There is no one right way to do this but this recipe looked like a good start to me
http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/maincourses/r/bigos.htm
Of course I did my own thing, I used, 6 bay leaves, 6 cups dehydrated mushrooms, 28 ounce can petite diced tomatoes2-3 cups Shiraz, 9 ounce bag pitted prunes, 7 medium sweet onions, about 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 of a huge cabbage, 4 pounds of bagged sauerkraut, 1.5 lbs smoked kielbasa, 2 slices smoked turkey "chops", a fresh ham hock and left over bits of lamb and beef. I first fried the onions and half the cabbage then put it all together in a big pot and cooked about 3 hours. Due to space considerations I could only use half the cabbage and half the sauerkraut. I cooked the remaining cabbage really browning it a lot for color and flavor then added it and the remaining raw sauerkraut at the end.
It needs salt and pepper and I think when I serve each container I will heat it up with a fresh small bag of sauerkraut because the long cooking tempers the sour too much. I may also add more prunes with the final heat up. It is supposed to get better over time and it is one of the endless stew dishes (you just keep adding stuff) so this is in the spirit. Seriously, YUM.
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2nd batch:
2 2 8 ounce cans petite diced tomatoes
2 bags saurkrout
1 head cabbage
1 container pitted prunes
12 bay leaves
2 onions
1 ham hock
2 Polish Kielbassas
lots of dry mushroomsk
3rd batch
Wow, made a lot, ended up with big red pot and pasta pot full.
1 head cabbage
2 large bags saurkraut to cook
2 small bags 16 0z saurkraut added at end
4 bag pitted prunes
2 boxes chopped tomatoes
2 onions
generous blob of olive oil to fry onions
3 kielbasa "U"s
2 smoked turkey drumsticks
4 chuck steak centers
1 bottle Shiraz (yellow tail)
end of dry mushroom bag (originally 14 ounces)Shiitake
2 containers sliced button mushrooms
about 20 bay leaves (from Mr Pong)
apple cider to cover
possible to overcook...this doesn't take all day
26 ounce box for tomatoes
Just realized...This really be a meal made with leftovers. Leftover meat, wine, etc. Don't need to make it in huge vat.
4th batch
I went to a Polish Festival again and learned you can really OVER cook this. The Kielbasa was so dry.
Fried 5 onions in olive oil. Added 2 smoked turkey wings and 2 smoked ham hocks plus 3 pounds beef stew meat and 1 whole cabbage plus two 1 1b cans tomatoes plus 1 can Shiraz and 1 can apple cider and 1 container pitted prunes and 12 bay leaves and 1 ounce dry shitake mushrooms
=
Totally filled biggest pot.
I'm letting that cook. It is the stuff that really needs the longer cooking time. Then I'll have to break it down to half pots to add the sauerkraut and Kielbasa and the 4 big portabello mushroom caps I have. That can cook just briefly I think.
So I picked the meat from the wings and hamhocks and discarded the bones plus the bay leaves then added 1 more container of prunes cut up this time, 2 more cans of tomatoes and all 4 lengths of Kielbasa I had (sliced in different ways to distinguish when eating). I cooked the portabello mushrooms in some wine and apple cider plus a bit of olive oil and added them and of course the 2 big bags of sauerkraut.
I've stored it in 3 cup bags and got 11 of them. I figure that to be about 1 to 2 or 3 servings a bag depending on what else is served, if anything.
So the big difference this time is in not cooking the sauerkraut and Kielbasa and some of the tomatoes. They will be cooked a bit when it is heated at serving time. I also fear this batch may be a bit dry so may need to add some home made broth cubes when serving.
Taste is very good, pretty classic to what I've made before.
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