I spent every Friday night of 2020 getting drunk and watching your videos, and absolutely loved these MRE videos. Please do more! It's always entertaining to see what goodies are contained in these tiny packs, along with how it's all designed to be used and of course the taste test and review
Hi Clive, please bear in mind, that sauerkraut is not pickled in vinegar, but rather in its own salty brine, with fermentation happening thanks to lactic acid bacteria. Cucumbers are pickled either in vinegary type solution (in Poland we call them "ogórki konserwowe", preserved cucumbers), or in a salty brine with fermentation happening (called "ogórki kiszone", sour cucumbers). They taste completely differently. 🙂
I'm not entirely sure the emergency water was intended to be used in the heating bag... I mean, obviously it can be but I think the emergency water is meant to hydrate you in the situation where you haven't got access to clean water. You drink the emergency water and use water you find in the heating bag as that wouldn't then be for drinking.
yes! bigclivedotcom your polish is good :) but by all means I beg you, try to find a good polish cook and eat a fresh nice meal, maybe you like "golonka" ;) try that one
The date may also relate to the flameless ration heater, even sealed if there was slight moisture intrusion over time it may have formed a bit of a shell.
Love watching you, ashens and steve consume these MREs, there is something very relaxing about these videos. The unofficial competition between ashens and steve for the oldest edibles consumed is pretty fun too though.
They supply this with the biscuits because carbohydrates and fats work together. You need both for your body to absorb as much nutrients from the meal as possible. Also bigos is usually eaten with bread.
The reason behind including the biscuits is that bigos it often (if not typically) eaten with bread and those biscuits are this kind of "long lasting" bread equivalent used in the military. You should be able to easily find bigos in Polish sections of supermarkets and in "Polish shops" around UK. It is typically sold in jars, around 500 grams. (At the time of writing this comment it was listed on the Asda groceries website.) If you try it again, I would recommend to have it with some Polish bread or side of mashed potatoes.
Sauerkraut isn't made with vinegar - it produces it's own lactic acid while fermenting. Basically cover 1 medium shredded cabbage with tablespoon of salt (salt protects the cabbage from bad bugs while the good bugs develop) - knead cabbage 10 mins then add salt and knead some more 'till cabbage starts to juice up (the bloom on the surface of the cabbage eventually starts to grow, the bloom is yeasty and does the same job as the bloom on grapes - it's all you need to support fermentation). Put somewhere cool with a loose lid or cloth - After 3-4 days the cabbage starts fermenting fully and after a week it should all go still (it's now fermenting seriously and as long as you keep the liquid about 1" above the solids it will be good) this reaction produces lactic acid. 10 days is absolute minimum - 3-6 months is best. Eat Chopping and kneeding is both my relaxation and a good workout. best read a proper recipe for details but that's the gist it's easy to do and hard to screw up.
@@mUbase Hi, We've found the stuff very addictive (been making for about 2 years - so I'm no expert but I make more than I lose these days). I use white cabbage or mix sweet and red when they're in season. I also always add a shredded carrot and a good teaspoon of caraway seeds. Seasalt or kosher is best - no anti caking chemicals added - be accurate with weights (1 KG veg to 22g salt). 1Kg (= a medium cabbage) is the smallest amount I do - less I found reduces your success rate dramatically. 1Kg in an oversized 20cmx10cm jar is ideal. Keep the jar topped up with about 5cm of saline above the kraut (500ml to 20g salt). press it all down firmly and remove "floaters". Use the outer leaf to make a loose top and keep it well submerged. You'll find after 3-4 days the bubbles stop and fermentation starts for real. Also the fluid level will rise and fall with the weather (really!) .... Keep the jar in a plantpot tray to prevent damp patches. Keep the lid on loose (or use a dishcloth) for 2-4 weeks, then tighten and store in fridge 3-6 months the longer the better. Keep an eye out for mould or discolouring if you catch it early just remove and top up with saline, it should recover (it's tough stuff). We call 50-70g a portion ..... you'll be jet powered if you over do it :D. You don't need to sterilise - just be clean and accurate with weights (2% saline is ideal) www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-193124 www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/natural-fermentation/sauerkraut/ Keep the first couple of batches simple. Not all fruit and veg works - too much onion and "fancy" vege can spoil the chemistry and kill the bugs. Be careful with garlic too! I did a tour of the supermarket and found tesco sell 1kg plastic containers with cheap cheesie biscuits (1£) were ideal they take a 1kg cabbage nicely - if you want the real kit - it's available on amazon - but pretty pricey There are lots of good websites with much better info than I've given you ... the basics are easy and the kraut is pretty forgiving but I still visit a couple every so often just to see what I've forgotten. Enoy
My Dad's Polish cabbage stew recipe: big pan, layer of fresh cabbage, layer of Boczek (Polish salt bacon), layer of sauerkraut, later of typical Polish sausage (Wiejska was our favourite), layer of cabbage and so on. Fill with water, bring to boil, simmer, the longer the better. Great for a slow cooker. Winters in our house often had either this going in the kitchen or a pan of Mum's amazing Scouse.
@@arnoldlayne9918 It was quite something growing up in a Polish/Scouse household in Kirkby. "Orright Stanislaw, 'Ave yer seen aar Zbigniew?" "Yeah, he's gone to get the 217 down to Two Dogs for a pint with aar Jurek..." #o))
@@lordmuntagueKurwa! Haha that has made my day, djienke 👍 My Polski is very limited but I tend to just add bardzo when I learn a knew phrase. Bardzo dobre is my go to when I'm stuck, I must sound like a patronising git!
