Bigos

Ingredients

Contains: wheat, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

• 2 thick slices hickory-smoked bacon
• 1 pound kielbasa sausage, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 pound cubed pork stew meat
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 4 cups shredded green cabbage
• 1 (16 ounce) jar sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon caraway seed, crushed
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1/2 ounce dried mushrooms
• 1 dash bottled hot pepper sauce
• 1 dash Worcestershire sauce
• 5 cups beef stock
• 2 tablespoons canned tomato paste
• 1 cup canned diced tomatoes

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

1. Pour boiling water over the dried mushrooms in a bowl and soak for 15 minutes. Lift them out, chop them, and strain the soaking liquid through a fine sieve, keeping the liquid.

2. Cook the bacon in a large heavy pot over medium heat until crisp, about 6 minutes. Remove the bacon, chop it, and leave the fat in the pot.

3. Toss the pork cubes with the flour. Brown them in batches in the bacon fat over medium-high heat, about 8 minutes in total, then set them aside.

4. Add the onion, carrots, garlic and fresh mushrooms to the pot and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Add the kielbasa and cook for 5 more minutes.

5. Stir in the tomato paste, paprika, marjoram, basil, caraway, cayenne and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute. Add the red wine, scrape up the browned bits and simmer for 2 minutes.

6. Return the pork and bacon to the pot. Add the beef stock, reserved mushroom liquid, chopped dried mushrooms, diced tomatoes, hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper and salt. Bring to a simmer.

7. Cover and simmer gently over low heat for 80 minutes, stirring now and then.

8. Stir in the rinsed, drained sauerkraut and shredded cabbage. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes until the cabbage is tender. The pork must reach at least 145°F (63°C) in the thickest piece; let it rest 3 minutes. Remove the bay leaf before serving.