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. 🙂
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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 :)
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.
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.
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'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.
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.
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
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.
@@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...
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)
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.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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'.
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
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.
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)
Great outer package colors Braaats and Kraut the right menu for game day at Lambeau Field. Bad heater no problem. Somebody's got a barbecue going at the tailgate party. Go Packers
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 :)
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.
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...)
Just when you think the channel is heading in one direction there is a "ZOP ZOP ZOP WEeeEE" as something comes f lying in from a completely random direction. This is why I have notifications clicked.
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.
Rando just popped up on my suggestions, *had* to look. Damn, now I'm hungry. Yeah, there's sweet cabbage, and sour ("sauer") cabbage. I've grown to love Polish food. Wish I had one of those MREs right now... Oh, the cookie is supposed to be semi-sweet. The "suchar..." on the wrapper implies sugar. I'm "picturing" them as kinda like the cookie part of "lady fingers" cookies. The cookie is only semi-sweet, but the icing between is almost all sugar.
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.
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.
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.
Being famous for sausage is shared between whoever is living in the area where you today find Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Germany. I do not claim this is a complete list. Sausages, the dried ones, are just a way to survive winter. Remember, there where times w/o supermarkets. They did not have our problems of having no choice, because the one type of oil you prefer, is out of stock.
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.
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).
"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
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?
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 love how you explained the heater like a shorted battery. It made better sense than the voodoo black magic I thought was happening!
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'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
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...
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.
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.
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
"Bigos z Kiełbasą" - except for the `ł` and `ą`, it sounded perfectly ok. (You actually correctly said "Bigos z kielbasa" :D)
Greetings from Poland and smacznego!
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)
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?
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 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 :)
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.
This is better than the Martha Stewart cooking show! I really enjoyed it! Thank you 😁
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.
I just realised I'm reading the comments in Big Clive's voice, damn why is the voice so calm and informative!
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
Those "biscuits" =
PANZER WAFFLE !! :D
Z niczym oczywiście nie porównywalne. Z niczym
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.
I don't care/watch MRE videos, but I always "thumbs up" any video Big Clive does.
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.
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" 😁
Bonus points to the polish for actually including water as well as a chemical warmer.
I see you've mastered Eric O's knife opening technique!
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.
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
Suchary specjalne sometimes are called panzerwaffle, you understand it when you eat one :)
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.
5:02 English subtitles "Zachary young"
Lmfao 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'm polish and this video made me smile
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)
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.
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
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?
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.
greetings from Poland
"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 :-)
Yes bigos one of the most popular meals in Poland and homemade one is the Best thing you could eat
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!
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!
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.
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
I am sitting here ''smelling'' my Grandmother's house .... nice!!
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.
I have to say that looks like something I would enjoy but then I like slow cooked sausage casserole.
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.
That Mre looks yummy
Great video Big Clive
Your pronunciation of polish words is very very good
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
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.
Looked pretty good . Thanks
Somebody discovered the cure for 'MRE' issue. (Meal Refuses to Evacuate.)
Why is it anytime i hear clive reading instructions in a quizzical manner i expect a fanny falmboux moment
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'.
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
Adding some salt to the water sometimes helps to speed up the flameless ration heater. Cool review BC!
You had me at sausages & sauerkraut!
Haha I genuinely thought this was Steve1989 when I clicked and was surprised to hear BigClive's voice.
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.
your polish pronunciation is very good :) cheers mate!
Where did you get your knife? Can't see it on Amazon, looks cool
that's a Maker knife off Kickstarter by Created by
Giaco Whatever... good luck trying to find one know. Maybe Ebay?
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)
You can get Bigos in supermarkets these days.. it's very nice :D
no hiss tho
Great outer package colors Braaats and Kraut the right menu for game day at Lambeau Field. Bad heater no problem. Somebody's got a barbecue going at the tailgate party. Go Packers
a delightfully non-traditional ration review, well done Clive.
When I saw BC kneading that heater bag I thought “ o crap, better get the containment pie dish out!. It’s going to go ballistic!”.
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
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 :)
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.
you are a fearless man
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...)
The name of this dish does remind me of a lyric of a particular song from Rammstein...
Just when you think the channel is heading in one direction there is a "ZOP ZOP ZOP WEeeEE" as something comes f lying in from a completely random direction. This is why I have notifications clicked.
"People didn't like the lack of variety".... from the guy who makes 90% of his videos about taking poundland lights apart ;)
Let’s get this on to a tray....*snap* Nice!
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.
Rando just popped up on my suggestions, *had* to look. Damn, now I'm hungry.
Yeah, there's sweet cabbage, and sour ("sauer") cabbage. I've grown to love Polish food.
Wish I had one of those MREs right now...
Oh, the cookie is supposed to be semi-sweet. The "suchar..." on the wrapper implies sugar.
I'm "picturing" them as kinda like the cookie part of "lady fingers" cookies. The cookie is only semi-sweet, but the icing between is almost all sugar.
"Let's get this out on to a tray. Nice!". "Nice hiss!".
No instant coffee. I'm disappointed
@@tootk90 Coffee, Instant, Type I.
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.
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.
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.
How much would that heating pack thingie cost? Is it reusable?
It's a one use device, but you can probably buy them on their own or make them.
I see you're using the Maker Knife. I love mine with the ceramic blades. wicked sharp!
This is a dish that my mother made for cold winter nights. It keeps the stomach full and warm for many hours.
Looks like the "back to school" graphics designer got assigned to mre graphics design.
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.
You've pronounced it very good.
Big Clive....the type of guy to re-heat a two day old Chicken curry from the Chinese takeaway, after finding it down the back of the couch 😷
Being famous for sausage is shared between whoever is living in the area where you today find Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria and Germany. I do not claim this is a complete list.
Sausages, the dried ones, are just a way to survive winter. Remember, there where times w/o supermarkets. They did not have our problems of having no choice, because the one type of oil you prefer, is out of stock.
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.
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.
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).