A hearty, warming dish with piquant sourness and a seductive aroma - the famous bigus. It can be served as an independent main course, or as a hearty snack.
The main products of the dish are cabbage (fresh, pickled) and meat product. There are a great many variations of preparation: bigus with smoked meats, with sausage, various types of meat, with poultry. You can also see recipes for bigus with mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables. Very often, foods that add sourness are added to the dish: lemon juice, pickles, quince, sauerkraut.
The authors of the Quick Recipes website will tell you about all this. But before you start preparing the famous Polish dish, you need to know several of its features. With them, every housewife can create the perfect traditional bigus!
Features of preparing bigus
You won’t be able to cook real bigus with pork without knowing the specifics of the technology. Before you start cooking, it makes sense to know a few of the most important points:
- For bigus, it is not recommended to use the meat of an old animal, since it will take too much time to bring it to softness, and during this time the cabbage will turn into mush.
- Frozen meat is not the best choice for preparing bigus. When it is defrosted, the structure will be disrupted, which will cause the meat to lose its juiciness and turn out dry, tough and almost tasteless.
- You can fry pork without oil or in a minimal amount of it, so as not to increase the calorie content of the dish. The fat rendered from the pork will be enough to prevent the pieces of meat from burning.
- Bigus should not be liquid or watery. Therefore, a minimum amount of water or other liquid should be used when preparing it.
- A slight sourness is one of the characteristic features of bigus. Its dish is enhanced by sauerkraut, tomatoes, and wine. Therefore, if the recipe specifies any of these ingredients, you should not refuse to use it. So, replacing wine or tomato juice with water would be a bad idea.
Helpful Tips and Tricks
Freezing disrupts the structure of meat, causing it to lose its juiciness. It is advisable to find fresh meat if the task is to prepare a rich and at the same time tender bigus. If the piece was in the freezer, it should be defrosted gradually, never pouring water on it.
The characteristic sourness of bigus is given by the addition of sauerkraut, a small amount of wine or tomato paste. Spices should be selected to taste, and fresh chopped herbs should be sprinkled on the finished dish.
The composition of bigus is a bit like green cabbage soup, so if it sits for 24 hours, it will become tastier. While expecting guests, you can prepare hot food a day earlier and reheat it before they arrive.
When using sausage or sausage instead of meat, you should regularly add water to the pan when stewing. Meat, unlike sausages, produces juice, which is most often enough to prepare food.
Bigus with rice and fresh cabbage
Ingredients:
- Regular rice ½ cup;
- Fillet 400 g;
- White cabbage 300 g;
- Onion 1 pc.;
- Carrots 1 pc.;
- Tomato 1–2 pcs.;
- Sweet bell pepper 1 pc.;
- Vegetable oil for frying;
- Ground black pepper to taste;
- Seasonings for meat to taste;
- Fresh herbs to taste;
- Table salt to taste.
Cooking method:
To prepare this bigus with rice, select a fresh piece of meat fillet to suit your taste. We wash, remove the veins, dry and cut into small cubes. Then heat up a cast-iron cauldron with a small amount of vegetable oil and place sliced meat on its bottom, fry until the first matte crust appears, salt and pepper to taste, add a variety of meat seasonings as desired.
Peel and finely chop the onion and add to the cauldron. Peel the carrots, grate them on a coarse grater and send them after the onions. If desired, remove the skins from the tomatoes, chop them and add them to the meat and vegetables.
We wash the pepper, cut it in half, get rid of its entrails, chop the halves and add them to the rest of the ingredients. Level the dish with salt, stir and continue cooking.
When the excess water from the cauldron has evaporated, add finely shredded cabbage to the meat in the amount indicated in the ingredients. Mix the contents of the cauldron. We wash the rice several times in cold water, then dry it and add it to the meat and vegetables.
Mix the ingredients again until they are evenly distributed among each other.
Fill the cauldron with water at room temperature so that it completely covers all the ingredients and they float in it quite freely. Cook the bigus for another 30–40 minutes until the rice and beef are completely cooked.
We serve the finished dish hot with sauces and fresh wheat bread.
Bigos - a classic traditional recipe in Polish
Some people are used to considering Poland as the birthplace of the famous dish. And therefore I suggest you prepare bigus in Polish. This recipe uses both types of white cabbage - fresh and pickled.
This dish somewhat reminds me of our regular stewed cabbage, only with the addition of meat, sausages, mushrooms, spices and alcohol. Yes Yes! And don’t let this moment scare you, because strong drinks are often added to various confectionery products or marinades. They are used as a flavoring or flavor enhancer, and all the alcohol simply evaporates during cooking.
