Bigos (ˈbiɡɔs), known as a Hunter's Stew, is a traditional meat stew

Stew

A stew is a combination of solid food ingredients that have been cooked in liquid and served in the resultant gravy. Ingredients in a stew can include any combination of vegetables , meat, especially tougher meats suitable for slow-cooking, such as beef. Poultry, sausages, and seafood are also used...

 typical of Polish

Polish cuisine

Polish cuisine is a style of cooking and food preparation originating from Poland. It has evolved over the centuries due to historical circumstances. Polish national cuisine shares some similarities with other Central European and Eastern European traditions as well as French and Italian...

, Lithuanian

Lithuanian cuisine

Lithuanian cuisine features the products suited to the cool and moist northern climate of Lithuania: barley, potatoes, rye, beets, greens, berries, and mushrooms are locally grown, and dairy products are one of its specialities...

, Belarusians

Belarusian cuisine

Belarusian cuisine shares the same roots with cuisines of other Eastern and Northern European countries, basing predominantly on meat and various vegetables typical for the region.-History:...

 and Ukrainian cuisine

Ukrainian cuisine

Ukrainian cuisine has significant diversity, historical traditions. "Cuisine - Flavors and Colors of Ukrainian Culture."] . Accessed July 2011. Common foods used include meats, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, berries and herbs...

, considered to be the Polish and Ukrainian national dish

National dish

A national dish is a dish, food or a drink that is considered to represent a particular country, nation or region.A dish can become a national dish for a variety of reasons. It can be the national dish because it is a staple daily food for the majority of the population. It can also be the national...

.

There is no single recipe for a savoury stew of cabbage

Cabbage

Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...

 and meat, as recipes vary considerably from region to region and from family to family. Typical ingredients include white cabbage, sauerkraut

Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...

 (kapusta kiszona in Polish), various cuts of meat and sausage

Sausage

A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...

s, often whole or puréed tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

es, honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

 and mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

s. The meats may include pork

Pork

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....

 (often smoked), ham

Ham

Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...

, bacon

Bacon

Bacon is a cured meat prepared from a pig. It is first cured using large quantities of salt, either in a brine or in a dry packing; the result is fresh bacon . Fresh bacon may then be further dried for weeks or months in cold air, boiled, or smoked. Fresh and dried bacon must be cooked before eating...

, beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

, veal

Veal

Veal is the meat of young cattle , as opposed to meat from older cattle. Though veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds...

, sausage

Sausage

A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...

, and, as bigos is considered a real hunters' stew, venison

Venison

Venison is the meat of a game animal, especially a deer but also other animals such as antelope, wild boar, etc.-Etymology:The word derives from the Latin vēnor...

 or other game; leftover cuts find their way into the pot as well. It may be seasoned with pepper

Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

, caraway

Caraway

Caraway also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....

, juniper berries, bay leaf

Bay leaf

Bay leaf refers to the aromatic leaf of the bay laurel . Fresh or dried bay leaves are used in cooking for their distinctive flavor and fragrance. The leaves are often used to flavor soups, stews, braises and pâtés in Mediterranean cuisine...

, marjoram

Marjoram

Marjoram is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours...

, pimento

Pimento

A pimento or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper that measures 3 to 4 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide . The flesh of the pimento is sweet, succulent and more aromatic than that of the red bell pepper...

, dried or smoked plum

Plum

A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...

s and other ingredients.

Bigos is usually eaten with mashed potatoes or rye bread

Rye bread

Rye bread is a type of bread made with various percentages of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour...

. As with many stews, bigos can be kept in a cool place or refrigerated and then reheated later – it is said that its flavour actually intensifies when reheated. One observed tradition is to keep a pot of bigos going for a week or more, replenishing ingredients as necessary (cf. perpetual stew

Perpetual stew

A perpetual stew is a pot into which whatever one can find is placed and cooked. The pot is never emptied all the way, as ingredients are replenished as necessary. The concept is often a common element in descriptions of medieval inns. Perpetual stew can also be called a “hunter’s stew”.- Examples...

). This, the seasonal availability of cabbage and its richness in vitamin C

Vitamin C

Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...

 made bigos a traditional part of the winter diet in Poland and elsewhere. It is a popular dish in Poland to be served on the Second Day of Christmas.

History

Bigos is said by some to have been introduced to Poland by Jogaila

Jogaila

Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...

, a Lithuania

Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...

n Grand Duke who became Polish king Władysław Jagiełło

Jogaila

Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...

 in 1385 and who supposedly served it to his hunting-party guests. Metaphorically, bigos means "confusion", "big mess" or "trouble" in Polish.

