Recipe: Bigos or Hunters Stew (using a variety of meats, salt pork, and sauerkraut)

BIGOS OR HUNTERS STEW
Source: alt.food/Ray W. Kay/Aug 2 1998
Translated from an old Polish cookbook

A very tasty dish from a Polish cook book that's been in the family for perhaps 60 years or more. This stew was served at royal banquets and hunts, and still is the 'pace de resistance' after a hunting party. Since this dish cannot be prepared in small quantities because of the numerous ingredients required, it is wisest to plan to serve it at a large party. The proportions given here are approximate; they may be varied to individual taste and availability.

At least 1/2 lb. of each of the following cooked meats, diced:*
roast beef or pot roast, chicken or duck, roast lamb, ham, roast pork, sausage, venison or hare, roast veal

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6 to 8 lbs. sauerkraut
1 1/2 oz. dried mushrooms, cooked until soft enough to cut into thin strips
liquid in which mushrooms have been cooked
1/4 lb salt pork, diced and browned
2 onions, minced
2 tbsp. flour
salt, pepper, and sugar to taste
1 cup Madeira wine (or more)

Combine sauerkraut and cooked dried mushrooms, together with the liquid in which they cooked.

Brown the diced salt pork, cook the onion in this fat until limp.

Add flour, and stir until blended. Add to the sauerkraut. Add all the diced meats, season to taste, and simmer, tightly covered, for half an hour.

Add the wine, boil up once, and keep covered until ready to serve. BIGOS is even better reheated, so it maybe prepared in the morning for use at dinner time. Will keep in the refrigerator a full week.

*TO PREPARE THE MEATS:
If the meats must be prepared fresh, each piece should be pot-roasted separately, together with the following:
1 tbsp. (or less) butter
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
6 peppercorns
bay leaf (optional ) use no more than half a leaf per meat; never use with pork or poultry.
1/2 cup soup stock (approx.) enough to keep meat from sticking
salt to taste

Cook each meat until tender. Dice and combine with sauerkraut as as directed above. The vegetables with which meats have been cooked maybe used separately. Traditional they are not added to the main dish.

Either recipe will make 12 generous servings.