Bigos

Ingredients

• 800 g sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
• 500 g white cabbage, shredded
• 400 g kielbasa, sliced
• 500 g pork shoulder, cubed
• 150 g smoked bacon, diced
• 2 onions, sliced
• 25 g dried mushrooms
• 100 g prunes, halved
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 3 bay leaves
• 250 ml red wine
• 500 ml stock

Method

1. Render and brown

   Cook the bacon until its fat runs, then brown the pork hard in it.

   15 min

2. Colour the sausage and onion

   Add the kielbasa and onions and cook until golden.

   10 min

3. Add the cabbages

   Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water. Add both cabbages to the pot and stir until they begin to wilt. Rinsing the sauerkraut first keeps it tangy rather than aggressively sour.

   10 min

4. The long cook

   Add the mushrooms with their strained liquid, the prunes, caraway, bay, wine and stock. Simmer, part-covered, for two and a half hours until dark and thick.

   2 h 30 min

5. Rest a day

   Bigos is genuinely better reheated — traditionally it is cooked, cooled and reheated over several days. Make it the day before if you can.