Polish Stew Food

BIGOS (POLISH HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Place sauerkraut in a large pan or casserole dish and pour in 4 cups of boiling water. Add prunes, allspice, and bay leaves. Simmer until Sauerkraut is soft, about 50 minutes.
• Pour about 1 cup of boiling water over mushrooms and soak to rehydrate, about 30 minutes. Drain and chop mushrooms, reserving the liquid.
• Heat oil in a frying pan over medium to high heat. Add onion and sausage. Saute while stirring until onion is soft and sausage is browned, about 5 minutes.
• In a separate pan, bring about 4 cups of water to a boil. Add beef, pork, and bacon. Simmer until cooked through for 20 minutes, then drain.
• When sauerkraut is soft, add the drained meat mixture, sausage-onion mixture, and soaked mushrooms; mix well. Simmer uncovered over low heat, about 20 minutes.
• Pour in red wine and cook for 15 minutes until flavors are well blended. Season with caraway seeds, marjoram, salt, and pepper. Stir in tomato puree. If the stew is too dry, pour in some of the water reserved from soaking the mushrooms, and simmer so flavors combine, about 5 minutes.

CHEF JOHN'S BIGOS (POLISH HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Place mushrooms in warm water to soak and soften, 10 or 15 minutes. Drain and chop.
• Heat butter in a heavy pot or Dutch oven; add sauerkraut and sliced cabbage. Cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally. Brown the meat and add it to pot while sauerkraut is cooking per directions below.
• Heat skillet over medium-high heat; add bacon and cook until browned but not crisp. Transfer bacon to pot with cabbage, leaving bacon grease in skillet.
• Brown pork shoulder pieces in bacon grease over medium-high heat. Sprinkle with salt. Cook and stir until browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer pork to pot. Add beef chunks to skillet; sprinkle with salt. Cook and stir until browned, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add sausage slices to skillet and cook and stir until browned. Transfer slices to pot.
• Reduce heat under skillet to medium. Add chopped onion and a sprinkle of salt; cook and stir until onion turns translucent and starts to take on some color. Stir in chopped mushrooms and diced prunes. Cook and stir about 2 minutes. Pour in dry red wine; raise heat to medium-high. Simmer until wine is reduced to where very little liquid remains. Transfer onion mixture to pot with cabbage and meat. Add paprika, caraway seeds, thyme, allspice, bay leaf, pepper, and salt. Stir to evenly distribute all ingredients.
• Cover tightly; simmer over medium-low heat until meat is tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Allow stew to cool slightly; refrigerate overnight to let flavors blend.
• Place pot over low to medium-low heat and add a splash of water. Bring stew to low simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook until hot, 10 to 15 minutes.

MOM'S POLISH STEWED CABBAGE

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook and stir onions and garlic in hot oil until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Stir cabbage, vinegar, caraway seeds, and sugar with the onion mixture; bring to a simmer and cook until the cabbage is softened, about 15 minutes.
• Stir sausage, tomatoes, and salsa with the cabbage mixture; season with salt and pepper. Place a cover on the Dutch oven and cook until cabbage is completely tender, 45 to 60 minutes.

POLISH BEAN AND SAUSAGE STEW

Steps:

• Place cannellini beans into a large container and cover with several inches of cool water; let soak 8 hours to overnight. Drain and add to a large pot. Cover with fresh water and cook on low heat until beans are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat while beans are cooking. Add bacon and sausage and cook until browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer meats to a bowl, reserving some of the grease in the skillet.
• Cook onions in the reserved grease until browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Add to bowl with meats.
• Stir meat mixture, bay leaves, and allspice into the cooked beans and bring to a simmer. Add tomatoes, marjoram, garlic, salt, and pepper and continue to simmer, 10 to 15 minutes. Add water if there is not enough liquid in the pot.
• Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, add flour, and stir into a paste. Remove from heat and add to stew; stir in paprika powder. Simmer until stew has thickened, about 15 minutes.

BIGOS (HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and kielbasa; cook and stir until the bacon has rendered its fat and sausage is lightly browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and transfer to a large casserole or Dutch oven.
• Coat the cubes of pork lightly with flour and fry them in the bacon drippings over medium-high heat until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to the casserole. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, fresh mushrooms, cabbage and sauerkraut. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir until the carrots are soft, about 10 minutes. Do not let the vegetables brown.
• Deglaze the pan by pouring in the red wine and stirring to loosen all of the bits of food and flour that are stuck to the bottom. Season with the bay leaf, basil, marjoram, paprika, salt, pepper, caraway seeds and cayenne pepper; cook for 1 minute.
• Mix in the dried mushrooms, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, tomato paste and tomatoes. Heat through just until boiling. Pour the vegetables and all of the liquid into the casserole dish with the meat. Cover with a lid.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until meat is very tender.

POLISH STEW

Steps:

• Sauté sausage 15 minutes; remove to casserole.
• Add oil to sausage drippings; brown beef in oil, 15 minutes; remove to casserole.
• Sauté onion; add to casserole.
• Sauté mushrooms with sauerkraut and wine.
• Add tomato sauce, soy sauce, caraway seeds and vegetable seasoning.
• Add this to casserole also, mixing well.
• Cover and bake at 375°F for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Stir casserole every 30 minutes.
• Or cook in crock pot on high heat for 4 hours.

POLISH SAUSAGE STEW

Steps:

• Combine soup, sugar, and sauerkraut.
• Stir in sausage, potatoes, and onions.
• Cover; cook on Low 8 hours, or on High 4 hours.
• Stir in cheese and serve.

POLISH HUNTER'S STEW

Steps:

• Cook the bacon until well browned and crisp.
• Remove bacon and reserve.
• Add onion to bacon drippings and saute until golden.
• Add mushrooms and saute briefly.
• Add flour, mix, then add wine and deglaze pan.
• Combine all ingredients including the drained sauerkraut and bacon in a braising pan and add enough rather thin brown veal or chicken stock to almost cover.
• Place in a 350 degree oven with cover until meats are tender.
• Serve with a dolop of sour cream.
• NOTE: This dish has traditionally been used as way to use leftover roasts at the end of a holiday period and the above meats are only a suggestion.
• Literally any meats, fowl or game may be used and the dish is better when reheated.
• Turkey leftover from Thanksgiving would be a good use of this recipe.
• Additional cabbage may be added besides the sauerkraut if desired.

MOM'S POLISH STEW

Steps:

• Cut the core out of the cabbage. Rinse & cut into quarters then cut the quarters in half. Peel the potatoes & cut into large chunks.
• Cut the sausage into 1/2 inch pieces. Then brown in a frying pan for 5 minutes.
• Add all the ingredients into a large pot except the cheese. Add enough water to the pot to cover the cabbage.
• Cover & cook over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes. The soup is done once the potatoes are tender.
• Optional: Halfway through cooking cut the cheese into chunks & add to the soup. Stir until melted.