@@arnoldlayne9918 Gawd knows what Clive is making of this. There was quite a Polish community in Liverpool after the war, lots of miners who'd come out of the Resettlement Corps in South Wales. I wonder if Glasgow and Edinburgh had similar populations, Dad's artillery unit had been based in Galashiels.
@@arnoldlayne9918 There was also the White Eagle Club on Catherine Street, I think Dad was a member for a bit. My Mum's family were pure Scottie Road... 8o)
I love your MRE videos! EmmymadeinJapan did a Polish MRE a while back, a 24 hour one, most of the food was in cans, with a hexamine heater. It was a great ration, she enjoyed it :)
I'm American but apparently I'm part polish on my dad's side. I know very little about my polish heritage except some of the food we make. Every Easter we make this dish we call kapusta. It's sauerkraut shredded cabbage and kielbasa slow cooked in a crock pot for about 8 hours. It's amazing one of my favorite foods by far. We make it with the typical Polish sausage you were talking about but slow cooking it with the acid from the sauerkraut completely changes its texture which might be why it was different than you expected. The sausage becomes super tender it totally melt-in-your-mouth and has a slightly grainier texture since the fat has rendered into the liquid.
Fun fact: In Poland, kielbasa and other meat products were distributed illegally much like weed during the late 70's and 80's recession. Everyone had money, but the shops were almost empty most of the time. Strange times.
Yeah, and the meat production was running ok, just everything was exported to USSR. There is an anecdote that one time some border control officers discovered that in an entire train headed to USSR, full of paint cans there was not a 1ml of paint. Every paint can was filled with meat so people wouldn't find out. They asked some workers to literally weld the train to the rails underneath it so it wouldn't go across the border.
My god you nearly aced how to pronounce it, if there was "a" instead "ą" on end it would be completly correct And biscuits, they are called panzer waffles not without reason
The biscuit/cracker is to meet the starch/carbohydrate requirements for a meal, in addition to the protein (sausage) and two vegetable portions (lots of cabbage). Full nutritional requirement in minimal packaging.
Random detail, but that water is branded as Seven OceanS, which is the same brand as a cracker pack from an Ashens video from years ago about emergency rations from the 60s~70s. I would have thought whatever company it is went out a long time ago. Neat to see they still produce emergency ration products.
Very nice, and it had me look into the MRE thing. And know I am cooking up some sodium acetate in my kitchen to make a heating pad which should in theory heat my lunch very nicely when put under the lunch in an insulated lunchbox. This had gone from watching a video to some chemistry and research. Your videos are very stimulating. Keep up da good efforts, much appreciated.
Not sure how well the sodium acetate approach would work. It would definitely have the advantage of being reusable. The ones with the MREs are acting like a shorted battery, so they get steam-burn hot.
@@bigclivedotcom Yes the temperatures are lower and the energy less. th-cam.com/video/0i7eWyn4chs/w-d-xo.html This one in Steve's review works very well, I like the way he does his reviews. All he does is review MRE's, it's a fascinating topic.
On Okinawa during typhoons we would get C rations, a step up from K rations which were completely dry meals. C rations were mostly in tins and we would heat them by placing the tins near the exhaust of gas turbine generator sets burning JP-4 (tins opened first !). Tastey!
Your pronunciation of "bigos z kiełbasą" at 6:16 was nearly perfect, only the last "A" should be nasal (hence the little tail). The "cześć" at 0:01 was clear as well, except c+z in the beginning makes a single sounds, exactly the same as c+h in English "check" for example.
Almost. "Bigos" was perfect, but "kiełbasą" has 2 polish letters which are pronounced differently. The "ł" letter is like "w" in "west". It has more "u" than "l" in it. And the "ą" is "nasal o" sound. If you are not good in polish it's would be perfectly acceptable to pronounce it like "om" or just "o". So "bigos z kyew-basom"
I don't think you added enough water in Clive. The mealbox was meant to be inserted before the water was poured, and that would have increased the volume of water needed to fill up to the line.
@@johncoops6897 It is true that the food pouch will take some of the area, but the base of the bag would still be stretched out to accommodate it, increasing the volume of water it can hold before reaching the fill line.
@@johncoops6897 That is exactly what I did before posting the previous comment. the plastic bag bulged in a pouch like fashion, allowing for more water to be added to reach a line.
This cookie/biscuit is a MRE substitute of a bread which is common additive to homemade bigos. I'd say along with pierogi this is one of the best national dishes in Poland. Every housewife has it's own version, for example my mother adds little bit of bell pepper, while my grandmother used to add some forest mushrooms for that extra slavic kick. This dish tastes better each day it matures - we usually skip eating on the preparation day. Cheers.
Those heaters tend to go nucular when heating.. The MRE's usually have a cardboard sleeve to put the heater pack into. I think the American meals you no longer put the food into the heater bag but place the food onto the pad and wrap the bag around it, then pop it into the sleeve to hold it together.
Sausages in sauerkraut is a misleading label for that dish. What you ate is generally known as Hunters Stew. It's made by slow cooking cabbage and adding any sausage or bacon pieces on hand. It's very popular in Poland and its origins are from the farms
I just found and watched this years tattoo. I was surprised to see it. It's usually not viewable until christmastime here in sweden. That was a nice surprise
@@bigclivedotcom no it was actually on the streaming service of svt (the swedish equivalent to bbc) it is usually aired on one of their channels and available as a stream in late December every year. The length of it was about one hour and presented by Bill Paterson
My mother makes a very interesting sweet and tangy sauerkraut. She starts off with the sour stuff but manages to neutralize it with brown sugar and make do with the canned stuff.
