Olivia Hajnos
Bigos: Traditional Polish Cooking
Bigos: Traditional Polish Cooking
~Blog Post #3~
April 19th, 2015
Bigos, referred to as the Hunters
Stew, is not actually Beagles. My first initial thought when my mom put this
traditional Polish meal in in front of me was that I was eating a dog.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. This popular dish is considered to be the
national meal of Poland. The main ingredients of it are cabbage and sausage.
Other typical ingredients include sauerkraut (kapusta), other various meats
such as bacon and veal, tomatoes, mushrooms and onion. Just so there isn’t such
a powerful vinegar taste from the sauerkraut, it’s highly recommended that it
is washed and re-washed so the true taste isn’t spoiled and overwhelming. From
personal experience, I ate it with mashed potatoes, but you can also eat it
with rye bread. Since this is a slow-cook meal, it takes 4-6 good hours to
complete the process. What really intensifies the pure taste of Bigos is that
when it is done cooking, you simply refrigerate it and let it cool down. When
it is re-heated, the taste intensifies immensely. A Lithuanian Grand Duke, who
later became the King of Poland in 1385, introduced the start of Bigos. He
served it when he hosted hunting parties. Even though it is known as the
Hunters stew, Bigos really means “big mess; it really is just a bunch of
ingredients jumbled up together because it does look extremely messy and
disorganized, but that’s what makes it taste so good. As time passed on,
Christmas Eve was the day that most people served Bigos.
Citations:
"[PALEO] Bigos - Recipe Book." Nerd Fitness Rebellion. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
"Bigos." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
"Hunter's Stew - Bigos - Ania's Polish Food Recipe #26." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
Yum, Bigos sound delicious! I would love to try them. This dish that you have been describing from Poland, reminds me of a dish that I researched during my blog posts about Spain. I found a dish called Paella. It is similar to Bigos because it is a big dish filled with many different ingredients including many different meats, seafoods, vegetables, spices, and so much more. While it may not look like the prettiest dish, it is filled with flavor and nourishment. I think that Paella highly relates to Bigos because of that reason. I found it very interesting learning about Poland and how certain foods and rituals were created. Thanks for sharing!
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