Bigos (fried sour cabbage with meat)

No Polish party can go without bigos. The dish itself has a few variations, but I like the most the one I am used to, therefore it’s going to be a slightly different recipe. Basically, bigos should be cooked at least 3 days, equals 3 times before serving. Someone may consider it tiring, boring or taking too much time, but what I would suggest is to do it the evenings, once everything is done.

Bigos is served very hot, without any supplements apart from sliced bread or rolls. However, some lazy cooks may serve it hot with boiled potatoes as a dinner meal. I do it sometimes. Especially when the party is over and quite a lot of bigos left in a pan.

Ingredients:

1 jar of Polish sour cabbage (sauerkraut, preferably with carrots)
1 small fresh cabbage
Lard (1 block, 250 g)
Smoked sausage (preferably Polish “Zwyczajna” 1 kg)
Beef (1 kg)
Smoked bacon (in block, 0.5 kg)
3 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper
1 tablespoon of marjoram

Preparation:

Cut sausages in cubes, fry on lard and let rest in a plate. Cut beef in cubes, fry on lard till soft and rest in a plate. Cut bacon in cubes, fry without lard till soft and rest on a plate.
Drain the sour cabbage and place it in a big pan. Add some water and bring it to boil. Drain again, add water and boil again till soft.

Chop the fresh cabbage thinly and boil till tender in a separate pan.

Drain sour cabbage again and place it back in the pan with no water added. Add drained fresh boiled cabbage and all meet fried before. Add bay leaves and spices. Stir well with wooden spoon and boil on a small heat. If you feel that cabbage may stick to the bottom of the pan, reduce heat and add more lard. Beware, bigos should not “swim” in lard.

Boil for about 1-2 hours and then turn the heat off. Boil again the next day for a few minutes. Repeat the procedure the next day.

Serve bigos hot as an additional meal.

If you want bigos for later, you can put it in jars after the first boiling. Place in jars, put the lids on and close them tightly. Turn the jars upside down and let them cool down. Store in cool place away from light till needed.