6:17 You were pretty close with that pronunciation. For 'bigos' it was spot-on, and for 'kiełbasą' - you missed the last accented letter 'ą', but you got the other accented right ('ł'). I'd give this try a 9/10. Very good indeed.
We used to have those biscuits in the British Army ration packs in the 70's. They have a strange taste that goes well with cheese or jam. You can even get used to eating them without any topping. We called them 'Compo Biscuits'.
Sauerkraut isn't pickled, it's fermented. Cabbage is chopped up and salted to draw out moisture, which allows it to ferment. It's a very clever process and tastes great.
Experience has shown that the heating element can take a time to get going. I think the longest I’ve had is around 5 mins, then it goes thermonuclear suddenly.
I found a bunch of these MREs in the opened up ruins of a council bunker. The original occupants had died of eventual suffocation years ago when a building crashed down over the tunneled vents. Even though there were 50 or so of these things in a crate, they were unusable and probably extremely radioactive. (I say probably because our GC died weeks ago...)
6:17 - Whenever you see a consonant on its own, basically treat it as being part of the following word. And the Ł is a bit like a "mumbled L", so go for something between "bigoss zkilbassa" and "bigoss zkewbassa" (you weren't too far off). You do have "kielbasKa" on the video title, though (with one extra "K"), which might confuse search engines.
Kiełbaska would be the diminutive (like "little sausage"). For some reason they used the diminutive on the outer packet and the normal word on the actual food tray (the one at 6:17). I guess the sausage gets bigger once it's exposed. ;) You can leave it, but anyone looking for the dish will find recipes / MREs more easily if they search for "Kiełbasa" without the second "k".
It crossed my mind that it could be a similar issue to "bangers" in English (it's supposedly illegal to sell something as a "sausage" in the UK if it doesn't have a certain minimum amount of meat - I don't think this is actually true, BTW, you just can't sell them as "pork sausages" if they don't have enough pork, but you can label anything sausage-shaped as a "sausage", even if there's zero meat in it), and maybe they couldn't call it a real sausage (kiełbasa) forsome reason so they called it a "sausagy" (kiełbaska). But no, even on the outer package they use kiełbasa in the ingredients list, so that's not it. Probably whoever designed the export package was just in a "cute" mood. Arpol always use "kiełbasą" on their website. www.sklep.arpol.net.pl/oferta?name=kiełbasą#OfertaProduktowa
my aunts hubby is canadian and he never could pronounce bigos took him a whille till he learned how to say irt properly but he use to call it bigass not bigos
that reminds me i've got a couple american MRE's i bought this summer i've yet to try. it's always a fun experiment. the only other one i've ever had was my dad's old one from the mid 50's (which i obviously didn't dare eat after that many years)
MRE Nights - That would be a nice segment of a live stream and with all the time in the world to chat whilst the food cooks. A mate was in the Army many moons ago, the 90's, and he used to smash up his biscuits and add it to the meal to give it a crunchy texture and just get rid of the biscuits nobody wanted!
Some of the MRE heaters won't work with distilled water, which the emergency drinking water MIGHT be, adding salt to it probably would of got it going.
Problem was the amount. If I remember correctly there should be a mark how much water needs to be added. Maybe Polish version is bit flawed and doesn't have it. I don't think distilled water is the problem. The powder reacts with H2O.
Drinking water never will be a distilled water. Drinking distilled water in a bigger quantity can lead to minor burns and will lead to ion disbalance which can even kill you
Lol. It's a generic Field Ration Heating unit (FRH). the box is typically in the military MRE'S with the food packet inside that you remove and place in the FRH bag for heating
@@Normandy-e8i This pack is actually sold by the company, that makes polish army MRE's (Arpol). Thisis supposed to be a relatively small single meal to be used on an adventure.
Well, "Suchary Specjalne" (Special Rusks, understood rather as "Rusks for special purposes") are added to all MRE's. Usually meant to be eaten with cold-meat packages or sweets (jams etc.) with a full MRE (this is just a single-serving dinner MRE, not a 24h MRE), but is intended to substitute bread. We used to eat a lot of things with bread in Poland, just as the Russians do, so it is expected to get some bread-substitute with every meal. Plus, they are cheap and last forever. There is a little hint of thyme in all of those, not sure if you felt that :)
There are as many bigos recipes as there are cooks. Typically it is a mix of fresh cabbage and sauerkraut in what ever ratio you like. In addition mushrooms, wild if possible, are universal. The meat can be kielbasa and/or a mix of roasted meats like pork, chicken and beef in any ratio. The essential thing about bigos is that it must be cooked a long time, days in fact.
@@licensetodrive9930 Indeed, I haven't seen them for a while, I wonder if they're discontinued. (They're also my favourite Seabrook's flavour). Pickled onion Monster Munch are the best though.
made me hungry for sausages - fried up 10 cocktail minis, threw in a can of beans & some fried mushrooms, over a couple of eggs, surprisingly satisfying...
You should not expect vinegary taste in Polish sauerkraut for the simple reason that vinegar is not used in making it. East European sauerkraut is made by natural (lactic) fermentation of cabbage, no need for vinegar. As a result it tastes much nicer and retains the crisp texture of raw cabbage (unlike the mushy German stuff).
I was given several ration packs by a my good friend, At the time I was operating heavy plant machinery and could suitably heat them using the exhaust manifold on the machine. on the whole they were very tasty but when outdoors and hungry most food is tasty.
Thanks. Those FRH heater units don't work without a rock or something. I've been watching all those Culture Vannin videos looking for Big Clive's house in those aerial views. He has BIG CLIVE painted in white block letters on his roof, right?
