Englishman trying BIGOS for the FIRST TIME in Wrocław!

A staple of the Polish diet is Bigos (Hunters Stew), so while I am in Wrocław I had to try it for the first time. But did I like it?

OUR VLOG CHANNEL: Charlie & Rob - As We Are

Merch:

If you would like to send me anything, send me a message on robreacts @ hotmail . com

#Poland #bigos #tastesting

[RobReacts]

If you are enjoying my reactions to all things Poland, make sure you go and watch out trips to Poland on our vlog channel and subscribe!

[SasekPL]

As a polish man I can say that every bigos is different. I've eat dozens of them and every tastes different. It all depends on the spices, how long the cabbage has been cooking. The best bigos is the one that has been left in the pot for at least 2-3 days. Some people add apples to the bigos, others white sausage or plums, and I've even seen that they add bacon. One restaurant is not enough to rate bigos :)

[MaxEfka]

Every Bigos is different...dependent on extra spices ( thyme, marjoram), meat, red wine, honey etc🍷

[feanrassilmaril]

You perfectly procounce "Wrocław". May the Bigos be with you!

[MrBegmar]

I think your biggest mistake was to eat bigos in summer. For me it's definitely more winter food. It works best when you coming home on snowy, windy day and you are shivering from cold. Bowl of bigos is exactly what you need in situation like that. But in summer it's too heavy and dense. In autumn and summer we traditionally eat dishes composed from fresh, young fruit and vegetables. Things like botwina, kluski z truskawkami, pierogi with all kinds of fruits, young potatoes and much more. You should definitely try some more seasonal stuff right now and leave bigos for winter.

[szynom]

Everywhere in Poland bigos taste differently, everyone who make it has their own recipe. My favourite version is reheated, from the previous day, when ingredients were additionally "mixed by time", so it has richer, more mature taste. From the other side, "young" bigos is usually smoother

[diabolvs_pl]

Hi Rob, the dish you've been served is a "restaurant" quick version of bigos. It's not a real home made polish bigos. The real bigos (as you've said) - consists of:
- wild mushrooms,
- sour and fresh chopped cabbage,
- pork and beef meat,
- lots of seasoning,
and there it goes for real bigos ingredients:
- dried plums,
- dired juniper berries,
- red wine,
- muscat, bay leaves, pepper.

But still it's not the way bigos is really done.

When you cook the stew, combine all the ingredients you have to put in a freezer for a month or so.

Then the dish is going to combine and as we Poles say - "przegryzie się (it's going to let all the stuff scramble").

After this long time you just have to take it out of the freezer and let it slowly get hot on a pan and let it it slowly cook so all those magnificient ingredients go all together and make bigos as good as it should be.

And that's the real bigos (the hunter's stew - very appropriate name tbh).

[hamartian]

Trying traditional foods in restaurants isnt always a good idea. They often do them badly, they use poor quality products, they cut corners etc. Make some good friends in Poland, figure out who has a grandma that really can cook - ask her to make you real Polish dishes.. 😊

[Radogost]

I like your videos. I'm a Pole living in the UK for the last 20 years and I didn't have a good 'Bigos' here unless I made it myself. I know what you mean about the sourness, even Poles are divided in these terms but the beauty of this dish is you can cook it in many different ways and reduce the sourness. I don't know how yours tasted like but many people like more sweet 'Bigos'. If you squeeze the juices out of sauerkraut and put more fresh cabbage followed by decent amount of honey it would make it less potent and probably this would be more to your liking. There is so much you can do with this dish that it makes it an art to cook it to your guests liking. I'm sure if I cooked it you'd give it at least 7, maybe 8 ;)

[aggiecat]

Don't be discouraged, because every bigos is different and depends on many products. You have to find your own taste of bigos. I love it when there is less of meat, but there is more plums, mushrooms and when it has a sour aftertaste of dry wine. But my fiancé likes only sausage and cabbage. Cabbages are also different. Some mix young with pickled, others cook only young. Simply, how many Poles, so many versions of bigos. Last Christmas I ate bigos on sweet cabbage and it was also good. Try bigos in different places, eventually you will find your favorite! Good luck!

[Lumperator]

Szacunek, że spróbowałeś i zjadłeś bigos :)

[MrMalu]

You should try bigos in few places. Every bigos is different. I don’t like bigos with extra ingredients but I love bigos and I like when is moist with “water” not dry

[martingorbush]

2:28 I'm not an expert on "hunter's stew" but for me it is much better if it is darker. We've got a saying that it is getting better with every reheating and little bit of burnt.

[bartoszbeling]

Try "Zrazy wołowe, kasza gryczana, buraczki" which loosly translates to rolled, bacon stuffed beef in gravey, lentils with beetroot warm side. It' my childhoods fave. Btw some English dishes have some similarities - stews, pies, pork chops, potatos, warm vegies and so on...

[hikawara]

Hi. As for bigos, in the summer it is more popular made of young cabbage, not sauerkraut. Completely different taste
I would recommend trying:
- potato pancakes (placki ziemniaczane),
- tripe,
- dumplings with poppy seeds (kluski z makiem),
- black pudding (kaszanka) - hot and cold,
- pasta or rice in milk, and even better mash (zacierka) in milk with pumpkin,
- string beans with butter and breadcrumbs.
- stewed forest mushrooms in sour cream with onion
- gołąbki.
Enjoy your meal. :)

[sebaw]

Najlepszy bigos z zeszłego roku z zamrażarki. Takie magiczne rzeczy się po nim mogą dziać.😂😂😂

[gosiaborzeszkowska]

Yes, that's true, I always add prunes, dreid mushrooms, sometimes red wine and a lot of spices. Various kinds of near and sausages. And I cook it at least 2 data, usually the konger it is cooked the better it is. And of course IT dependso on your personal preferencja if yoy mix fresh cabbage and sauerkraut and in which proportions. Some like it milder, some more sour. So it takes hundreds of tries until you find your own taste.

[Chrupignat]

As everyone else has already written you should try it in couple places because every bigos is different. You can add or change various ingredients, also it's very important whichever spice have been used. The rich historical option is to add as many different types of meat as possible, I mean the one that would be normally hunted (venison, stag and so on and so forth). Some people add dried plums, some add smoked peppers. Also as someone already pointed out traditional bigos should take couple days before it's served.

Either way I'm happy that you tried it. It's always nice when a person goes to another country and tries local cuisine.

[roberts.]

Hi Rob!
Welcome to Poland!
Yes, Polish bread is very tasty. Bon Appetit ! 😉😊

[arashimifune]

When I was studying (oh, long time ago) English, our lecturer was a English dude who said he doesn't understand how come something can look so bad as bigos and taste so good. It was a day before his birthday. So on my way home I called my mom and asked if she could make bigos on such a short notice - she said yes. My friend also bought the cheapest possible fruity wine - a pluck, basically (sadly, don't remember the origin story for this - probably there was a talk earlier about cheap wines :P).

Our lecturer was so surprised and happy with his gifts :P