BIGOS (From A Secret Family Recipe) One 33 ounce jar of  Polonaise Sauerkraut One Savoy Cabbage Two pounds beef Two pounds pork One pound of "breakfast" sausage links One pound smoked bacon One  pound Kielbasa One onion One SMALL can of Tomato paste or sauce 3 to 5 Bay Leaves salt, pepper, oil, sugar secret herbs and spices First, get a jar of Polonaise Sauerkraut and a pound of kielbasa. Don't use watered down sauerkraut that comes in a plastic sack with lots of water and vinegar. The  final product is only as good as the best ingredients you can get. Then, get the best beef and pork with a minimum of fat. Cut off all that you can before cooking. Get a half pound of thick sliced bacon. If you cannot find a Savoy cabbage a regular cabbage works just fine. Start by getting a large pot of water boiling. Add the sauerkraut. Let it bubble away. Cut up the beef and pork into  little fork size squares and brown. Generally this takes two frying pans (one each for beef and one each for pork). Season with secret herbs and spices. Grate  the cabbage. Throw it into the boiling pot. Chop up the onion and in it goes  too. When the beef and pork is browned. Pour both in the pot. Drippings and all.  Cut the kielbasa into short pieces and sear in one of the frying pans. The  searing keeps kielbasa from mushing up when it spends a lot of time in hot water. When seared, into the pot it goes. Cut all the bacon, except one slice, into half inch long pieces and fry. Drain off the extra fat as necessary. When  the bacon is done eat the single strip and throw the pieces in the pot. It's ok to cook the sausage in the same frying pan with the bacon. Little chunks, any  size. Add a little (teaspoon full) of salt, a half teaspoon of pepper (go light on this), one eighth cup sugar, and the bay leaves to the pot. And here's the final touch. Dump in a SMALL can of tomato paste or tomato sauce. Stir. Add water as necessary. Cook at low heat. They call this simmer. The longer it simmers, the better it gets. Leftovers can be frozen and thawed. Or you can just  store in the refrigerator and reheat through the week. Smacznego! Faworki (Chrust) 2 cups of flour 2-3  egg yolks 2 TBS soft butter 2 TBS of confectioners sugar 1/3 cup of sour cream 1 TBS of 6% white vinegar or alcohol 2 TBS of rum lard or  oil for fryimg Mix butter, egg yolks, sugar and alcohol or vinegar together.  While mixing, slowly add flour. Knead the dough. Keep beating and kneading the dough for 15 minutes. When ready, put it in a bowl, cover, and let stand in a cool place for an hour. Roll dough on the board till it is very thin. Cut 2x7  inch strips, make a slit in the middle and pull one end through it. In a deep frying pan heat the lard (oil). To test readiness of oil, put a small piece of dough in it, if it immediately comes to the surface the temperature is right.  Put 4-5 strips at a time and deep fry on both sides. Take out and place on a  paper towel. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Paczki (Doughnuts) 1 1/2 cup of milk 2  yeast cakes 1 tsp salt 1/2 cup sugar 3 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp  nutmeg 1/2 cup butter 4 1/2 cups flour Scald milk and cool to lukewarm. Break yeast into the lukewarm milk. Beat sugar and butter until fluffy, add eggs, salt, and flavoring. Add flour and milk gradually, beating well. Let rise  in warm place until double in bulk, about 2 1/2 hour. Punch down, knead and let  rise again. Place dough on lightly floured board, stretch toward you and fill with thick filling - rose jams, apricot or peach preserves, prune butter. Fold  over and cut into desired size and shape like a ball, place on lightly floured surface and let rise. Fry in deep hot fat, turning only once. Paczki should have a very dark brown color before turning, to insure baking thoroughly. Drain on  absorbent paper. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. Zur Soup The soured juice (white borsch)  for the zur should be prepared earlier. It is made the following way: Scald 2  cups of whole-wheat flour with boiling water, pouring it enough to get a thin dough. When it cools, add 1 ľ pints lukewarm water and place a piece of  wholewheat bread crust in it. Pour into a glass jar, tie with gauze and leave in warm place for three days. Cook 1 ľ pints of vegetable stock with dried mushrooms and add ľ pint white borsch to the hot stock. Do not strain,as the  soup should be slightly thick. If the zur is not sour enough, add some more  white borsch. Add a crushed garlic clove along with 4 potatoes cut into cubes.  