Bigos

The story

Bigos, a stew of fresh cabbage and sauerkraut with various kinds of meat and sausage, is first mentioned in written sources in the 17th century, and recipes appear as early as 1682 in Stanisław Czerniecki's cookbook — but what we think of as bigos today, with cabbage as the main ingredient, developed only later. Its name, “hunter's stew,” comes from actual practice: it was ideal food for the Polish nobility on hunts lasting several days, because it could be cooked in large quantities, carried in pots through the cold, and, crucially, it really does get better with every reheating, as the flavors of meat, cabbage, and spices slowly meld over the days. That is why bigos is traditionally cooked days before Christmas, reheated throughout the holidays, and even frozen for later, with many Poles maintaining that week-old bigos is the only true bigos. Although it is not one of the twelve strictly meatless dishes of Wigilia, it is a regular on the table on the first and second days of Christmas, when the fast ends and meat returns to the menu in full force.