Ahh, bigos!

Not quite as I remember Babunia making it -- but I did it, and it was good -- passable, that is.

Just tossed some bacon in a pan, let it get renderin', then some onions, garlic, carrots, a bit of chopped kielbasa, a BIG pile of sauerkraut, red wine, and seasonings. Let that all come together for awhile. Oh, and some dried mushrooms -- I was supposed to find "dried Polish mushrooms" but by the time I was passing by the European deli on the way home today I was so laden with bags of stuff that I don't think I could have stopped if you paid me.

Well, okay, if you paid me. But shh. That's beside the point.

Anyway, a couple of things for next time. One: I would definitely have crisped the bacon and browned the kielbasa first, then removed and added back. I didn't realize what an hour and a half of braising would do to diced kielbasa -- it was always fine when I've cooked it down with cabbage before. Way overdone in this case though.

I'd really go out of my way to add some pork shoulder or butt or some nice tough fatty cut. That really "makes" the bigos as I remember it -- those little chunks of meat so tender that they fall to shreds as they're being forked.

I added the wine at the beginning; should have been at the end. Oh, I'd toss in some apple next time too. As it was, I had to add sugar, and I'd rather just use a damn apple, seeing as I always have them around anyway.

In general, though, good stuff! Comforting.

Finished my mega Toblerone today. I'm glad it's gone, but no regrets about eating the whole damn thing. It was so worth it.

Tomorrow... what to do tomorrow? I'm thinking orange chicken broccoli stir-fry concoction.