Bigos is often called hunter's stew, and in old Poland it really did go to the hunt, carried in pots and reheated over fires. It belongs now to the Christmas and Easter holidays and to every cold weekend in between. The base is sauerkraut softened with fresh cabbage, braised for hours with whatever good meat is to hand: pork shoulder, smoked kiełbasa, bacon. Dried forest mushrooms and prunes give it depth and a dark, faint sweetness. Polish cooks insist it improves each time it is reheated, and they have a point.

That makes it the most race friendly dish in this book. Make it on Friday, reheat on Saturday for qualifying, and by Sunday it has reached the form of its life.

The bigos

Ingredients

• 1/2 oz (15 g) dried porcini
• 1 cup (240 ml) boiling water
• 6 oz (170 g) smoked bacon
• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) boneless pork shoulder
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 lb (900 g) sauerkraut
• 1 lb (450 g) fresh green cabbage
• 1 lb (450 g) kiełbasa
• 8 pitted prunes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry red wine
• 2 cups (480 ml) chicken or beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 whole allspice berries
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• to taste fine salt

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