This one is civilian but this producer does make army MRE if i am not mistaken. Those biscuits are called panzer biscuits, they are supposed to be that hard. And not sure if sauerkraut... sorry, not sure if kapusta kiszona can be considered pickled as it is just cabbage and salt and lactic acid from fermentation is what do the magic.
Clive, You think that the metals didn't actually include salt in the bag and the "emergency drinking water" was distilled water? When you kneaded it, salts from your skin made the water conduct? Edit: The "datasheet" of the Seven Oceans emergency water from the manufacturer says: Conductivity: < 10 mS / m It also says to drink a maximum of 0.5 liters of this per 24 hours, presumably because distilled water drains salts from your body
Nothing comes close to German sausages ;) Well except for the polish ones, these are usually excelent. As a lot of their food is. Like with "traditional" German dishes, you have to like savory and hearty food most of the times. Sauerkraut should not taste vinegary by the way, as it is not pickled. It is actually fermented cabbage and the "sour" part (sauer in German) comes from lactic acid. Kraut is just an older common term for cut down cabbage. Sauerkraut is a traditional winter food if you look back in time, as the cabbage (In German Weißkraut or Weißkohl) was made less perishable by fermenting it excluding air and it stayed eddible without rotting (and hopefully without moulding) during the winter. Nice thing, it stays rich in vitamins that way as well.
These MREs should all taste pretty good to keep the army's morale up in emergency situations. Just curious to know what Clive would eat (by choice) when he's not tucking in to emergency military rations.
"Tastes good. But keep in mind that I'm so trashy, everything tastes good."
ONE OF US. ONE OF US.
Aw man, that means I am trashy.
What a slag. lol. :)
Crazy Russian Hacker likes everything in all MREs as well. So Clive is in good company.
I resemble that remark.
@@nmccw3245 Crazy Russian hacker is good company.
I spent every Friday night of 2020 getting drunk and watching your videos, and absolutely loved these MRE videos. Please do more!
It's always entertaining to see what goodies are contained in these tiny packs, along with how it's all designed to be used and of course the taste test and review
Hi Clive, please bear in mind, that sauerkraut is not pickled in vinegar, but rather in its own salty brine, with fermentation happening thanks to lactic acid bacteria.
Cucumbers are pickled either in vinegary type solution (in Poland we call them "ogórki konserwowe", preserved cucumbers), or in a salty brine with fermentation happening (called "ogórki kiszone", sour cucumbers). They taste completely differently. 🙂
In an emergency situation you would drink the water and pee in the heat pouch.
That's a waste of drinkable urine, just squeeze some lizard blood into the bag.
Unless you were Bear Grylls.
@@ChrisLeeW00 waste of blood, just drink the lizard dry then stuff him in the bag
Eat the lizard, drink the water, pee on Bear Grylls to show dominance.
Well, that would depend on the type of the emergency situation, wouldn't it?
I'm not entirely sure the emergency water was intended to be used in the heating bag... I mean, obviously it can be but I think the emergency water is meant to hydrate you in the situation where you haven't got access to clean water. You drink the emergency water and use water you find in the heating bag as that wouldn't then be for drinking.
Piss in the bag. Drink the water
@@manuelh.4147 Any is better than none... hence the emergency.
@@manuelh.4147 At the very least enough to moisten your mouth before eating or flushing down the remains of the meal afterward.
The emergency water is for washing the the cabbage taste from your mouth before it makes you puke.
@@steverpcb funny, but why would you want to wash that fabulous taste? Mmmmmm
Did you forget to go grocery shopping?
I did actually run out of food.
@@bigclivedotcom That's what I give you patreon money for Clive.
Get yourself to the supermarket! ;)
Bahahahahahahaaaaa!
Brexit prep.
@@TheOneJokeWonder Everything he's told us about the Isle of Man suggests that going to the shops is probably a multi-day journey.
Big thumbs up for more MRE videos from me. I've been missing them.
I second that. More MREs please.
greetings from poland!
P.S 6:24 this is nearly perfect! definitely better than "suchary specjalne" a while before
yes! bigclivedotcom your polish is good :) but by all means I beg you, try to find a good polish cook and eat a fresh nice meal, maybe you like "golonka" ;) try that one
Was that “Greetings from Po(und)land”?
I meant Po(£)land
Isn't this the famed "nuclear waffer" that can possibly chip one's teeth if they bite too hard with bad teeth?
Saw it on another Polish MRE video 😁
I love how you explained the heater like a shorted battery. It made better sense than the voodoo black magic I thought was happening!
The date may also relate to the flameless ration heater, even sealed if there was slight moisture intrusion over time it may have formed a bit of a shell.
Love watching you, ashens and steve consume these MREs, there is something very relaxing about these videos.
The unofficial competition between ashens and steve for the oldest edibles consumed is pretty fun too though.
Greetings from Poland and smacznego!
They supply this with the biscuits because carbohydrates and fats work together. You need both for your body to absorb as much nutrients from the meal as possible. Also bigos is usually eaten with bread.
The reason behind including the biscuits is that bigos it often (if not typically) eaten with bread and those biscuits are this kind of "long lasting" bread equivalent used in the military.
You should be able to easily find bigos in Polish sections of supermarkets and in "Polish shops" around UK. It is typically sold in jars, around 500 grams. (At the time of writing this comment it was listed on the Asda groceries website.) If you try it again, I would recommend to have it with some Polish bread or side of mashed potatoes.
