Bigos Recipe

Directions:

1. First in a separate dish braise pork and beef with water barely covering the meet. Allow to simmer for about 40 min – 1 hour or until soft. Shortly before the ending add some salt for taste.
2. Meanwhile strain the liquid from the sauerkraut and reserve for later. You might need it in case bigos will come out not sour enough. Drain sauerkraut under cold running water. Set aside and in a deep pot fry salt pork. After few minutes add onion and let it fry together a bit.
3. When onion looks glossy add sauerkraut, mushroom, prunes, allspice seeds, bay leaves, 1 Tbs sugar and stock. Mix together, cover and let it boil then reduce the heat and let it slowly simmer for about 40 minutes. Stir from time to time and if necessary add more water or stock.
4. When meat is ready, transfer it together with the liquid to the pot with sauerkraut. Add sausage and mix thoroughly. Let it cook for about 30 minutes more.
5. I like to add some tomato juice or tomato paste to bigos. It gives the dish nice color. Also at this point if your bigos is not sour enough, you can add some of the reserved liquid from the saurkrout. You can also add more salt, sugar or pepper if you wish. Continue cooking 5 minutes more and serve with a slice of bread.