it remains warm throughout the cooking process.
We separate the meat from the bones from the wings and frame of the duck, chop it with a sharp knife and add it to the ingredients stewed in the duckling. Stir the assorted meats, add a little more broth if necessary and continue to simmer the dish under a closed lid for another 30 minutes.
Pour the entire specified amount of sauerkraut into a deep cast-iron cauldron or a dish that meets all the criteria, fill it halfway with duck broth and cook in simmer mode over low heat for 60 minutes.
Pour finely chopped fresh cabbage into the remaining duck broth, add a little salt and cook until fully cooked.
Pour the boiled cabbage without excess liquid into a cauldron with stewed sauerkraut, add all the previously prepared meat, mix the ingredients thoroughly and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes. We remove excess bones from the cauldron: the meat will fall away from them on its own. We put the cauldron with meat and cabbage in the refrigerator or any other cold place overnight.
The next day we will devote to preparing additional ingredients that will dramatically change the taste of our dish. Soak the porcini mushrooms in cold water the night before.
The next morning, remove the cauldron and mushrooms from the refrigerator. Chop the mushrooms and add to the meat and cabbage.
Pour in the water in which they were soaked and mix the ingredients.
Wash a couple of green apples, remove stems and seals, then cut into cubes and place in a cauldron.
Rinse the dried fruits and soak in boiling water for 10 minutes, then chop and add to the rest of the ingredients in the cauldron.
Mix the chopped dried fruits with meat and cabbage, add raisins.
Cut 150 grams of sausage and the same number of sausages into rings or cubes.
We send the sausage slices to the bigus.
Turn on the smallest fire under the cauldron, add the remaining wine to the ingredients and simmer them under a closed lid for 3 hours.
Let's prepare the necessary ingredients for serving bigus.
Pour a handful of black peppercorns, the indicated amount of cumin and a little juniper into a mortar. Thoroughly knead and grind the spices.
Place part of the bigos that you want to serve in a fireproof container, and return the rest of the product to the refrigerator.
We separate the pork ribs from each other and place them together with whole smoked sausages in a mold with a bigus as shown in the photo.
We wash the remaining apple, cut off the base and lightly pierce the peel with the tip of a sharp knife.
Place the apple, base down, in the center of the bigos pan.
Preheat the oven to 140-150 degrees and bake the bigus in it under a closed lid for 4 hours.
We send the baked bigus to a cold place or first cool it and then put it in the refrigerator for a day. After this, we return the bigus to the kitchen and let it brew to room temperature. Upon completion of this process, bake the dish for another 60 minutes in an oven preheated to 100 degrees, leave in a warm place for 30 minutes and serve. Traditional Polish bigos is ready.
Bon appetit!
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