Bigos

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1
  Shred the cabbage finely. Cut 100 g of pork belly into cubes and render it in a pot, add one diced onion and fry for a while, then add the 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 chopped pork belly, add one diced onion and fry for a while, add sauerkraut (if it's too sour, rinse it with water beforehand) and caraway, pour in 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 hot plate under the pot, add whole spices (allspice, juniper, mixed peppercorns, bay leaf), mushrooms chopped into smaller pieces, and cook covered for approximately 4 hours. During cooking, lightly add water; initially, it's enough to stir once every half hour, later more frequently, to prevent the bigos from burning. 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.