When the potatoes are ready, salt to taste. Herring Salad (Salatka ze Sledzia) 10 herring filets, 1 jar (370ml) of dill pickles, 1 jar (370ml) of beets, 1 jar (370ml) of pickled onions, 3 apples, Ë� cup of white vine vinigar, Ë� cup of olive  oil, 2 tsp. of horseradish; salt and pepper. 1.cut herrings into wide slices. Wash, core, and slice apples. Slice pickles, onions and beets. Mix all the ingredients together. 2. Combine vinegar with horseradish, salt, and pepper. Add  oil constantly mixing. Pour mixture over salad, and let stand for 2 hours before  serving. Cabbage (Kapusta) Bake a 1 to 1 &1/2 lb. pork butt @350 degrees, with 1 cup water, covered. After baking for 1 hour, and the pork has begun to brown lightly, add 1 large onion, sliced. Continue baking for 45 minutes, or when meat is falling apart. While the pork butt in  baking, drain juice from 1 (27 oz.) can of sauerkraut, reserving the juice for  later. Parboil sauerkraut and drain. Shread a large head of cabbage and rinse  under hot water and drain. Combine the sauerkraut and cabbage in a large pot.  Add the cut-up prok, and all the juices, onion and fat from baking pan to the pot. Add 1 to 2 cups water, salt and pepper. In a frying pan, saute 1 large chopped onion till light brown, in 1/4 cup butter; add to pot. In same frying  pan, lightly brown 1 cup chopped salt pork; then add to pot. Cook all in the pot on the top of the stove on low heat, or just to a low simmer, for 1 hour. Taste. At this point add as much of the reserved sauerkraut juice to your liking.  Continue cooking and tasting for another 30 minutes or until the cabbage is of  the texture you like. Polish Noodles (Kluski z Kapusta) Boil egg noodles medium thickness Sauté in 1/4 pound of melted butter: 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 large onion chopped 1 very large head of cabbage (green) shredded medium when the vegetables are limp, add 1 Tablespoon of caraway seed and salt and pepper to taste. Drain noodles. Pour vegetables over noodles. Stir in 1 pint or more of sour cream. Sometimes I serve sausage and bread, but  usually we just have bread. (Dark rye, homemade of course). Barley Soup (Krupnik) Pour 3 Ë� pints water  over 1lb beef and 1lb bones and cook over low heat. After 1 hour add mixed vegetables (carrots, parsley, celeriac root, leek, and onion) and 4 small dried  mushrooms. When meat is tender, put the broth through a sive. Cut the meat into  cubes and the vegetables and mushrooms into thin strips. Cook ľ pint of the  cooked broth, salted to taste, with 4-6 oz. of pearl barley. When kasha is  cooked, add 1 TBS butter and mix the kasha for a while with a spoon, until it turns white. Add cooked kasha to the remaining broth and after adding 3 potatoes diced into cubes, cook for another 15-20 minutes. Add diced meat, mushrooms and  vegetables to the broth and salt to taste. Sprinkle with minced parsley. Cucumbers in Sour Cream (Mizeria) Peel and thinly slice cucumbers. Sprinkle with salt, let it stand for few minutes, squeeze out liquid. Add a little bit of pepper. Dressing: for each 1/2 cup of sour cream add juice of 1/2 lemon (I personally add less lemon juice), 1/2 tsp of sugar, and copious teaspoon of minced dill (dried dill is fine).Mix cucumbers  with dressing and place in a cool place half an hour before serving. Karpatka Cake Ë� package (125g) of sweet butter, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of flour, 1tsp of baking powder, 4 eggs. Dissolve butter in water, add flour and baking powder – boil for 3 minutes. Set aside;  add eggs mixing at the same time. Bake in 350 degrees two cake layers. Cake Filling: 1pt of milk, 1 cup of sugar, 2 TBS of potato starch, 2 TBS of  flour, 1 package (250g) of sweet butter, vanilla. Mix milk with flour and starch  while boiling. Add vanilla. Set aside to cool and then add butter. Place filling  between the cake layers. Kolaczki Make a dough like for a yeast  cake. When the dough "rises" , roll it out with a rolling pin for the thickness  of an inch, cut out circles of 3-4" in diameter, place them on a cookie sheet and leave covered in a warm place. When they "rise" , make a hole (with your  thumb) and fill it with whatever filling you want: poppy seed, cheese, jelly. Brush kolaczek with mixed egg and place it in the 350F oven for 25-30 minutes.