Sauerkraut isn't made with vinegar - it produces it's own lactic acid while fermenting. Basically cover 1 medium shredded cabbage with tablespoon of salt (salt protects the cabbage from bad bugs while the good bugs develop) - knead cabbage 10 mins then add salt and knead some more 'till cabbage starts to juice up (the bloom on the surface of the cabbage eventually starts to grow, the bloom is yeasty and does the same job as the bloom on grapes - it's all you need to support fermentation).
Put somewhere cool with a loose lid or cloth - After 3-4 days the cabbage starts fermenting fully and after a week it should all go still (it's now fermenting seriously and as long as you keep the liquid about 1" above the solids it will be good) this reaction produces lactic acid. 10 days is absolute minimum - 3-6 months is best. Eat
Chopping and kneeding is both my relaxation and a good workout. best read a proper recipe for details but that's the gist it's easy to do and hard to screw up.
gonna try this. thanks Andy. :)
@@mUbase Hi, We've found the stuff very addictive (been making for about 2 years - so I'm no expert but I make more than I lose these days).
I use white cabbage or mix sweet and red when they're in season. I also always add a shredded carrot and a good teaspoon of caraway seeds. Seasalt or kosher is best - no anti caking chemicals added - be accurate with weights (1 KG veg to 22g salt). 1Kg (= a medium cabbage) is the smallest amount I do - less I found reduces your success rate dramatically. 1Kg in an oversized 20cmx10cm jar is ideal. Keep the jar topped up with about 5cm of saline above the kraut (500ml to 20g salt). press it all down firmly and remove "floaters". Use the outer leaf to make a loose top and keep it well submerged.
You'll find after 3-4 days the bubbles stop and fermentation starts for real. Also the fluid level will rise and fall with the weather (really!) .... Keep the jar in a plantpot tray to prevent damp patches.
Keep the lid on loose (or use a dishcloth) for 2-4 weeks, then tighten and store in fridge 3-6 months the longer the better. Keep an eye out for mould or discolouring if you catch it early just remove and top up with saline, it should recover (it's tough stuff). We call 50-70g a portion ..... you'll be jet powered if you over do it :D.
You don't need to sterilise - just be clean and accurate with weights (2% saline is ideal)
www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-homemade-sauerkraut-in-a-mason-jar-193124
www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/natural-fermentation/sauerkraut/
Keep the first couple of batches simple. Not all fruit and veg works - too much onion and "fancy" vege can spoil the chemistry and kill the bugs. Be careful with garlic too!
I did a tour of the supermarket and found tesco sell 1kg plastic containers with cheap cheesie biscuits (1£) were ideal they take a 1kg cabbage nicely - if you want the real kit - it's available on amazon - but pretty pricey
There are lots of good websites with much better info than I've given you ... the basics are easy and the kraut is pretty forgiving but I still visit a couple every so often just to see what I've forgotten.
Enoy
My Dad's Polish cabbage stew recipe: big pan, layer of fresh cabbage, layer of Boczek (Polish salt bacon), layer of sauerkraut, later of typical Polish sausage (Wiejska was our favourite), layer of cabbage and so on. Fill with water, bring to boil, simmer, the longer the better. Great for a slow cooker. Winters in our house often had either this going in the kitchen or a pan of Mum's amazing Scouse.
Ha Liverpool lad here and my girl is Polish so you message gave me a laugh there 👍
@@arnoldlayne9918 It was quite something growing up in a Polish/Scouse household in Kirkby. "Orright Stanislaw, 'Ave yer seen aar Zbigniew?" "Yeah, he's gone to get the 217 down to Two Dogs for a pint with aar Jurek..."
#o))
@@lordmuntagueKurwa! Haha that has made my day, djienke 👍 My Polski is very limited but I tend to just add bardzo when I learn a knew phrase. Bardzo dobre is my go to when I'm stuck, I must sound like a patronising git!
@@arnoldlayne9918 Gawd knows what Clive is making of this. There was quite a Polish community in Liverpool after the war, lots of miners who'd come out of the Resettlement Corps in South Wales. I wonder if Glasgow and Edinburgh had similar populations, Dad's artillery unit had been based in Galashiels.
@@arnoldlayne9918 There was also the White Eagle Club on Catherine Street, I think Dad was a member for a bit.
My Mum's family were pure Scottie Road...
8o)
I love your MRE videos! EmmymadeinJapan did a Polish MRE a while back, a 24 hour one, most of the food was in cans, with a hexamine heater. It was a great ration, she enjoyed it :)
Where I was born and bred we have thousands of Polski Skleps. They know their food and drink.
Polish bread is good especially if like chewy toast.
The beer and mayonnaise are especially good.
I'm American but apparently I'm part polish on my dad's side. I know very little about my polish heritage except some of the food we make. Every Easter we make this dish we call kapusta. It's sauerkraut shredded cabbage and kielbasa slow cooked in a crock pot for about 8 hours. It's amazing one of my favorite foods by far. We make it with the typical Polish sausage you were talking about but slow cooking it with the acid from the sauerkraut completely changes its texture which might be why it was different than you expected. The sausage becomes super tender it totally melt-in-your-mouth and has a slightly grainier texture since the fat has rendered into the liquid.
You obviously need a tray ;) .oO(Nice!)
From Steve MRE Lol :-)
I saw this in my sub list and I thought it was steve! lol
I thought you were referring to death star canteen by Eddie Izzard there :-D (look it up on here for 5mins if fun)
Fun fact: In Poland, kielbasa and other meat products were distributed illegally much like weed during the late 70's and 80's recession. Everyone had money, but the shops were almost empty most of the time. Strange times.
