Recipe: Perfect Bigos (Hunters Stew) for Slowcooker

Bigos (Hunters Stew) for Slowcooker. Slow Cooker. "A traditional Polish stew using pork, kielbasa, and sauerkraut. Great for a cold winters day. Um, it's a very generic, salty dish that doesn't bear much of a similarity to the Polish hunter's stew, contrary to what others wrote below.

Bigos - Polish Hunter Stew - is a traditional dish that originated in Medieval times. Bigos is also called 'Polish Hunter Stew' as its origins date back to Medieval times One can get a truly magnificent stew that would make any hunter proud in a quarter of the time in an electric pressure cooker, AKA. What I'm missing in this recipe is mushrooms. You can have Bigos (Hunters Stew) for Slowcooker using 19 ingredients and 12 steps. Here is how you cook it.

Ingredients of Bigos (Hunters Stew) for Slowcooker

1. You need to taste of Olive oil and Butter.
2. It's 800 g of Kielbasa or smoked pork sausage.
3. It's 1000 g of Pork (shoulder or neck meat steaks or chops).
4. Prepare 2 of x medium Onions rough sliced.
5. You need 2 cloves of Garlic sliced.
6. Prepare 200 g of mushrooms quartered.
7. You need 1 TBS of Beefbroth.
8. Prepare 800 g of diced Tomatoes (canned).
9. It's 2 TBS of Paprika.
10. You need 1 TBS of Pimenton (smoked Paprika) or more regular Paprika.
11. It's Pinch of Cheyenne.
12. You need 1500 g of Sauerkraut (drain of excess fluid).
13. It's 2 of x Bayleaves.
14. Prepare 2-3 of Allspiece (pimento) Berries (grind to powder with pestle).
15. It's 2-3 of Juniper Berries (crush under a knife).
16. It's of Handfull of Parsley (chopped).
17. Prepare 2-3 of Pickles (sliced roughly).
18. It's of Salt/White Pepper.
19. It's 4 TBS of Tomatopaste.

It's a hunters stew - so forest flavour is a must! Bigos is an Eastern European stew that has many adaptations; some versions incorporate rice and/or a variety of vegetables and meats, so you can use whatever you have on hand. This version is a Polish hunter's stew that features kielbasa, smoky bacon, melty cabbage, and lots of delicious broth. Bigos is a traditional Polish sauerkraut stew, often called Hunter's Stew in English.

Bigos (Hunters Stew) for Slowcooker step by step

1. Cut all your ingredient up but not too fine. You want to retain texture and tastes..
2. Cut the sausage in about 1/4" slices and fry it on medium/high heat in a pan with a bit of olive oil until the fat starts seeping out. Transfer to slow cooker..
3. Fry the steaks or chops in the sausage/olive oil. Add more oil if needed. High heat for 20-30sec on each side. No need to cut the meat up. The Slowcooker process will tenderize it to strings. Bones can remain for now and can extracted after the stew is finished) Transfer to slow cooker.
4. Reduce heat and add some butter..
5. Once the butter is at temperature add onions and garlic and caramelize them until they glaze over. Transfer to slow cooker.
6. Add the mushrooms to the pan and let them absorb the resulting broth. Add a bit of water and the beef broth to the pan. Then after stirring for a few seconds add the tomatoes and paprika (and Pimenton, Cheyenne if you like it a bit spicey) to the mix and transfer everything to the slow cooker. Salt and pepper to taste. Maybe add a bit of Beefbroth instead of salt. Less is more. The Slowcooker will unchain a lot.of taste from the meat..
7. You can add all kinds of leftovers at this point. Like vegetables that go in soup (kohlrabi, turnip, carrot, celery, leek, endive)... Processing leftovers is what stew is for. I would avoid sweet stuff like corn but tomatoes are also fine and go in roughly chopped or even quartered....
8. Drain the Sauerkraut from excess fluid (not a problem if there is some left) and add it to the slow cooker. If it's too sour for you, you can reduce the acid by quickly blanching it in water and draining it before transferring it to the mix. I like the acidic taste. It's how it's supposed to be and it helps tenderize the meat..
9. Slice or dice the pickles and add them together with the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything thoroughly and make sure the meat is covered..
10. Add some water until everything is wet and can be cooked. Make sure the meat is covered. Just like in the picture.
11. Cook on high for 5 hours and let rest for one 1 or more hours. Remove bones before serving..
12. A side of sourdough bread or simple mashed potatoes are ideal. Some sourcreme or creme fraiche to reduce acidity maybe? Certainly....

The recipe was widely used by travelling hunters peasants who fermented cabbage to make sauerkraut for winter. Cuts of meat, farmed and hunted were then added and slow-cooked together, to make a nourishing stew. My dad used to make this dish and served it with mashed potatoes. Dig into a simple dish of chicken slow-cooked with bell peppers, convenient canned mushrooms, and hearty garbanzo beans. The Bigos Hunter's Stew recipe out of our category Stew!