Classic Bigos with Smoked Meats

A delicious, generous bigos for a family dinner! With the incredible flavor of ham and sauerkraut, seasoned with spices and fresh herbs, this dish is a great choice for dinner at home.

Siberian cooksAuthor avatar
Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:
Translation table of volumetric measures
Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe
By weight of the composition:
Proteins 30 % 7 g
Fats 52 % 12 g
Carbohydrates 17 % 4 g
173 kcal
GI: 100 / 0 / 0

Cooking method

Cooking time: 45 min
  1. Step 1:

    Step 1

    Gather your ingredients and rinse the sauerkraut in a colander under running water.

  2. Step 2:

    Step 2

    Heat a skillet with the vegetable oil, then roughly chop both kinds of onion and add them to the pan.

  3. Step 3:

    Step 3

    Cook the onion, stirring, until translucent.

  4. Step 4:

    Step 4

    Transfer the cooked onion to a separate bowl.

  5. Step 5:

    Step 5

    Cut the bacon and ham into pieces and add them to the skillet.

  6. Step 6:

    Step 6

    Lightly brown the ham and bacon, stirring, adding a little more oil if needed.

  7. Step 7:

    Step 7

    Transfer the bacon and ham to a separate bowl.

  8. Step 8:

    Step 8

    Add a little vegetable oil to the pan and cook the sauerkraut, stirring so it doesn't stick.

  9. Step 9:

    Step 9

    After 10 minutes, add 150 g (about ⅔ cup) of water and stew the cabbage until the liquid has cooked off.

  10. Step 10:

    Step 10

    Add the cooked onion, tomato paste, ham, bacon, finely chopped garlic, and pepper to taste. Mix well and stew for another 10 minutes, until everything is done.

  11. Step 11:

    Step 11

    Plate the bigos, sprinkle with fresh cilantro, and serve. Enjoy!

  • Not sure what to make for dinner? Try this simple dish — stewed cabbage with a smoky, savory edge that the whole family will love. Bigos, made with sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, is a classic of traditional Polish cuisine, though some credit its origins to Lithuanian cooks. Originally it was a fairly involved dish that took several days to make. Since few of us can spare that kind of time today, the classic version comes together in about an hour and a half when you start with fresh meat. Smoked meats give bigos its distinctive taste, and a splash of dry white wine deepens it further — swap in plain water if you'd rather skip the alcohol. Delicious, filling, and very simple! Bigos is a great way to use up small pieces of assorted smoked meats left over after a holiday — the meat gets used, and it costs you nothing extra. But all of this only works if you've got sauerkraut on hand; without it, bigos just isn't bigos.

Caloric content of the products possible in the composition of the dish

  • Garlic - 143  kcal/100g
  • Ground black pepper - 255  kcal/100g
  • Ham - 270  kcal/100g
  • Beef ham - 133  kcal/100g
  • Boiled ham - 282  kcal/100g
  • Raw ham - 270  kcal/100g
  • Ham sausage - 242  kcal/100g
  • Shallots - 72  kcal/100g
  • Vegetable oil - 873  kcal/100g
  • Boiled bacon - 447  kcal/100g
  • Tomato paste - 28  kcal/100g
  • Sauerkraut - 19  kcal/100g
  • Salt - 0  kcal/100g
  • Onion - 41  kcal/100g
  • Coriander greens - 25  kcal/100g

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