Bigos (Hunters Stew) is a combination of sour cabbage, fresh cabbage and lots of sausage, preferrably Polish. Some people make it with sour cabbage only and use fresh pork meat, but in my bigos I prefer a mixture of sour and fresh cabbage and a mixture of  sausage and ham off cuts. If you happen to have a Polish or any continental delicatessen near where you live, most of these have special off cut bags which they specifically sell for bigos, but really you can use any sausage and/or hams that you have excess to. Polish is preffered as their sausages are full of flavours that I think enhance the taste of the bigos, when cooked. My bigos recipe is very simple and easy to cook.

Ingredients

2 jars (850g each) sour cabbage (saurkraut)

1 small or 1/2 large fresh white cabbage

1/3 cup of sliced mushrooms (idealy use dried wild mushrooms or dried Italian porcini)

2 beef stock cubes

1/2 cup tomato paste

1/2kg (500g) mixed sausage, ham &/or bacon (cut into small pieces)

2 bay leaves

4 pimento

Method

1. Wash the fresh cabbage and chop finely. Rinse the sauerkraut in a collander under running water for a minute. I find that this makes it less sour.
2. Prepare a large stock pot. Fry the meat mixture for a few minutes until lightly browned. Add a small amout of oil if required.
3. Once the meat is ready add all the other ingredients. Add enough water to come up level with the mixture.
4. Bring to the boil and then reduce heat and stew for about 1-2 hours. Mixing occasionally. I usually stew it until most of the water has cooked off.
5. Serve bigos hot with some nice fresh rye bread.

Note: Yes Bigos does  require a long period of being cooked but that is why you make a large quantity so that you can enjoy it for a while. As it freezes very well in plastic containers for up to 3 months, you can always have something to put on the table when unexpected guests arrive or you have no time to cook dinner. You put the extra effort cooking it now but that means you won’t have to cook it very often.