Apfelweingulasch

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy lidded Dutch oven or braiser, 5 to 6 litre
• •Tongs
• •Wooden spoon with a flat edge
• •Box grater

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the pork

   Pat the pork dry and toss it with the salt and black pepper while you slice the onions. Salt pulls a little moisture to the surface first, then seasons inward; patting the pieces dry again before searing gives you browning instead of grey meat in a wet pan.

2. 2

   Render the bacon

   Set a heavy 5 to 6 litre pot over medium heat, add the lard and the bacon if using it, and cook until the bacon gives up its fat and the edges turn bronze. The smoked fat seasons the pot before the meat goes in; if it burns now, the whole sauce tastes bitter, so keep the heat steady.

3. 3

   Brown the pork

   Raise the heat to medium-high and brown the pork in batches, leaving space between the pieces so moisture can leave the pan. Colour two or three sides well and move the meat to a bowl. Crowding the pot traps water, and water gives you boiled pork before the braise has even started.

4. 4

   Cook the onions

   Lower the heat to medium, add the onions, and cook them for 15 to 20 minutes, scraping up the browned bits as they soften. They should collapse, turn golden, and lose their raw bite. This is the body of the sauce; raw onion stays watery and leaves the Apfelwein sharp.

   If the bottom threatens to scorch before the onions soften, add a small splash of Apfelwein and scrape. Brown is flavour. Black is repair work.
5. 5

   Bloom the spices

   Stir in the garlic and tomato paste for one minute, then add the sweet paprika, hot paprika if using, caraway, and marjoram for only 30 seconds. Paprika needs fat to open its colour and smell, but it burns quickly; burnt paprika tastes dusty, and no amount of cider fixes it.

6. 6

   Reduce the Apfelwein

   Pour in about 150ml of the Apfelwein and scrape the pot clean, then boil it until it reduces by half and turns glossy around the onions. This first hard boil drives off the raw cider edge and pulls the browned meat sugars into the sauce. Now add the remaining Apfelwein, the stock, juniper, bay leaves, and the pork bone or rind if you have it. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

7. 7

   Braise it low

   Return the pork and any juices to the pot. The liquid should come about halfway up the meat, not drown it. Bring it just to a tremble, cover, and cook in a 150C oven or on the lowest stove heat for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours, stirring once or twice. Runter mit der Temperatur. Shoulder becomes tender when collagen melts slowly; a rolling boil squeezes the pork dry.

8. 8

   Add the apple

   Stir in the grated tart apple for the last 20 minutes, then leave the lid slightly ajar so the sauce can tighten. The apple gives pectin and a fresh sour-sweet edge, but if it cooks for the full braise it disappears into dull sweetness. Remove the bay leaves, bone, and rind before finishing.

9. 9

   Balance the sauce

   Rest the pot off the heat for 10 minutes, then skim only the excess fat; a little fat carries the pork and paprika. Stir in the mustard and, if using it, the Schmand off the boil because dairy splits in acid under hard heat. Taste for salt, pepper, and balance: a splash of vinegar if the cider was too soft, a pinch of sugar if it was too sharp. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.

10. 10

    Serve and keep

    Serve with buttered Spätzle, soft egg noodles, Salzkartoffeln, boiled salted potatoes, or Semmelknödel, bread dumplings, because the sauce needs somewhere to go. Reheat leftovers gently the next day; the flavour settles overnight, but a hard boil tightens the meat you spent two hours softening.

Chef Tips

• •Use shoulder, not loin. Loin is tidy and wrong here; shoulder has fat and collagen, and that is why the long braise works.
• •Buy dry Hessian Apfelwein if you can. Very dry hard cider is the honest stand-in. Sweet apple juice makes a sticky sauce and misses the whole point.
• •Do not skip the onions or rush them. They dissolve into the braise and thicken the sauce, so flour becomes unnecessary and jarred Bratensoße has no business near the pot.
• •Add Schmand only off the heat. Acid plus hard boiling splits dairy, and then you have white flecks where you wanted a smooth sauce.
• •Drink the same Apfelwein with it from a Geripptes, the ribbed Hessian glass, or pour a simple lager. The food is regional; the table can stay plain.

Advance Preparation

• •Cut and salt the pork up to 12 hours ahead, then leave it uncovered in the refrigerator. The surface dries, the seasoning moves inward, and the meat browns better.
• •Cook the goulash one day ahead and chill the meat in its sauce. The fat lifts off cleanly, the flavour settles, and the pork reheats more gently than it cooked.
• •Freeze without Schmand for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, reheat slowly, then add the dairy off the heat if you want it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)