Polish pork bitki in onion gravy: pounded, browned, braised for an hour
The dinner that smells like Sunday at grandmother's: slices of pork shoulder pounded with a mallet, dredged in flour, browned golden and braised for an hour under a lid with a heap of onions that collapse into a thick gravy. At the end sour cream with flour, marjoram, nothing else. With buckwheat or potatoes, beetroot on the side. Meat soft as butter, gravy to mop up with bread.
Your own work in that: 35 min.
- Pounding 15 min
- Browning 15 min
- Braising 60 min
- Gravy 5 min
Step by step
0 / 7 done
Pound the meat
Cut the meat across the grain into 8 slices 1.5 cm thick. Cover each with film and pound with a mallet to 1 cm; no thinner, bitki should stay juicy, this isn't a schabowy. Salt and pepper both sides.
Ingredients: 800 g pork shoulder or boneless loin · 3 tbsp plain flour · 3 tbsp oil · 3 pcs onions · 500 ml stock · 2 pcs bay leaves · 4 pcs allspice berries · 1 tbsp dried marjoram · 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp black pepper
TipShoulder is marbled with fat and after an hour of braising it is soft as butter. Loin is leaner and quicker but dries out more easily; bitki from shoulder are better.
Under film, to a centimetre, no thinner
Dredge in flour
Dredge the slices in flour and shake off the excess. The flour gives a browned crust and thickens the gravy during braising.
A thin coat of flour, excess shaken off
Brown golden
Heat the oil in a large pan over high heat. Fry the bitki in two batches of 4, 2 minutes a side, to a browned crust; about 8 minutes in all. Don't let them stew in the pan: they should brown, not boil. Transfer to a pot.
TipThe browned crust is the flavour of the whole gravy. Pale bitki boiled in the pan make a pale gravy.
In batches, high heat, two minutes a side
Soften the onions
Slice the onions into feathers. In the same pan, in the fat from the meat, soften them 8 minutes over medium heat, scraping the browned bits off the bottom. Pour in half a cup of stock and bring to the boil, stirring: that is the best part of the gravy.
Onions in the meat fat, the bottom scraped
Braise for an hour
Pour the onions and their juices over the bitki in the pot, add the bay leaves, allspice and the rest of the hot stock; it should reach halfway up the meat. Cover and braise over low heat 60 minutes, turning once. The meat should fall apart under a fork; if it resists, braise 15 minutes more.
TipLow heat and a lid. A hard boil makes the meat tough and dry, even after an hour. The gravy should barely tremble.
Stock halfway up, a lid, an hour
Thicken with sour cream
Mix the sour cream with the flour, temper with a few spoons of hot gravy and pour into the pot. Add the marjoram crushed between your palms, bring to the boil and cook 3 minutes, stirring, until the gravy thickens. Taste, add salt and pepper.
Ingredients: 100 g sour cream, 18 % · 1 tbsp plain flour
Sour cream tempered, marjoram, three minutes
Serve with buckwheat and beetroot
Boil the beetroot in their skins while the meat braises (40–60 minutes, depending on size), then peel, grate and season with lemon juice, sugar and a pinch of salt. Cook the buckwheat fluffy according to the packet. Serve the bitki on the buckwheat, generously covered with gravy. Even better the next day; reheat over low heat with a splash of water.
Ingredients: 300 g buckwheat · 500 g beetroot · ½ pcs lemon · 1 tsp sugar
On buckwheat, plenty of gravy, beetroot beside
Before you start
With mushrooms
200 g sliced button mushrooms fried with the onions: bitki in an onion and mushroom gravy, darker and deeper.
With mustard
A spoon of medium-hot mustard and a teaspoon of hot paprika in the gravy at the end: a bolder version, for potatoes.
Tough bitki
Not enough time, or too high a heat. Shoulder bitki are hard to over-braise: if tough, add water and braise another half hour over the lowest heat.
Nutrition
per 100 gStep photos are computer-generated from the recipe.
