Jak matka gotowała

[muckefuck]

The challenge: Using up the spendy imported meats (sujuk, smoked bacon) I bought last time I made dinner before they went off. Admittedly, as challenges go, it's not much of one.

The solution: Stew! Specifically bigos. Well, The best of Polish cooking calls it "gęsta potrawka myśliwska" (lit. "thick ragout hunter-style") or "Hunter's Stew", but it's pretty clear from the ingredients--sauerkraut, sausage, leftover meat, mushrooms, wine, etc.--that that's nothing more than a fancy-shmancy name for the Polish national dish.

The substitutions: The most obvious is the sausage, of course: Bosnian and made of beef rather than Polish and made of pork. But the balance of the meat is leftovers from the Sunday joint of pork, so I think we're in the clear. (Certainly, the laws of trefut are being rigidly adhered to.) monshu marinated and braised that in wine, so I just used the sauce (thinned with a little boughten vegetable stock) in place of the red wine and bouillon called for in the recipe. I also left out the the fresh cabbage, since I'm not a fan, but now it occurs to me that they could've meant red cabbage as well as white and that would've provided an inviting contrast. Oh well.

The results: We won't know until at least tomorrow since the recipe calls for me to stew it a couple hours tonight, then refrigerate it and reheat tomorrow. Descriptions of bigos say that it peaks on the third day, so it may take even longer to form an educated verdict.

Comments

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

*giggle*

If you wanted to be truly treyf, add a little sour cream.

Sounds delicious.

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

I was going to say. And serve with some scallops or something.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Have no fear--this is Polish food. I swear, every recipe ends with "Garnish with sour cream." It doesn't matter if it's a main course, a salad, or a dessert. If you told me that the Poles had developed a breed of cattle which yields cream already soured, I wouldn't be in the least surprised.