Yeah, and the meat production was running ok, just everything was exported to USSR. There is an anecdote that one time some border control officers discovered that in an entire train headed to USSR, full of paint cans there was not a 1ml of paint. Every paint can was filled with meat so people wouldn't find out. They asked some workers to literally weld the train to the rails underneath it so it wouldn't go across the border.
@@bluef1sh926 Thus the joke:
What has a hundred legs and eats cabbage?
A meat queue in Moscow...
My god you nearly aced how to pronounce it, if there was "a" instead "ą" on end it would be completly correct
And biscuits, they are called panzer waffles not without reason
I mean... They looked like they'd stop a Sledge hammer. And put it on a stick, and you could use it as one instead. :D
We'd call them "military Lembas bread" 😁
The biscuit/cracker is to meet the starch/carbohydrate requirements for a meal, in addition to the protein (sausage) and two vegetable portions (lots of cabbage). Full nutritional requirement in minimal packaging.
Looked pretty good . Thanks
"Bigos z Kiełbasą" - except for the `ł` and `ą`, it sounded perfectly ok. (You actually correctly said "Bigos z kielbasa" :D)
This is better than the Martha Stewart cooking show! I really enjoyed it! Thank you 😁
Random detail, but that water is branded as Seven OceanS, which is the same brand as a cracker pack from an Ashens video from years ago about emergency rations from the 60s~70s. I would have thought whatever company it is went out a long time ago. Neat to see they still produce emergency ration products.
Wouldnt the issue of the heating pad be that you used drinking water, which is probably purified in some way. Reducing the conductivity of the water?
Very nice, and it had me look into the MRE thing.
And know I am cooking up some sodium acetate in my kitchen to make a heating pad which should in theory heat my lunch very nicely when put under the lunch in an insulated lunchbox.
This had gone from watching a video to some chemistry and research.
Your videos are very stimulating.
Keep up da good efforts, much appreciated.
Not sure how well the sodium acetate approach would work. It would definitely have the advantage of being reusable. The ones with the MREs are acting like a shorted battery, so they get steam-burn hot.
@@bigclivedotcom Yes the temperatures are lower and the energy less. th-cam.com/video/0i7eWyn4chs/w-d-xo.html
This one in Steve's review works very well, I like the way he does his reviews.
All he does is review MRE's, it's a fascinating topic.
I see you've mastered Eric O's knife opening technique!
On Okinawa during typhoons we would get C rations, a step up from K rations which were completely dry meals. C rations were mostly in tins and we would heat them by placing the tins near the exhaust of gas turbine generator sets burning JP-4 (tins opened first !). Tastey!
Great video Big Clive
That Mre looks yummy
Your pronunciation of "bigos z kiełbasą" at 6:16 was nearly perfect, only the last "A" should be nasal (hence the little tail). The "cześć" at 0:01 was clear as well, except c+z in the beginning makes a single sounds, exactly the same as c+h in English "check" for example.
a myślałem że tylko ja z polski oglądam... a jednak nie!
Yeah czesc is phonetically pronounced chesht
you said it correctly : bigos z kiełbasą ;)
Almost. "Bigos" was perfect, but "kiełbasą" has 2 polish letters which are pronounced differently. The "ł" letter is like "w" in "west". It has more "u" than "l" in it. And the "ą" is "nasal o" sound. If you are not good in polish it's would be perfectly acceptable to pronounce it like "om" or just "o". So "bigos z kyew-basom"
@@Arrviasto I see you are trying
and I have to say that your Polish pronunciation is very good
greetings from Poland
I don't think you added enough water in Clive. The mealbox was meant to be inserted before the water was poured, and that would have increased the volume of water needed to fill up to the line.
@@johncoops6897 It is true that the food pouch will take some of the area, but the base of the bag would still be stretched out to accommodate it, increasing the volume of water it can hold before reaching the fill line.
@@johncoops6897 That is exactly what I did before posting the previous comment. the plastic bag bulged in a pouch like fashion, allowing for more water to be added to reach a line.
This cookie/biscuit is a MRE substitute of a bread which is common additive to homemade bigos. I'd say along with pierogi this is one of the best national dishes in Poland. Every housewife has it's own version, for example my mother adds little bit of bell pepper, while my grandmother used to add some forest mushrooms for that extra slavic kick. This dish tastes better each day it matures - we usually skip eating on the preparation day. Cheers.
I just realised I'm reading the comments in Big Clive's voice, damn why is the voice so calm and informative!
Those heaters tend to go nucular when heating.. The MRE's usually have a cardboard sleeve to put the heater pack into. I think the American meals you no longer put the food into the heater bag but place the food onto the pad and wrap the bag around it, then pop it into the sleeve to hold it together.
Sausages in sauerkraut is a misleading label for that dish. What you ate is generally known as Hunters Stew. It's made by slow cooking cabbage and adding any sausage or bacon pieces on hand. It's very popular in Poland and its origins are from the farms
Bonus points to the polish for actually including water as well as a chemical warmer.
I don't care/watch MRE videos, but I always "thumbs up" any video Big Clive does.
Mre biscuits are usually made into porridge not eaten dry unless you don't have a choice
Or used as a thickener to bulk that small meal out.
I just found and watched this years tattoo. I was surprised to see it. It's usually not viewable until christmastime here in sweden. That was a nice surprise
I'll guess it was the full BBC presentation on TH-cam. Someone does it every year.
