Today we’re off to Poland—a country with a rich culinary history, where every dish tells its own story. We’ll cook two iconic recipes that Poles have been making for centuries and consider symbols of their national cuisine.
🍲 Bigos
The legendary Polish dish—braised sauerkraut with meat, smoked meats, and prunes. Thick, aromatic, with deep flavor that only gets better when reheated.
Ingredients:
• Sauerkraut — 800 g
• Fresh white cabbage — 400 g
• Pork belly — 300 g
• Smoked sausage (Krakowska or hunter’s sausages) — 200 g
• Bacon — 150 g
• Pork shoulder — 300 g
• Pitted prunes — 100 g
• Yellow onion — 2 large
• Tomato paste — 2 tbsp
• Dry red wine — 150 ml
• Bay leaves — 3
• Whole allspice — 8
• Juniper berries — 5-6 (optional)
• Salt, black pepper — to taste
• Vegetable oil — 2 tbsp
Instructions:
Step 1. Preparing the cabbage
Squeeze the sauerkraut to remove excess brine, but don’t rinse—its acidity is the foundation of the flavor. If it’s too sour, rinse with cold water and squeeze again. Shred the fresh cabbage into 3-4 mm strips. In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, mix both types of cabbage, add 200 ml water, bay leaves, and allspice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cabbage should soften but retain some texture.
Step 2. Searing the meat
Cut the pork shoulder and belly into 2×2 cm cubes. Slice the bacon into 1 cm strips. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep skillet or sauté pan over high heat. Sear the pork in batches (no more than 300 g at a time—otherwise, it’ll steam instead of brown) until golden-brown—4-5 minutes per side. Transfer the seared meat to the cabbage. Fry the bacon until crispy and lightly browned, then add it to the cabbage along with the rendered fat.
Step 3. Preparing the smoked meats and onion
Slice the smoked sausage into 1 cm rounds (or half-moons if the sausage is thick). Dice the onion into 5 mm cubes. In the same skillet where the meat was seared, sauté the onion over medium heat until translucent and lightly golden—5-7 minutes. Add the tomato paste, stir, and fry for another 2 minutes until the paste darkens. Pour in the red wine, increase the heat, and reduce by half, scraping up the caramelized bits from the bottom—about 3 minutes. Transfer the onion and wine sauce to the cabbage.
Step 4. Adding prunes and sausage
Cut the prunes into 3-4 pieces. Add the prunes and sliced sausage to the cabbage and meat. If using juniper berries, lightly crush them with the flat side of a knife and toss them in—they’ll give the dish a distinctive forest aroma. Stir everything together, making sure there’s a little liquid at the bottom (if not, add 100 ml water or broth).
Step 5. Long braising
Cover the pot and simmer the bigos on the lowest heat for 1.5-2 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. The dish is ready when all the ingredients have melded together, the cabbage has turned dark brown, and a thin layer of aromatic fat has formed on the surface. The meat should fall apart easily with a fork. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper—bigos should be rich, with a balance of acidity, prune sweetness, and smokiness from the cured meats.
Step 6. Resting and serving
Traditionally, bigos tastes even better on the second or third day, when the flavors fully develop and blend. Let the dish cool, then refrigerate and reheat before serving. If the bigos has thickened too much, add 50-100 ml water when reheating. Serve hot with rye bread or boiled potatoes. Bigos should be thick but not dry—like a hearty stew with visible chunks of meat and cabbage.
Step 7. Final touches
Before serving, remove the bay leaves and juniper berries. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Some cooks add a spoonful of honey at the very end to balance the acidity—try it and decide for yourself. Bigos keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days and freezes beautifully.
💡 Fact: Bigos is called "hunter’s stew"—it was traditionally made after a hunt, using game and smoked meats. In the old days, bigos was simmered in huge cauldrons for days, reheated daily, which made the flavor even deeper. There’s a saying: "Bigos reheated seven times is the tastiest."
🥣 Żurek
Poland’s iconic sour rye soup with white sausage, eggs, and horseradish. Thick, hearty, with a signature tang and smoky aroma—the calling card of Polish cuisine.
