Polish Bigos Hunters Stew Recipes

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.

Steps:

• Brown pork and spareribs in a large heavy pot.
• Add smoked butt with 1 cup of water and simmer for 1 hour.
• Add the sauerkraut and one cup apple juice.
• Chop the cabbage fine and add to sauerkraut.
• Add lots of pepper and salt cover and simmer 1 hour.
• Remove lid and keep pot on a very low simmer.
• In a pan, fry bacon until crisp, then crumble into sauerkraut mixture.
• Remove most of the bacon fat and fry onions and mushrooms and flour until they just brown.
• Mix into sauerkraut mixture.
• Cut kielbasa into slices add to sauerkraut mixture with the tomatoes.
• Bring to a boil, simmer 30 minutes and serve hot with rye bread and mashed potatoes.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and kielbasa; cook and stir until the bacon has rendered its fat and sausage is lightly browned. Use a slotted spoon to remove the meat and transfer to a large casserole or Dutch oven.
• Coat the cubes of pork lightly with flour and fry them in the bacon drippings over medium-high heat until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pork to the casserole. Add the garlic, onion, carrots, fresh mushrooms, cabbage and sauerkraut. Reduce heat to medium; cook and stir until the carrots are soft, about 10 minutes. Do not let the vegetables brown.
• Deglaze the pan by pouring in the red wine and stirring to loosen all of the bits of food and flour that are stuck to the bottom. Season with the bay leaf, basil, marjoram, paprika, salt, pepper, caraway seeds and cayenne pepper; cook for 1 minute.
• Mix in the dried mushrooms, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, tomato paste and tomatoes. Heat through just until boiling. Pour the vegetables and all of the liquid into the casserole dish with the meat. Cover with a lid.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until meat is very tender.

Steps:

• Brown pork in the hot bacon drippings.
• Place in a kettle and add sauerkraut, sausage, water and boullion cube.
• Cover and simmer until the pork is tender (1 to 1 1/2 hours).
• In the meantime, add the cabbage to a pot of boiling water, reduce heat, simmer 20 minutes and drain.
• Saute the bacon and onion until golden, add the flour mixed with water and stir until smooth.
• Stir into the pork- sauerkraut mixture and add the tomato paste, cabbage, mushrooms, salt and pepper.
• Simmer for 10 minutes, add wine and serve with steamed potatoes or crusty rye bread.

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.

Steps:

• 1. Rehydrate shrooms in a cup of hot water. Cook up your bacon in a large cooking pot/dutch oven and set aside. Now brown the pork in the bacon grease; season with salt and pepper and then set aside. Next brown up the kielbasa and set aside.
• 2. Add caraway, allspice, onions & bay leaves to pot and saute till onions are soft. Scrap the brown bits loose and add your tomato paste. Cook till caramelized. Now add kraut, cooking and stirring till wilted. Return meats to pot, add shrooms and the water they soaked in. (Make sure you strain the liquid of the shrooms.)
• 3. Add chopped prunes, stock and wine then bring to boil. Season with s/p and reduce heat to medium/low. Cook covered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add chopped apples and cook for about another 30 minutes till pork is nice and tender. (This is the Madiera wine that we used.)
• 4. This is the seasoning spice called Vegeta.
• 5. Getting my bowl of Hunters Stew from Chef Tad.
• 6. My bowl of Hunters Stew with a slice of amazing dilly rye bread. Yes, there are pickles in it and I was in heaven. LOL
• 7. Our wonderful instructor Chef Tad.