Cider House Rules

The house rules regarding cider around here are simple - we don't drink it, we cook with it. The hard variety, that is. I find even the driest hard ciders a bit sweet for my taste when it comes time for a frosty relaxing brew, so we usually opt for beer (although we have been known to cook with that, as well as drink it). You will be pleased to know though, that when there is cider left over in the bottle after completing a recipe, I do polish it off. Nothing gets wasted around here.... in one sense of the word 'wasted' anyway ;-)

This recipe is a great use of hard cider. Because it is slow cooked, it doesn't end up tasting overly alcoholic (and neither do I believe it could be, given how long it cooks for), so the kids eat it just fine, and no one gets wasted in any sense of the word. The recipe hails from a dog-eared scrap of a print-out from a website that I stowed away some years ago, lost, re-found, and probably lost and re-found again. I just checked and the website it came from is no longer in existence unfortunately. Clearly my hoarding tendencies and storage capabilities have a longer lifespan than the site had.

I am not always a fan of pork chops, but I did use those for this recipe. Often I find them tough and dry, but in the slow-cooker they tenderize beautifully. If you are worried though, I would use pork tenderloin (called pork fillet in the UK, I think). In line with my usual preferences, it makes a great one-pot meal. I did supplement with some vegetable sides, but it would also be easy to stir in some extra vegetables in the last 15 minutes of cooking, if you are that way inclined. The left-overs also make a great thermos-full for a packed lunch the following day (yup, all three kids still refusing to eat sandwiches..... grrrrr).

Cider Pork Stew
Serves 6

2lbs pork (chops, or fillet/tenderloin), cubed
3 TBSP flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
4 medium potatoes, cut into 1" cubes/wedges (no need to peel)
2 onions, halved and sliced
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and cut into 3/4" cubes
2 cups hard apple cider
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup flour

1. Combine the 3 TBSP flour, salt, thyme and pepper in a large Ziploc bag or bowl. Toss with the meat.
2. Put carrots, potatoes, onion and apple in the slow cooker stoneware, and top with the meat cubes.
3. Combine apple cider and vinegar and pour over the meat.
4. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.
5. Turn cooker to high. Blend the 1/4 cup flour with 1/2 cup cold water and stir into the crockpot. Cover and cook for 15 minutes until thickened.