Bigos

Bigos is a Polish dish of cabbage and sauerkraut stewed with assorted finely chopped meats.

Quotes

 * There's going to be hot bigos of lead and gunpowder.
 * Polish: Będzie bigos gorący z ołowiu i z prochu.
 * Khotyn War (Wojna Chocimska), an epic poem by Wacław Potocki (1670)
 * Source:

''Chcąc panna bigos w kuchni zaprawić co prędzej, Pójdzie z garnkiem do szafy po ocet, gdzie między Flaszkami stał inkaust, bo już były mrozy. Nalawszy go, daje mi bigos nowej fozy, Skosztuję: pies by nie jadł i pomyślę sobie, Jako żywem bigosu nie widział w żałobie. Więc spostrzegłszy omyłki, wskażę do kucharza: Niech mi złodziej nie robi z zadka kałamarza.''
 * A maid, wishing to season bigos in haste, went with the pot for some vinegar to the cupboard, where, between other bottles, stood ink, as it was a time of frost. Having poured it in, she serves me bigos of a new style. I try some: the dog wouldn't eat it! And I think to myself, I have never seen bigos in mourning. So having noticed the mistake, I point at the cook: don't let the thief make an inkwell out of my rear!
 * Polish:
 * Bigos w żałobie (Bigos in Mourning), an epigram by Wacław Potocki (1690s)
 * Source:

''Jeszcze została słonina w kapuście, jest i bigos cielęcy. A ja krzyknę głosem: Dawaj po włoskiej uczcie kapustę z bigosem.''
 * There's still fatback with cabbage left, and veal bigos. So I shout out loud, 'After an Italian banquet, give me cabbage and bigos!'
 * Polish:
 * Italian Banquet (Bankiet włoski), an epigram by Wacław Potocki (1690s)
 * Source:


 * Bigos, steaks, cutlets, pancakes, vols-au-vent, beef olives, brains, game and fruits make a light and nutritious breakfast.
 * Polish: Bigosy, zraziki, kotlety, naleśniki, lekkoduchy, zawijanki, móżdżki, zwierzyna i owoce – składają śniadanie lekkie i pożywne.
 * Traktat o śniadaniu (Treatise on Breakfast) by an unknown author (1828)
 * Quoted in:

Of its wondrous taste, colour and marvellous smell. One can hear the words buzz, and the rhymes ebb and flow, But its content no city digestion can know. To appreciate the Lithuanian folksong and folk food, You need health, live on land, and be back from the wood. Without these, still a dish of no mediocre worth Is bigos, made from legumes, best grown in the earth; Pickled cabbage comes foremost, and properly chopped, Which itself, is the saying, will in one's mouth hop; In the boiler enclosed, with its moist bosom shields Choicest morsels of meat raised on greenest of fields; Then it simmers, till fire has extracted each drop Of live juice, and the liquid boils over the top, And the heady aroma wafts gently afar. Now the bigos is ready. With triple hurrah Charge the huntsmen, spoon-armed, the hot vessel to raid, Brass thunders and smoke belches, like camphor to fade, Only in depths of cauldrons, there still writhes there later Steam, as if from a dormant volcano's deep crater.
 * In the pots warmed the bigos; mere words cannot tell
 * Pan Tadeusz, an heroicomic poem by Adam Mickiewicz (1834)
 * Translated from Polish by Marcel Wayland

''Jeden ze szlachty miał jaszczyk bigosu. Ta rzecz, choć smaczna, jest bardzo niestrawna; Bigos bez wódki to choroba jawna. Niedawno Paweł, co się w pole kwapił, Podjadł bigosu, wódki się nie napił; Takiej żołądka dostąpił zgryzoty, Że mu rumianku dawano na poty.''
 * One of the nobles had a box full of bigos. This thing, though tasty, is very hard to digest; bigos without vodka is sure to make you sick. Recently, Paul, when getting ready to go into the field, had some bigos, but didn't drink his vodka; he got such a stomach ache, they had to cure him with chamomile tea.
 * Polish:
 * Przypadek na odpuście (An Adventure at a Fair), a poem by Jan Nepomucen Kamiński (1835)

The lords of yore did munch; But nowadays, it's worms and snails On which, like storks, they lunch. ''Indyk z sosem, zraz z bigosem Jadły dawne pany; Dziś ślimaki i robaki Jedzą jak bociany.''
 * Turkey in sauce, steak and bigos
 * Polish:
 * Pije Kuba do Jakuba (Jake Toasts Jacob), a drinking song by Stefan Witwicki (1st half of the 19th century)


