Best 4 Bigos Hunters Stew Recipes

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.

BIGOS - POLISH HUNTER'S STEW

Steps:

• 1. If using dried mushrooms, put in bowl and cover with hot / boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes to soften. Drain.
• 2. Cube meat. Toss in flour.
• 3. Use your heavy stock pot or big pot. Sautee onions in olive oil until carmelized. Remove from pot.
• 4. Add meat to pot(may have to do batches). If pot has dried out, add a little more olive oil. Remove meat from pan.
• 5. Deglaze pot with wine or balsamic vinegar. Return meat to pot and add onions as well as all the rest of the ingredients.
• 6. Bring to a boil. Then, cover and let simmer for 2 hours, or until meat is very tender. Turn off heat and halfway uncover the pot. Let it sit like that for 30-40 minutes for flavors to combine, meat to rest, and sauce to thicken.

BIGOS (HUNTER'S STEW)

Steps:

• In a very large skillet, fry the bacon.
• Add onion, mushrooms and meat and fry until meat is lightly browned.
• Add 1/2 cup liquid, cover and simmer until meat is tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Add more liquid if needed.
• Add sausage and sauerkraut and cook until the flavors have blended, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper and serve with steamed potatoes and crusty rye bread.

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.