@@bigclivedotcom no it was actually on the streaming service of svt (the swedish equivalent to bbc) it is usually aired on one of their channels and available as a stream in late December every year. The length of it was about one hour and presented by Bill Paterson
I'm polish and this video made me smile
Suchary specjalne sometimes are called panzerwaffle, you understand it when you eat one :)
My mother makes a very interesting sweet and tangy sauerkraut. She starts off with the sour stuff but manages to neutralize it with brown sugar and make do with the canned stuff.
I see you're using the Maker Knife. I love mine with the ceramic blades. wicked sharp!
Kielbasa and sauerkraut. . . One of my favorite meals! Gotta have some good ol' yellow mustard to dunk each bite in though.
I prefer the coarse ground mustard but either is good!
6:17 You were pretty close with that pronunciation. For 'bigos' it was spot-on, and for 'kiełbasą' - you missed the last accented letter 'ą', but you got the other accented right ('ł'). I'd give this try a 9/10. Very good indeed.
Yes bigos one of the most popular meals in Poland and homemade one is the Best thing you could eat
add a little bit of salf first then water it helps with the water ration heater not heating very well.
We used to have those biscuits in the British Army ration packs in the 70's. They have a strange taste that goes well with cheese or jam. You can even get used to eating them without any topping. We called them 'Compo Biscuits'.
Sauerkraut isn't pickled, it's fermented. Cabbage is chopped up and salted to draw out moisture, which allows it to ferment. It's a very clever process and tastes great.
Experience has shown that the heating element can take a time to get going. I think the longest I’ve had is around 5 mins, then it goes thermonuclear suddenly.
Your pronunciation of polish words is very very good
I found a bunch of these MREs in the opened up ruins of a council bunker. The original occupants had died of eventual suffocation years ago when a building crashed down over the tunneled vents. Even though there were 50 or so of these things in a crate, they were unusable and probably extremely radioactive. (I say probably because our GC died weeks ago...)
Hi Clive, check out the Polish wild blueberries called Jagody. They come in jars simmered in their own juices. I pour them over my porridge.
6:17 - Whenever you see a consonant on its own, basically treat it as being part of the following word. And the Ł is a bit like a "mumbled L", so go for something between "bigoss zkilbassa" and "bigoss zkewbassa" (you weren't too far off). You do have "kielbasKa" on the video title, though (with one extra "K"), which might confuse search engines.
That's odd. That's what it says on the packet.
Kiełbaska would be the diminutive (like "little sausage"). For some reason they used the diminutive on the outer packet and the normal word on the actual food tray (the one at 6:17). I guess the sausage gets bigger once it's exposed. ;)
You can leave it, but anyone looking for the dish will find recipes / MREs more easily if they search for "Kiełbasa" without the second "k".
It crossed my mind that it could be a similar issue to "bangers" in English (it's supposedly illegal to sell something as a "sausage" in the UK if it doesn't have a certain minimum amount of meat - I don't think this is actually true, BTW, you just can't sell them as "pork sausages" if they don't have enough pork, but you can label anything sausage-shaped as a "sausage", even if there's zero meat in it), and maybe they couldn't call it a real sausage (kiełbasa) forsome reason so they called it a "sausagy" (kiełbaska).
But no, even on the outer package they use kiełbasa in the ingredients list, so that's not it. Probably whoever designed the export package was just in a "cute" mood. Arpol always use "kiełbasą" on their website.
www.sklep.arpol.net.pl/oferta?name=kiełbasą#OfertaProduktowa
my aunts hubby is canadian and he never could pronounce bigos took him a whille till he learned how to say irt properly but he use to call it bigass not bigos
Big ass with sausage is a different thing, although I've heard it's quite popular in the navy. ;)
that reminds me i've got a couple american MRE's i bought this summer i've yet to try. it's always a fun experiment. the only other one i've ever had was my dad's old one from the mid 50's (which i obviously didn't dare eat after that many years)
Wish I had kraut and kielbasa mres when I was in the army
To be honest, we had awesome food in similar MRA, but the salt content was just so insane, you would start to hate the food in about week or two.
Reinis Miks , do you think it’s over salted for preservation or to replenish salts lost to sweating?
@@bobrobert1123 never thought about that. Could be a reason, but that was an overkill.
Adding some salt to the water sometimes helps to speed up the flameless ration heater. Cool review BC!
Those "biscuits" =
PANZER WAFFLE !! :D
Z niczym oczywiście nie porównywalne. Z niczym
I have to say that looks like something I would enjoy but then I like slow cooked sausage casserole.
Made my mouth dribble watching this... I'm starving now 😂 some of those ration packs look better than the crap I eat on a daily basis.
MRE Nights - That would be a nice segment of a live stream and with all the time in the world to chat whilst the food cooks.
A mate was in the Army many moons ago, the 90's, and he used to smash up his biscuits and add it to the meal to give it a crunchy texture and just get rid of the biscuits nobody wanted!
We've done that as the MBC. (Manx Beard Club). Search my videos for MRE.
Some of the MRE heaters won't work with distilled water, which the emergency drinking water MIGHT be, adding salt to it probably would of got it going.
Problem was the amount. If I remember correctly there should be a mark how much water needs to be added. Maybe Polish version is bit flawed and doesn't have it. I don't think distilled water is the problem. The powder reacts with H2O.
@@Rainaman- You can see line in bag around 57 second.
@@MrKuncol ah, I am blind. Any experiences with these MREs?
Drinking water never will be a distilled water. Drinking distilled water in a bigger quantity can lead to minor burns and will lead to ion disbalance which can even kill you
@@HidekiShinichi That is actually a myth, distilled water is perfectly fine for you.
