• Recipes
• Second course
• Ragout and stew
• Bigos, or polish hunter's stew

It's hard to imagine anything more comforting than a stew that burbles on the back of the stove for hours on end, keeping the kitchen fragrant and warm while the wind and snow rage outside. Bigos, or Polish hunter's stew, is just that kind of dish. Traditionally made from the beginning of fall through the cold Eastern-European winter, it would feature the fruits of the hunter's woods (venison and wild mushrooms) as well as sauerkraut, which would have been barrelled to last all winter. <br /> <br />Another nickname for this stew is "perpetual stew," as the contents of the pot would be replaced with additional meat and preserved vegetables as the family ate during the week. The initial feast, however, would only take place on the third day ~ it takes that long for the flavours to first develop and blend. <br /> <br />I was first introduced to bigos by Silvena Rowe, in her cookbook the Eastern and Central European Kitchen. I also consulted Barbara Rolek's version at About.com's Eastern European Food section. However, the recipe below is definitely my own take on this dish. Bigos historically contains dried prunes or apples for sweetness, but my palate tends to rebel when there is sweet fruit strewn amongst the savoury. By way of compromise, I used a fortified wine for the cooking liquid as a more subtle way of lending that sweet note to the dish. I was lucky to have a bag of dried pidpenky, the honey mushrooms my family forages in the fall, in my freezer, but any variety of dried wild mushroom will do. <br /> <br />Bigos is usually served with peeled boiled potatoes, but I think just some rye bread and an assortment of pickles is plenty in the way of accompaniment. Don’t forgot the sprig of something frilly atop each serving — I had curly parsley in the fridge, left over from garnishing platters for a cocktail party — as it represents the feather in the hunter’s cap. The ample leftovers will freeze well.

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