Polish: Bigos by Recipe Cottage

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	Bigos

		33 ounce jar polonaise sauerkraut 1 savoy cabbage, shredded 2 pounds lean beef roast, cubed 2 pounds lean pork roast, cubed 1 pound breakfast sausage links 1/2 pound thick sliced smoked bacon 1 pound kielbasa 1 onion, chopped 1 small can tomato paste or sauce 3 to 5 bay Leaves salt pepper oil 1/8 cup sugar Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Add the sauerkraut and let simmer. Add cabbage and onion to the sauerkraut in the pot. Brown the beef and pork in hot oil in batches. Season as desired with your favourite herbs. When the beef and pork are browned add to the pot. drippings and all. Cut the kielbasa into slices and sear in a frying pan. Add to the pot. Cut the bacon into half inch long pieces and fry. Drain off the extra fat as necessary. When the bacon is done, add to the pot. Add salt, pepper, sugar, and the bay leaves to the pot. Mix well and stir in tomato paste or tomato sauce. Add water as necessary. Simmer at low heat. The longer it simmers, the better it gets. Leftovers can be frozen and thawed. Or you can just store in the refrigerator and reheat through the week. Faworki (Chrust) Made for the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. 2 cups flour 2-3 egg yolks 2 tablespoons soft butter 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar 1/3 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon 6% white vinegar or alcohol 2 tablespoons rum lard or oil for fryimg Mix butter, egg yolks, sugar and alcohol or vinegar together. While mixing, slowly add flour. Knead the dough. Keep beating and kneading the dough for 15 minutes. When ready, put it in a bowl, cover, and let stand in a cool place for an hour. Roll dough on the board till it is very thin. Cut 2x7 inch strips, make a slit in the middle and pull one end through it. In a deep frying pan, heat the lard (oil). To test readiness of oil, put a small piece of dough in it, if it immediately comes to the surface the temperature is right. Put 4-5 strips at a time and deep fry on both sides. Take out and place on a paper towel. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Zur Soup The soured juice (white borsch) for the zur should be prepared earlier. It is made the following way: Scald 2 cups of whole-wheat flour with boiling water, pouring it enough to get a thin dough. When it cools, add 1 3/4 pints lukewarm water and place a piece of wholewheat bread crust in it. Pour into a glass jar, tie with gauze and leave in warm place for three days. Cook 1 3/4 pints of vegetable stock with dried mushrooms and add 3/4 pint white borsch to the hot stock. Do not strain, as the soup should be slightly thick. If the zur is not sour enough, add some more white borsch. Add a crushed garlic clove along with 4 potatoes cut into cubes. When the potatoes are ready, salt to taste. Cabbage (Kapusta) Bake a 1 to 1 1/2 lb. pork butt at 350 degrees, with 1 cup water, covered. After baking for 1 hour, and the pork has begun to brown lightly, add 1 large onion, sliced. Continue baking for 45 minutes, or when meat is falling apart. While the pork butt in baking, drain juice from 1 (27 oz.) can of sauerkraut, reserving the juice for later. Parboil sauerkraut and drain. Shread a large head of cabbage and rinse under hot water and drain. Combine the sauerkraut and cabbage in a large pot. Add the cut-up prok, and all the juices, onion and fat from baking pan to the pot. Add 1 to 2 cups water, salt and pepper. In a frying pan, saute 1 large chopped onion till light brown, in 1/4 cup butter, add to pot. In same frying pan, lightly brown 1 cup chopped salt pork, then add to pot. Cook all in the pot on the top of the stove on low heat, or just to a low simmer, for 1 hour. Taste. At this point add as much of the reserved sauerkraut juice to your liking. Continue cooking and tasting for another 30 minutes or until the cabbage is of the texture you like. Barley Soup (Krupnik) Pour 3 1/2 pints water over 1 lb beef and 1 lb bones and simmer over low heat. After 1 hour add mixed vegetables (carrots, parsley, celeriac root, leek, and onion) and 4 small dried mushrooms. When meat is tender, strain the broth. Cut the meat into cubes and the vegetables and mushrooms into thin strips. Cook 3/4 pint of the cooked broth, salted to taste, with 4-6 oz. of pearl barley. When barley is cooked, add 1 TBS butter and mix the barley for a while with a spoon, until it turns white. Add cooked barley to the remaining broth and after adding 3 potatoes diced into cubes, cook for another 15-20 minutes. Add diced