Dishes
1 December 2023
Christmas bigos in a cauldron
Category:
Dishes
Difficulty:
Medium
Servings:
4
The holidays are a wonderful time when, together with our loved ones, we have the opportunity to meet and feast. It’s a period when we eat dishes prepared especially for this time. One of them is bigos. It’s a traditional Polish dish whose main ingredient is sauerkraut. Depending on the recipe, you can add meat, mushrooms, prunes, or wine.
Homemade bigos tastes different in every home, yet it’s practically a must among holiday dishes. Traditionally, bigos is associated with a long cooking process that often falls on the host’s shoulders. That’s why we have another way for you to prepare quick bigos, giving you the chance to get up from the holiday table and spend time outdoors with your loved ones.
Prepare your festive bigos in an attractive and simple way — in a cauldron over a fire pit.
While keeping an eye on the dish, you can, for example, have a snowball “war” with your family (of course, if the weather allows). A cauldron is a great vessel you can use all year round, and Christmas is the perfect opportunity to try this option. So if you have a cauldron, we recommend making this year’s bigos in it. A cauldron also makes a great holiday gift.
Notes
Recipe for bigos from a cauldron
Preparation:
Squeeze the juice out of the sauerkraut. If the sauerkraut is very sour, you can rinse it with water.
Debone the pork knuckle. Leave the pork knuckle skin whole to line the bottom of the cauldron; cut the remaining meat into pieces. If you notice bristles on the skin, singe them off. Slice the sausage into rounds about 0.5–1 cm thick.
Thoroughly wash the mushrooms and soak them in 2 cups of hot water for about 15–20 minutes.
Grease the inside of the cauldron with oil, then line its bottom with the pork knuckle skin. Mix the sauerkraut, meat, sausage, mushrooms along with their soaking water, prunes, and spices together in a bowl and add to the cauldron.
To start, add 1 teaspoon of pepper and 1 tablespoon of salt. While cooking (or after), it’s worth tasting the bigos and seasoning it to taste with pepper, salt, and sugar.
Place the cauldron filled with all the ingredients over medium heat and cover with the lid. After about 30 minutes, open the pot, stir everything well, and if the pork knuckle skin from the bottom of the pot is already very tender, remove it. After removing, you can chop the skin and add it to the bigos.
Add a cup of wine to the simmering ingredients. If during cooking you find the bigos too dry, you can add 1 or 2 cups of water. Close the cauldron again and check inside about every 15 minutes, stirring its contents so nothing burns.
The bigos should be ready after about 1.5 hours.
Enjoy! ...because homemade is better!