Everything turns out bomb delicious!
Well, if you still plan to give the prepared food to children, then you don’t have to add wine.
Product composition:
- Fresh cabbage - 1 kg.
- Sauerkraut - 1.3 kg.
- Dried mushrooms - 40 gr.
- Pork - 800 gr. (pulp)
- Semi-smoked brisket - 300 gr.
- Semi-smoked sausage - 300 gr.
- Onions - 2 pcs.
- Dry red wine - 150 ml.
- Black peppercorns - 10 pcs.
- Allspice - 5 pcs.
- Juniper seeds - 10 pcs.
- Whole cloves - 4 pcs.
- Bay leaf - 2 pcs.
- Honey - 1 tbsp.
- Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp.
- Ground black pepper - 1 tsp.
- Salt - to taste
Traditionally, bigus is prepared in large quantities at once; when heated, the dish does not lose its taste at all. On the contrary, it is believed that with each heating it “reaches” and these qualities only improve.
It is customary to serve bigos on the table in the same container in which they are cooked. Before each serving, it is advised to heat the entire amount of the dish directly in the same vessel, and not just what will be eaten. Bigus can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 7 days, and in the freezer it can last up to six months.
I love bigos, it reminds me of my childhood and youth. It was prepared in the school canteen, and then in the institute canteen. And now I do it myself periodically. I hope you won’t regret the time spent preparing bigus, all because it’s not just tasty, but very tasty!
Bon appetit everyone and see you soon!
Bigus with chicken and fresh cabbage
Ingredients:
- white cabbage – 1 kg;
- small carrots – 4 pcs.;
- chicken (wings) – 4 pcs.;
- onion - 1 large onion;
- greenhouse bell pepper – 2 pcs.;
- fresh tomatoes – 3 pcs.;
- parsley and dill - a bunch;
- water - to fill the pan (multi-cooker bowl);
- vegeta - ½ tsp;
- salt - to taste.
Cooking method:
We wash the chicken wings, cut them into joints, and place them on the bottom of the pan. Peel the carrots, cut into slices, and place on the chicken.
Cut the cabbage into strips (not squares!), lay half of the cabbage in a layer on top of the carrots.
Peel the onion, cut into cubes, and place on the cabbage. Place the second part of the cabbage in a saucepan, add bay leaf and seasoning. We clean and cut the bell peppers into half rings and place them in a layer on the cabbage.
Add water so that its level is just below the level of the cabbage. Salt the dish.
Cut the tomatoes into rings and place them in a layer on top of the peppers. Chop the greens and add the vegetable mixture to the pan. Place on the fire and simmer with the lid closed for at least one and a half hours. If in a slow cooker, then use the “meat” mode for 30 minutes.
Delicious bigus made from fresh cabbage with chicken is eaten hot with sour cream and freshly baked bread.
Preparation
You can cook this dish either in winter or in summer. To prepare a delicious bigus with potatoes, you need to choose the right cabbage in the autumn-winter period - it should be late varieties, dense with white leaves, and taste sweet. It is this cabbage that will be the key to a delicious dish.
Let's prepare all the ingredients. Peel the potatoes, carrots and onions and cut them into cubes. Remove the top leaves from the cabbage. Cut it into two halves. It can be chopped into thin strips. This is where a special knife comes in handy. You can also cut the cabbage into cubes.
I cut the sausages into rings.
Keep in mind that if your husband is hungry at home, cut the sausages last! Otherwise, the smell of the latter will attract a man to the kitchen, and he will hide the sausages in a safe place :)
Fry the onion in a large frying pan until transparent, add the carrots and fry for another five minutes, stirring constantly.
Add cabbage to the frying. And let her go. If all the cabbage does not fit into the pan, fry it in two batches. Remember that cabbage will shrink in size when fried.
In another frying pan at the same time, fry the potatoes over high heat. It should brown a little.
Place the fried vegetables in a saucepan or cauldron. Add chopped sausages.
By the way, this dish can be prepared in a slow cooker - first, fry everything in the “FRY” mode, and then simmer for 40 minutes in the “STEW” mode.
Prepare tomato juice from tomatoes by grinding them in a blender. If you don’t have tomato juice on hand, you can replace it with 2 tablespoons of tomato paste diluted in 1 glass of water. If you don’t have tomato paste, and you really want the bigus to be not only tasty, but also beautiful, then take plain flour and fry it in a frying pan until golden brown in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.
Add tomato juice to the dish (or pasta, or flour).
