Polish Hunter’s Stew

A stew with sauerkraut, a whole head of cabbage, and 3 types of pork? You should have seen my dad’s eyes when I told him Hank was making this recipe for us. Enjoy. ~Elise

Also known as bigos, this hearty, cabbage and pork-based stew has been called the national dish of Poland. It definitely has an Eastern European feel to it: Cabbage and sauerkraut, lots of different meats—many of the them smoked—and a variety of mushrooms. Anyone who knows anything about Eastern Europe knows they are mad about mushrooms.

Apparently the original bigos was made with wild game, but over the centuries—the dish is said to be close to 700 years old—it has become a stew of many domestic meats. Smoked sausage, mostly kielbasa, is a given, as is either bacon or a smoked ham hock. Fresh sausages, pork shoulder, veal or beef are also used.

You should know that there is no one set way to make bigos. Every cook has her own secrets, and so far as I can tell, the only constants are: many different meats, cabbage, mushrooms and black pepper. There are two main branches to the dish, one using tomatoes and tomato paste, the other using prunes. I decided on prunes here.

A word on the sauerkraut. While you can make this dish with vinegared sauerkraut, you will need to rinse and wash it several times to remove most of the vinegary taste. You should spend some effort to find simple brined sauerkraut, which is kept refrigerated. Bubbies is an excellent brand.

Use as many different kinds of mushrooms as you can, and definitely try to find dried porcini – most bigos recipes call for it. We used, dried wild mushrooms, fresh cremini mushrooms and a “chef’s sampler” pack of fresh mushrooms for this recipe.

Polish Hunter’s Stew Recipe

I used beer as the liquid, although lots of people use red wine. If you are making the tomato-based version, skip the beer and use the can of tomato sauce. If you cannot drink alcohol, use some beef stock.

Ingredients

• 1 ounce dried porcini or other wild mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp bacon fat or vegetable oil
• 2 pounds pork shoulder
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 head cabbage (regular, not savoy or red), chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds mixed fresh mushrooms
• 1-2 pounds kielbasa or other smoked sausage
• 1 smoked ham hock
• 1 pound fresh Polish sausage (optional)
• 1 25-ounce jar of fresh sauerkraut (we recommend Bubbies, which you may be able to find in the refrigerated section of your local supermarket)
• 1 bottle of pilsner or lager beer
• 1 Tbsp juniper berries (optional)
• 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp caraway seeds
• 2 Tbsp dried marjoram
• Salt
• 20 prunes, sliced in half (optional)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste (optional)
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp mustard or horseradish (optional)

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