Lol. It's a generic Field Ration Heating unit (FRH). the box is typically in the military MRE'S with the food packet inside that you remove and place in the FRH bag for heating
yeah so someone had the whole mre and sent this guy just this bit
@@Normandy-e8i This pack is actually sold by the company, that makes polish army MRE's (Arpol). Thisis supposed to be a relatively small single meal to be used on an adventure.
@@pordzio aha dzienki
Well, "Suchary Specjalne" (Special Rusks, understood rather as "Rusks for special purposes") are added to all MRE's. Usually meant to be eaten with cold-meat packages or sweets (jams etc.) with a full MRE (this is just a single-serving dinner MRE, not a 24h MRE), but is intended to substitute bread. We used to eat a lot of things with bread in Poland, just as the Russians do, so it is expected to get some bread-substitute with every meal. Plus, they are cheap and last forever. There is a little hint of thyme in all of those, not sure if you felt that :)
You can get Bigos in supermarkets these days.. it's very nice :D
no hiss tho
There are as many bigos recipes as there are cooks. Typically it is a mix of fresh cabbage and sauerkraut in what ever ratio you like. In addition mushrooms, wild if possible, are universal. The meat can be kielbasa and/or a mix of roasted meats like pork, chicken and beef in any ratio. The essential thing about bigos is that it must be cooked a long time, days in fact.
"Well, this heater doesn't seem to be working properly". Clive jams a cheap Dollarama "50W" LED lamp into the bag, and dinner is served :-)
This is a dish that my mother made for cold winter nights. It keeps the stomach full and warm for many hours.
a delightfully non-traditional ration review, well done Clive.
I thought those heater packs contained just pure iron? Pure iron when put into an oxygen environment heats up. in water it’s even more.
The name of this dish does remind me of a lyric of a particular song from Rammstein...
your polish pronunciation is very good :) cheers mate!
Smacznego!
"It seemed to go a bit prematurely, if you will."
So the water in it suffered premature evaporation? 😁
Just seeing the title made me hungry, time to open that pack of pickled onion Monster Munch.
Seeing your reference to pickled onion Monster Munch has made me hungry now. Alas, I don't have any! I'll have to have Seabrooks crisps instead.
Good backup choice, my favourite is their Canadian Ham flavour, but I haven't seen the ham ones in a shop in many months :(
@@licensetodrive9930 Indeed, I haven't seen them for a while, I wonder if they're discontinued. (They're also my favourite Seabrook's flavour). Pickled onion Monster Munch are the best though.
made me hungry for sausages - fried up 10 cocktail minis, threw in a can of beans & some fried mushrooms, over a couple of eggs, surprisingly satisfying...
Time to grab 5 lunchAbles
you are a fearless man
Might try and get some veggie ones for the RV - As I am vegetarian, have you tested any good Vegetarian MRE's Clive or anyone ??
Instant noodles
You had me at sausages & sauerkraut!
You should not expect vinegary taste in Polish sauerkraut for the simple reason that vinegar is not used in making it. East European sauerkraut is made by natural (lactic) fermentation of cabbage, no need for vinegar. As a result it tastes much nicer and retains the crisp texture of raw cabbage (unlike the mushy German stuff).
I was given several ration packs by a my good friend, At the time I was operating heavy plant machinery and could suitably heat them using the exhaust manifold on the machine. on the whole they were very tasty but when outdoors and hungry most food is tasty.
Genuine sauerkraut doesn't have vinegar added, hence why this tastes good.
I like your MRE Tasting videos. ;)
You've pronounced it very good.
Thanks. Those FRH heater units don't work without a rock or something. I've been watching all those Culture Vannin videos looking for Big Clive's house in those aerial views. He has BIG CLIVE painted in white block letters on his roof, right?
6:17 You did well. I had people butcher my name in the past but I'm pretty sure you could pronounce Wojciech just fine :P
It's sound quite good. ☺
5:02 English subtitles "Zachary young"
Lmfao 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Maybe the expiration date was for the heater, not the food?
This one is civilian but this producer does make army MRE if i am not mistaken. Those biscuits are called panzer biscuits, they are supposed to be that hard. And not sure if sauerkraut... sorry, not sure if kapusta kiszona can be considered pickled as it is just cabbage and salt and lactic acid from fermentation is what do the magic.
I have no clue if stale or what it says but it's probably some hardtack
Yep. It's a hardtack.
A REALLY hard one(to the point of being a meme).
how about a link to that razor knife?
Clive, You think that the metals didn't actually include salt in the bag and the "emergency drinking water" was distilled water? When you kneaded it, salts from your skin made the water conduct?
Edit: The "datasheet" of the Seven Oceans emergency water from the manufacturer says: Conductivity: < 10 mS / m
It also says to drink a maximum of 0.5 liters of this per 24 hours, presumably because distilled water drains salts from your body
Nothing comes close to German sausages ;) Well except for the polish ones, these are usually excelent. As a lot of their food is. Like with "traditional" German dishes, you have to like savory and hearty food most of the times.
Sauerkraut should not taste vinegary by the way, as it is not pickled. It is actually fermented cabbage and the "sour" part (sauer in German) comes from lactic acid. Kraut is just an older common term for cut down cabbage. Sauerkraut is a traditional winter food if you look back in time, as the cabbage (In German Weißkraut or Weißkohl) was made less perishable by fermenting it excluding air and it stayed eddible without rotting (and hopefully without moulding) during the winter. Nice thing, it stays rich in vitamins that way as well.
These MREs should all taste pretty good to keep the army's morale up in emergency situations.
Just curious to know what Clive would eat (by choice) when he's not tucking in to emergency military rations.