Book of Days Tales

The first Monday in March is Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois and other parts of the U.S. Pulaski, born Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski in Warsaw in 1745, was a noble cavalry officer in Poland who moved to North America under the urging of Benjamin Franklin and raised cavalry units to fight in the Revolutionary War. I’m not a fan of war nor war heroes, but Polish cooking has its appeal. One classic dish is bigos, or, hunter’s stew. It should be made with wild meat, but use what you can find.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups of dried mushrooms + about 1 ½ c of water for soaking
1 lb / 500 g of beef and / or pork (or leftover roast)
2-3 tbsp of cooking oil
6 strips of smoked bacon
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
8 oz / 225 gm fresh button mushrooms
1 small cabbage
1 lb / 500 gm smoked sausage, diced
1 cup / 250 ml stock
6 oz / 170 g tomato paste (or one 14 oz / 410 g can stewed tomatoes
3 tsp of salt
4-5 bay leaves
1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped
10 whole peppercorns and allspice berries (each)
½ tsp ground pepper
56 oz / 1.5 kg sauerkraut

Instructions

Soak died mushrooms for about 1 hour. When soft, chop (reserve water from soaking mushrooms).

If using raw meat, cut into bite size pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper. In a large pot (4–5 quart), heat oil and sear meat.

Remove the meat from the pan, add cubed bacon and render for a few minutes. Add onion and sliced fresh mushrooms. Sauté until golden brown, for about 3 minutes. In the meantime, thinly slice the fresh cabbage.

When the onions and mushrooms are cooked, add the fresh cabbage to the pot, return the cooked beef / pork, and add chopped dried mushrooms. Add diced sausage and stock, tomato paste, salt to taste, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns, allspice berries, ground pepper and mix.

Cover and cook on medium to medium-low heat for about 15 minutes (until cabbage is soft). Stir occasionally.

Add the sauerkraut, mix, cover and cook for another 1.5 hours. Best if cooked again (for about 1 hour) the next day.