Preparation

Recipes for bigos vary widely. According to some, the amount of meat should equal the amount of cabbage. Some prefer to use only fermented cabbage, sauerkraut; others combine cabbage and sauerkraut in equal proportion. The sauerkraut may be washed or unwashed. Most recipes have a few things in common:

• The dish is based on sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut
  Sauerkraut , directly translated from German: "sour cabbage", is finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria, including Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Pediococcus. It has a long shelf-life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid...
  
  .
• More than one type of meat is used.
• Kielbasa
  Kielbasa
  Kielbasa, kołbasa, kobasa, kovbasa, kobasa, kobasi, and kubasa are common North American anglicizations for a type of Eastern European sausage. Synonyms include Polish sausage, Ukrainian sausage, etc...
  
   is included among the meat.
• Plenty of peppercorns
  Black pepper
  Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
  
   are used.

The following recipe gives a representative example of bigos. Because preparation varies so widely, many variations have their adherents.

Ingredients

In order of volume: 2 lb sauerkraut, washed and drained; 2 lb white cabbage, shredded; 1 lb sausage, sliced into ½" pieces; ½ lb smoked ham, cubed; ½ lb smoked pork, cubed; ½ lb bacon, chopped; ½ lb beef or venison, cubed; 2 oz dried mushrooms; 4 pitted prunes, chopped; 2 apples, cored and cubed; 1 tomato, cubed; 1 onion, diced; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tsp allspice; 2 bay leaves;: 1 tbsp peppercorns.

Directions

Prepare the ingredients as listed above. Simmer the cabbage until soft (1/2 to 1 hour), then drain. Meanwhile, cook the bacon and set aside, preserving the fat. In the bacon fat sauté the onions and garlic, and brown the remaining meat except the sausage. Combine all ingredients in a pot and cook: in a slow cooker, set on "low" for 5–10 hours; on the stove, cook briefly on medium and then simmer 2–3 hours.

Refrigerate any leftovers and reheat for serving. The flavor improves each time, peaking around the third day. Many like to freeze it solid before thawing, heating and eating. Traditionally, it was left out in the freezing cold to store.

Bigos in literature

The great Polish epic poem Pan Tadeusz

Pan Tadeusz

Pan Tadeusz, the full title in English: Sir Thaddeus, or the Last Lithuanian Foray: A Nobleman's Tale from the Years of 1811 and 1812 in Twelve Books of Verse is an epic poem by the Polish poet, writer and philosopher Adam Mickiewicz...

 written by poet, writer and philosopher Adam Mickiewicz

Adam Mickiewicz

Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...

, features a poetic description of bigos eaten by members of the aristocratic szlachta

Szlachta

The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...

 returning from hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

:

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In the pots warmed the bigos; mere words cannot tell

Of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell.

One can hear the words buzz, and the rhymes ebb and flow,

But its content no city digestion can know.

To appreciate the Lithuanian folksong and folk food,

You need health, live on land, and be back from the wood.


Without these, still a dish of no mediocre worth

Is bigos, made from legumes, best grown in the earth;

Pickled cabbage comes foremost, and properly chopped,

Which itself, is the saying, will in ones mouth hop;

In the boiler enclosed, with its moist bosom shields

Choicest morsels of meat raised on greenest of fields;

Then it simmers, till fire has extracted each drop

Of live juice, and the liquid boils over the top,

And the heady aroma wafts gently afar.

— Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz, Book 4: Diplomacy and Hunt

Translated by Marcel Weyland

Marcel Weyland

Marcel Weyland is a translator of Adam Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz and of Echoes: Poems of the Holocaust. 'The Word: 200 Years of Polish Poetry', 2010, ed. Brandl & Schlesinger, Blackheath, NSW, Australia, ISBN 9781921556036.-Life:...

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W kociołkach bigos grzano; w słowach wydać trudno

Bigosu smak przedziwny, kolor i woń cudną;

Słów tylko brzęk usłyszy i rymów porządek,

Ale treści ich miejski nie pojmie żołądek.

Aby cenić litewskie pieśni i potrawy,

Trzeba mieć zdrowie, na wsi żyć, wracać z obławy.


Przecież i bez tych przypraw potrawą nie lada

Jest bigos, bo się z jarzyn dobrych sztucznie składa.

Bierze się doń siekana, kwaszona kapusta,

Która, wedle przysłowia, sama idzie w usta;

Zamknięta w kotle, łonem wilgotnym okrywa

Wyszukanego cząstki najlepsze mięsiwa;

I praży się, aż ogień wszystkie z niej wyciśnie

Soki żywne, aż z brzegów naczynia war pryśnie

I powietrze dokoła zionie aromatem.

— Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz,

Księga czwarta: Dyplomatyka i łowy

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