meat, mushrooms and vegetables to the broth and salt to taste. Sprinkle with minced parsley. Polish Style Herring (Sledz po Polsku) Soak 4 fine salt herrings in cold water for 24 hours, changing the water several times while soaking. Remove skin, milt, cut off the tail and head, divide into fillets and remove the bones. Arrange the fillets in layers in a glass jar. Between the layers place very thin slices of 2 onions, 10 grains of pepper, 6 grains of allspice, one bay leaf broken into parts, 5 slices of lemon without rind or pits. Combine &frac12, pint sour cream with the juice of 3 large lemons. Do not salt the sauce. Pour over fillets in the jar (shake the jar to cover fillets evenly. Place covered jar in cool place. Ready to eat in 24 hours. Baked potatoes are served with herring. Paczki (Doughnuts) 1 1/2 cups milk 2 yeast cakes 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 cup butter 4 1/2 cups flour Scald milk and cool to lukewarm. Crumble yeast into the lukewarm milk. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy, add eggs, salt, and flavouring. Add flour and milk gradually, beating well. Let rise in warm place until double in bulk, about 2 1/2 hour. Punch down, knead and let rise again. Place dough on lightly floured board, stretch toward you and fill with thick filling - rose jams, apricot or peach preserves, prune butter. Fold over and cut into desired size and shape like a ball. Place on lightly floured surface and let rise. Fry in deep hot fat, turning only once. Paczki should have a very dark brown color before turning. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Herring Salad (Salatka ze Sledzia) 10 herring filets 1 jar (370 ml) dill pickles 1 jar (370ml) beets 1 jar (370ml) pickled onions 3 apples 1/2 cup white vine vinegar 1/2 cup olive oil 2 tsp. horseradish salt and pepper Cut herrings into wide slices. Wash, core, and slice apples. Slice pickles, onions and beets. Mix all the ingredients together. Combine vinegar with horseradish, salt, and pepper. Add oil constantly mixing. Pour mixture over salad, and let stand for 2 hours before serving. Polish Noodles (Kluski z Kapusta) 1 lb egg noodles 1/4 pound butter 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion chopped 1 large head green cabbage shredded 1 tablespoon caraway seed salt and pepper 1 pint sour cream Cook noodles in plenty of salted, boiling water. In a Dutch oven, melt butter. Saute garlic, onion and cabbage until wilted. When the vegetables are limp, add caraway seed and salt and pepper to taste. Drain noodles. Pour vegetables over noodles. Serve with kielbasa and homemade dark rye. Cucumbers in Sour Cream Peel and thinly slice cucumbers. Sprinkle with salt, let it stand for few minutes, squeeze out liquid. Add a little bit of pepper. Dressing: For each 1/2 cup of sour cream add juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 tsp of sugar, and a heaping teaspoon of fresh minced dill. Mix cucumbers with dressing and refrigerate for an hour before serving. Golabki (Cabbage Rolls) 1 large head cabbage, center core removed 1 lb ground beef 1 lb ground pork 1 lb ground veal 2 cups cooked white rice 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup finely chopped salt pork 1 cup ketchup 2 cans tomato soup 1/2 cans water 1 tablespoon brown sugar salt pepper 1/4 tsp celery salt 1/4 tsp sweet basil 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce 1/2 stick of butter or margarine Parboil cabbage in a large pot, removing leaves as they fall off into the water and are tender. Cook till all leaves are tender but not falling apart, about 15 minutes. Run under cold water and drain. Cut the thick membrane off back of each leaf. While cabbage is cooking saute onion in butter until lightly browned. Put all the uncooked meat into a large mixing bowl. Add the sauted onions. Brown the salt pork, and drain. Add salt pork to meat. Add dry seasonings, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, along with the cooked rice. Mix thoroughly. Lay out leaves and depending upon their size, place 2-3 tablespoons of meat mixture on the wider side. Roll leaf up and over meat, tuck in sides of leaf, and continue to roll. Place rolls, seam down into a greased roasting pan. Continue rolling remainder cabbage rolls. Mix together the tomato soup, water and brown sugar and pour evenly over all the rolls. Cover with a lid or heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Check at 1 1/2 hours, adding additional water if needed. To serve, spoon sauce over rolls. Leftover rolls (once cool) can be put into ziplock bags and frozen up to 3 months.