Mix. Add water if the juice is very thick. Add salt and spices as desired.
Close the lid and put on fire. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer the dish on the stove for an hour. If the fire cannot be kept very low, then the cooking time should be adjusted from 40 to 60 minutes.
The finished dish can be served with fresh herbs.
A very tasty, satisfying, rich second course called “bigus”. Now it is no longer possible to determine exactly who was the first to invent this recipe, and to whom to give the palm - Poland, the Baltic countries or Belarus and Ukraine. The recipe has spread to different corners and acquired new additions. Something was added, something did not take root from the ingredients. The classic original uses sauerkraut and fresh cabbage and several types of meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc.), red wine and prunes, and always spices. If properly prepared, this food can also be preserved in a cold room for a very long time - in earthenware, filled with lard. This is all foreplay. Let's get acquainted with the recipe step by step and not in words, but in deeds. Let's prepare our bigus.
Bigus from fresh cabbage with potatoes
Ingredients:
- Fresh cabbage 300 g;
- Potatoes 300 g;
- Pork loin 250 g;
- Carrots 1 pc.;
- Onion 1 pc.;
- Tomato paste 70 g;
- Sunflower oil 100 ml;
- Water 250–300 ml;
- Salt to taste;
- Pepper to taste.
Cooking method:
First, we cut the pork loin or other meat into pieces, fry it in sunflower oil, peel and grate the carrots, chop the onion and add it to the meat, and fry it together.
Then we chop the cabbage, put the fried meat with carrots and onions into the mold, add cabbage, chopped potatoes and tomato paste.
Next, we add a little water, covering the contents, salt and pepper, cover with a lid or wrap the pan in foil and place in an unheated oven for a couple of hours, on a baking sheet, so as not to splash the oven.
Add greens to the prepared dish. Bigus from fresh cabbage with potatoes is ready!
Fresh cabbage bigus with pork
Ingredients:
- Fresh cabbage - 500 g;
- Pork - 400 g;
- Tomato paste - 70 g;
- Water - 350–400 ml;
- Salt - to taste;
- Pepper - to taste;
- Marjoram - to taste;
- Onion - 1 pc.;
- Sunflower oil - 100 ml;
- Greens - to taste.
Cooking method:
You can stew both fresh cabbage and sauerkraut, as well as a mixture of them in various proportions. The meat component can also be varied - meat, chicken, sausage, and frankfurters are suitable, and again, all these products in various combinations.
Cut the pork into small pieces. Place the pieces in a frying pan, add salt and pepper, and fry in sunflower oil. Add chopped onions and continue frying in pork fat or sunflower oil.
While the meat is fried, chop the cabbage. When the meat is lightly fried, add the cabbage. Add good tomato paste. In summer, pasta can be replaced with tomatoes.
Add water, marjoram, salt and simmer under the lid on low heat. I stew the bigus with pork for a long time—an hour and a half to two hours. During this time, the meat is boiled until soft, and the cabbage is just ready.
At the end the water becomes a little less. You can evaporate the water by reducing the heat. But you can leave it this way - the resulting sauce is very tasty. Add a bay leaf and simmer the fresh cabbage bigus with pork for another 5 minutes (or more if you decide to evaporate the water). Serve hot, sprinkled with herbs.
Traditional bigus with meat and cabbage in Old Polish style
Ingredients:
- 300 g pork,
- 300 g raw cabbage,
- 300 g sauerkraut,
- 2 onions,
- 1 carrot,
- 200 g champignons,
- 1 bunch of greens (dill, parsley),
- 100 g prunes,
- 2–3 tbsp. spoons of vegetable oil,
- 2 bay leaves,
- 5 peas of allspice,
- a pinch of ground coriander,
- ground black pepper to taste,
- sugar to taste,
- salt to taste,
- 100–200 ml brine or water.
Cooking method:
Shred fresh cabbage. Grate the carrots. Chop the onion. Cut prunes into small pieces. Cut the champignons into thin slices. Chop the greens.
Fry small pieces of meat in a hot frying pan on all sides for 5–7 minutes. Finally, add salt and pepper and remove from the pan.
Sauté the onion for 3-5 minutes, add the carrots and fry for another 5-7 minutes. Add raw and sauerkraut, mushrooms to the pan and fry over medium heat for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat, pour in the brine, cover with a lid, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
Add meat, spices, salt, sugar to the cabbage and cook covered for 40 minutes. At the end, sprinkle with herbs and let the bigus brew. A simple recipe for bigus with meat made from fresh cabbage is ready!
