Bigos

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Finely shred the head cabbage. Cut 100 g of pork belly into small cubes and render it in a pot, add one onion cut into small cubes and fry for a while, then add the head cabbage, a little salt, ground pepper, and caraway, and pour in white wine. Simmer until tender.
• 2
  In a second pot, render another 100 g of finely diced pork belly, add one onion cut into small cubes and fry for a while, add sauerkraut (if it's too sour, rinse it with water beforehand) and caraway, add water and simmer until tender.
• 3
  In a pan, render the remaining 100 g of pork belly, add finely chopped onion, ham cut into smaller pieces, meat chopped into pieces, and sausage cut into rounds, and sauté for several minutes.
• 4
  Combine the tender-cooked cabbage in one larger pot with a thick bottom (preferably cast iron or enameled), add the prepared meat with sausage, pour in red wine, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a minimum; you can also place a flame diffuser or a hot plate under the pot. Add whole spices (allspice, juniper, colorful pepper, bay leaf), mushrooms chopped into smaller pieces, and cook covered for approximately 4 hours. During cooking, add a little water as needed. Initially, stirring once every half hour is sufficient; later, stir more frequently to prevent the bigos from sticking. After one hour of cooking, add finely chopped dried plums. It's good to let the bigos rest until at least the next day. The next day, it's good to cook it over low heat for another four hours. Serve hot with bread.