 * In the meantime, Gaudentius, who didn't fail to make provisions for the journey with leftovers from the feast of Yasnohorod, reheated and consumed bigos, generously seasoned with sausages and fatback, which he had retrieved from a box, washing it down, in strictly calculated intervals, with ample doses of vodka, which he kept by his right-hand side in a large rectangular decanter. ... Bigos, as is known, induces great thirst, which had to be quenched with some concoction; nearby, at Finke's, this and other "remedies" were ready for savoring. This venture, undertaken with certain tact, yet amateurishly, took quite some time; it had been over an hour since the sun left the earthly horizon, when Mr. Pius, with the last drops from the last bottle, exorcised the effects of the greasy bigos.
 * Polish: Tymczasem Gaudenty, który niezaniedbał uprowidować się na drogę okruchami Jasnohorodzkiej biesiady, odgrzewał i konsumował wydobyty z jaszczyka, a suto kiełbasami i słoniną przyprawiony bigos, skrapiając go w ściśle wyrachowanych interwallach sporą dozą szpagatówki, która się przy nim, na prawicy, w dużej czworogrannej flaszy znajdowała. ... Bigos jak wiadomo wzbudza silne pragnienie, wypadało więc ugasić je jakąś mixturką, pod bokiem właśnie u Finkego było do skosztowania to i owo remedium. Próba ta z pewnym taktem, po amatorsku odbywana zajęła niemało czasu, słońce już od godziny przeszło ziemski horyzont opuściło, kiedy p. Pius ostatniemi kroplami z ostatniej butelki exorcyzmował affektacje tłustego bigosu.
 * Obrazek jenjalnego officjalisty (Portrait of an Ingenious Officer), a short story by Franciszek Maria Ejsmont (1872)

— In the whole camp of Sapieha it smells of bigos! — Why bigos? Tell me! — Beacuse the Swedes have cut up a great many cabbage heads!
 * — How are you, old rogue? Why twist your nose as if you had found some unvirtuous odor?
 * Potop (The Deluge), a historical novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz (1886)
 * Translation from Polish based on that by Jermiah Curtin


 * Before they got to Żółtańce, Dub stopped the car twice and after the last stop he said doggedly to Biegler: 'For lunch I had bigos cooked the Polish way. From the battalion I shall make a complaint by telegram to the brigade. The sauerkraut was bad and the pork was not fit for eating. The insolence of these cooks exceeds all bounds. Whoever doesn't yet know me, will soon get to know me.'
 * Osudy dobrého vojáka Švejka za světové války (The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the World War), a satirical war novel by Jaroslav Hašek (1923)
 * Translated from Czech by Cecil Parrot


 * Until now I was under the false impression that the Polish national dish was bigos, an exquisite stew of cabbage heads, bitter hearts and virulent liver, a dish full of acids and pungent smells. Someone would always "cook bigos" [i.e., make a mess] for somebody else, then they would slap one another in the face, in a newspaper or in a café, and life, replete with rosy cheeks, temperament and fulsomeness, was beautiful. It saddens me, though, to see that tradition fades, as does the noble dish of bigos, and it is beef tongue in the Polish style that now reigns supreme in the Polish menu. Bigos was an exuberant dish, announcing itself through its scent from afar, juicy and vigorous. Tongue in the Polish style is more intricate, sweetened with almonds and raisins; it is, indeed, the dumbest part of a thoughtless beast, but the sweetness of its seasoning is ineffably appetizing.
 * Polish: Dotąd mi się niesłusznie zdawało, że narodową potrawą polską jest bigos, wytworna potrawa z kapuścianych głów, gorzkich serc i jadowitej wątroby, potrawa, pełna kwasów i przejmujących zapachów. Przecież ktoś komuś zawsze "narobił bigosu", potem sobie dali po pysku albo w gazecie, albo w kawiarni i życie, pełne rumieńców, temperamentu i bujności, było piękne. Widzę jednak ze smutkiem, że tradycja wietrzeje i wietrzeje bigos, szlachecka potrawa, a na polskim jadłospisie pyszni się – ozór po polsku. Bigos był potrawą zamaszystą, wonią już zdaleka się oznajmiającą, pełną soków i wigoru; ozór po polsku jest już bardziej wymyślną, zaprawioną na słodko, z migdałami i rodzynkami; jest to wprawdzie najgłupsza część bezmyślnego bydlęcia, lecz słodycz przyprawy jest nad wyraz smakowita.
 * Ozór po polsku (Tongue in the Polish Style), a satirical piece by Kornel Makuszyński (1927)
 * Source:


