There is probably no Pole who would not like sauerkraut. Of course, it is best to make a bigos out of it. We do not need many ingredients. Young or pickled cabbage, plenty of meat and spices are enough. All this, mixed together, will create an excellent, appetizing dish, which is one of the traditional Polish dishes.
How to cook bigos - step by step
Preparing a bigos is quite a time-consuming task, but with the following advice you will find it really easy. Let's see how to cook bigos!
The first step is to prepare the cabbage: choose a young, pickled or mixed cabbage. The first one should be washed under running water in order to get rid of impurities. It is best not to rinse the pickled product in any way, because it will lose a lot of its taste. Regardless of the type, the cabbage must be chopped into smaller pieces and placed in a pot. Add bay leaves and allspice and cook until soft.
As far as additives are concerned, meat is obligatory. Best in large quantities. The best is the sausage, diced bacon and beef. Before adding meat to cabbage, it is best to fry it and season it strongly. Vegetables such as carrots, onions and tomatoes will also be a good addition. Dried forest mushrooms will also work well, which will add aroma to the dish. It has also been accepted that smoked plums are added to the dish. At the very end of the cooking process you can also add a little tomato puree, which will add an attractive colour to our bigos and make it taste much better.
Mix all ingredients in a large pot. Cook the whole thing so that all the flavours bind with each other. The more often we heat and cool the bigos, its taste will be better.
Keep in mind that the bigos should be very dense. Otherwise we will get a regular cabbage soup.
Bigos can be served with any additions. It tastes great on its own, but is even better served with a crunchy, wholegrain bread roll or slice of bread.
Bigos can be stored for a very long time. This dish tastes best after a few days, when all the flavors will merge. Remember that after cooling it should be stored in the fridge. Nothing stands in the way of freezing it. In this form, it can be stored for up to six months.
These tips will certainly help to answer the question of how to prepare bigos. And now spoons in the hand and to work!