Ingredients:
For the starter (prepare 3-5 days ahead):
• Rye flour — 100 g
• Warm boiled water — 250 ml
• Garlic — 2 cloves
• Bay leaf — 1
• Whole allspice — 3
For the soup:
• Prepared starter — 300-400 ml
• Smoked pork ribs — 400 g
• White sausage (biała kiełbasa) or regular hot dogs — 300 g
• Potatoes — 3-4 medium
• Carrot — 1 large
• Celery root — 100 g (or 2 stalks)
• Yellow onion — 1 large
• Garlic — 4 cloves
• Sour cream — 150 ml
• Fresh grated horseradish — 2 tbsp
• Dried marjoram — 1 tsp
• Bay leaves — 2
• Whole allspice — 6
• Eggs — 4 (for serving)
• Salt, black pepper — to taste
• Fresh dill — small bunch
Instructions:
Step 1. Making the starter (3-5 days ahead)
In a clean 0.5 L glass jar, add the rye flour. Pour in warm (not hot!) boiled water at 30-35°C, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth—consistency should be like thin sour cream. Add crushed garlic cloves, bay leaf, and allspice. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a cloth (not a lid—air needs to circulate) and leave at room temperature in a dark place. Stir after 12 hours. The starter is ready in 3-5 days, when it develops a characteristic sour smell and bubbles on the surface. Strain through a sieve, removing the spices and garlic.
Step 2. Making the broth
Rinse the smoked ribs under cold water. In a large pot (at least 4 L capacity), cover the ribs with 2.5 L cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off the foam with a slotted spoon—the first 5-7 minutes will produce a lot of it. Reduce heat to low, add a whole peeled onion, halved carrot, celery root cut into large chunks, bay leaves, and allspice. Simmer, covered, for 1.5 hours on low heat. The broth should barely bubble, not boil. Doneness: the meat falls easily off the bones, and the broth is aromatic and clear.
Step 3. Preparing the vegetables and meat
Remove the ribs from the broth and let them cool slightly. Separate the meat from the bones and cut into 2×3 cm pieces. Strain the broth through a fine sieve or cheesecloth, discarding the vegetables and spices—they’ve already given up their flavor. Return the broth to the pot. Peel the potatoes and cut into 1.5×1.5 cm cubes. If you used a whole carrot earlier, dice a fresh one into 5 mm cubes. Finely chop the garlic.
Step 4. Cooking the soup with vegetables
Return the broth to the heat and bring to a boil. Add the diced potatoes and carrots, cooking over medium heat for 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender—test with a fork; the cubes should pierce easily but not fall apart. Add the shredded rib meat and marjoram. Slice the white sausage diagonally into 1 cm rounds. If using regular hot dogs, cut them into 1.5 cm rounds.
Step 5. Adding the starter
Reduce the heat to low. Ladle 200 ml of hot broth into a separate bowl and let it cool for 2-3 minutes to 60-70°C. Pour in the starter (start with 300 ml) and whisk until smooth. Important: if you add cold starter directly to boiling soup, it may curdle. Slowly pour the diluted starter into the pot, stirring constantly. Taste—the soup should have a pleasant sourness. If it’s not tangy enough, add another 50-100 ml of starter.
Step 6. Final simmering with sausage
Add the sliced white sausage and chopped garlic. Simmer on the lowest heat for 7-10 minutes—the sausage should warm through and soften but not fall apart. The soup shouldn’t boil after adding the starter, just simmer at 85-90°C. In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream with grated horseradish and 3-4 tbsp of hot broth from the soup—this prevents the sour cream from curdling. Stir the sour cream-horseradish mixture into the soup. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The soup is ready when all the ingredients are heated through and the flavor is harmonious—sour but not sharp, with a subtle kick from the horseradish.
Step 7. Serving with eggs
Hard-boil the eggs (9-10 minutes after boiling), cool in cold water, peel, and cut in half. Finely chop the fresh dill. Ladle the żurek into deep bowls, placing a halved boiled egg in each (or a whole egg, sliced in half directly in the bowl). Sprinkle with chopped dill. Serve immediately while the soup is hot. Traditionally, żurek is served in a hollowed-out round loaf of bread, but this is optional. The soup should be thick and hearty, with visible chunks of sausage, meat, and vegetables, its signature tang, and smoky aroma.
💡 Fact: Żurek is one of Poland’s oldest soups, dating back to the Middle Ages. It was traditionally served at Easter in special bread bowls. The starter for żurek (żur) can be stored in the fridge for months and reused—just "feed" it with rye flour and water, like a sourdough starter.