 * On a general note, I've got to tell you that this sloppy language makes our constitution something akin to paltry bigos made from rotten ham, half-rotten fatback and half-cured sauerkraut; so that each paragraph and article may and should be read completely on its own, without linking it with any other article. Naturally, the rotten ham is for Mr. President, the half-rotten fatback is for the cabinet, and the members of parliament are left with the half-cured sauerkraut. As you can see, there's nothing their stomachs can do and what comes out is stench, so that all of Wiejska Street [where the Polish parliament is located] reeks. And the only way out of this chaos is to rewrite the constitution in a decent way. What's more, nobody has the right to interpret the constitution. Interpretation is forbidden – so the state is left with nothing but bigos.
 * Polish: W ogóle powiedzieć panu muszę, że ta niechlujna pisanina czyni z naszej konstytucji coś w rodzaju kiepskiego bigosu, w który obok zgniłej szynki pakują nadgniłą słoninkę i kładą to obok nie dokiszonej kapusty; tak, że można i należy każdy paragraf i artykuł brać zupełnie osobno, nie wiążąc go z niczym innym, z żadnym innym, z żadnym innym artykułem. Naturalnie, zgniła szynka jest dla Pana Prezydenta, nadgniła słonina dla pana rządu, no a posłom zostaje nie dokiszona kapusta. Jak pan rozumie, żołądki wtedy nie mogą nic zrobić i wychodzi z tego smród, tak, że ulica Wiejska cała śmierdzi – proszę pana. I wyjście z tego chaosu jest możliwe tylko przez zmianę Konstytucji i napisanie jej w przyzwoity sposób. Dodam do tego, że nikt nie ma prawa interpretować konstytucji. Interpretacja jest zakazana – i wobec tego państwu pozostaje tylko bigos.
 * Józef Piłsudski, prime minister of Poland, interviewed by Bogusław Miedziński (1930)


 * Holy smokes, now I've cooked some bigos!
 * Polish: Rany Julek, ale nawarzyłem bigosu!
 * Jak rozpętałem drugą wojnę światową (How I Unleashed the Second World War), a war comedy film directed by Tadeusz Chmielewski (1969)
 * The word bigos is used here figuratively in the sense of "a great mess".


 * Bigos is one of those Polish dishes that has been romanticized in poetry, discussed in its most minute details in all sorts of literary contexts, and never made in small quantities. ... In the manor house where my grandfather was born, the bigos was kept warm in a compartment in the great tile stove that heated the parlor where guests were received. It was handed out as a welcoming snack served on poppy seed toast, along with a glass of iced vodka or champagne. While Polish villagers often make a plain version of bigos in huge cauldrons over an open fire for wedding feasts, real bigos is best when it is baked very slowly at a low temperature in a ceramic pot. The evaporation alone should be enough to thicken it. Furthermore, it should not be served until at least one day old, preferably three: it needs time for the flavors to fuse into a highly complex and concentrated taste.
 * William Woys Weaver
 * Source:


 * There used to be three phases of arriving at a political decision in the Polish diet. The first phase was that of presenting views. Everyone could present any opinion they wanted. Then came the grinding phase. ... Grinding as in a great mortar, where you grind until you produce a uniform mass. Opinions were ground through a long-term discussion. But if this didn't help and if at least one person remained unconvinced or opposed, then he could take the floor of the Polish parliament, shout liberum veto and scurry away – thus dissolving the diet. So the Polish nobility came up with a third phase: it was the phase of making bigos. ... Bigos is a peculiar dish: shredded cabbage and chopped meat stewed for a long time. So the third phase – that of making bigos – meant that the rash nobles would grab their sabres and hack him to pieces, the one who upset the government, who upset the law, before he could get away.
 * Polish: Były w polskim sejmie trzy fazy dochodzenia do decyzji politycznych. Pierwsza faza to była faza zgłaszania poglądów. Każdy mógł sobie zgłosić, jaki chciał. Druga faza to była faza ucierania poglądów. ... Ucieranie to jest coś jak w wielkim tyglu, jeżeli trze się, aż się zrobi jednolita masa. Ucierano poglądy przez długotrwała dyskusję. Ale jeśli to nie pomogło i niech choćby jedna osoba [była] niezdecydowana albo przeciwna, to mogła wstać na sali parlamentu polskiego, krzyknąć liberum veto i czym prędzej uciec. Zrywała w ten sposób sejm. Więc polska szlachta wymyśliła trzecią fazę działania: to była faza bigosowania. ... Bigos to szczególne, specyficzne danie: kapusta siekana i siekane mięso długotrwale gotowane. No więc trzecia faza – siekanie, bigosowanie – polegało na tym, że krewka szlachta chwytała za szable i takiego, który psuł ustrój państwa, który psuł prawo, po prostu brała na szable, nim zdążył uciec.
 * Bronisław Komorowski, president of Poland, in a speech to the German Marshall Fund in Washington, D.C., United States (2010)


 * When the bigos was gone, guests scraped their plates, proving once again, as Nela said, there is "nothing better than a big pot of savory bigos."
 * Gail Monaghan about Nela Rubinstein, Arthur Rubinstein's wife
 * Source: