Bigos is a Polish dish of assorted chopped meats stewed together with sauerkraut, shredded fresh cabbage and spices, originally from Poland and also traditional across the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It typically combines pork, beef, veal, poultry or game with precooked sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, seasoned with onions, dried mushrooms, salt, black pepper, allspice, juniper berries and bay leaves, braised together over several hours until the stew thickens through evaporation, sometimes helped along with flour or potato. Bigos is considered to improve with repeated refrigeration and reheating as its flavors meld, which has made it a traditional dish for major Catholic holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
Facts
Origin Period, From (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountWikipedia states the word bigos is not attested before the 17th century; 1682 is the publication year of Compendium ferculorum, Stanislaw Czerniecki's cookbook, the oldest surviving printed Polish cookbook and the earliest source with actual bigos recipes, though an earlier, undated medieval layered dish called compositum is proposed as a root tradition. Origin RegionSourced to the subject's own accountPoland (and the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) 2 Partially Attested
Origin Period, To (Year)Sourced to the subject's own accountMarks the approximate end of the 19th century, the period across which Wikipedia's own History section describes the cheaper sauerkraut-based rascal's bigos, first common under King Augustus III of Poland (reigned 1734-1763), gradually superseding the older meat-heavy versions to become the bigos known today; no source gives a precise year for when this was complete. Classification
Dietary SuitabilitySourced to the subject's own accountContains Meat or Poultry 2 FAQs
What did the word bigos mean in the 1600s?
It named a meal of chopped leftovers.
Folkways Today says that in its earliest mentions in the 17th century, bigos was a word for a meal made from leftovers, and the name likely referred to chopped ingredients. The same article notes records of the stew as far back as 1682 in Stanisław Czerniecki's Compendium ferculorum, so the dish was already written about then.
Connections
Expresses Tradition
Source Bigos (Wikipedia)
Source Bigos (Wikipedia)
In Cuisine
Source Bigos (Wikipedia)
Uses Ingredient
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Bigos (Wikidata)
P31 (instance of): Main course
Main course
Uses Ingredient: Cabbage, infobox main_ingredient field
Various meats, sauerkraut, cabbage
View the Source2. Bigos (Wikipedia)
WikipediaWikipedia, Bigos, lead paragraph, last sentence
Originally from Poland, the dish also became traditional in the areas of the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
History section
Stanisław Czerniecki, head chef to Prince Aleksander Michał Lubomirski, who consistently used the diminutive form bigosek, included several recipes for it in his Compendium ferculorum (A Collection of Dishes), the oldest surviving cookbook printed and published in Polish, in 1682 (however, around 2019 another old cookbook was found that included recipes from an earlier, i.e.
Wikipedia, Bigos, History section, 19th-century sauerkraut sentence
Over the course of the 19th century, its rise in popularity continued as the proportion of meat decreased in favor of sauerkraut, eventually superseding all other kinds of bigos and losing the disparaging epithet in the process.
Introduction
Bigos (Polish pronunciation: [ˈbʲiɡɔs] ), or hunter's stew, is a Polish dish of chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut, shredded fresh cabbage and spices.
- In Cuisine: Polish Cuisine, Wikipedia category list
Expresses Tradition: Christmas Feast Traditions, Article body
Bigos is particularly associated with major Catholic holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, as it can be prepared in ample quantities beforehand and only reheated on the holiday itself and the following days.
Expresses Tradition: Easter Food Traditions, Article body
Bigos is particularly associated with major Catholic holidays, such as Christmas and Easter, as it can be prepared in ample quantities beforehand and only reheated on the holiday itself and the following days.
View the Source Wikidata: Bigos
Wikidata Q598222, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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