Pork and Cider Casserole

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy ovenproof casserole dish with lid, cast iron if you have one
• •Wooden spoon
• •Large plate for resting the browned pork

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the pork

   Set the oven to 160C/140C fan. Season the pork generously with salt and pepper, then dust the pieces lightly in the flour, shaking off the excess. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy casserole dish over a high heat until the butter foams and starts to quiet down. Brown the pork in batches, giving each piece a few minutes on each side until it has taken on a proper, deep colour. Not pale gold. Chestnut. This is where the flavour of the whole dish begins. Set the meat aside on a plate as you go.

   Don't crowd the pan. If you put too much meat in at once, the temperature drops and the pork steams instead of browning. Two or three batches, done properly, will repay you in the finished sauce.
2. 2

   Soften the onions

   Turn the heat down to medium. Add the sliced onions to the same pan with all its sticky, caramelised residue. Stir them through the butter and the bits of flour and pork that cling to the base. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring now and then, until the onions have gone soft and translucent and started to pick up some golden colour from the pan. Add the garlic and the sage leaves and stir for another minute or so, until the kitchen smells green and savoury and warm. Trust your nose. It knows before you do.

3. 3

   Deglaze with cider

   Pour in the cider. It will hiss and bubble and lift all those dark, caramelised bits from the bottom of the pan. This is the foundation of the sauce, so scrape the base well with a wooden spoon. Let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Add the stock, the mustard, and the bay leaves. Stir the mustard through until it dissolves into the liquid. Return the pork and any juices that have collected on the plate. The liquid should come about two-thirds of the way up the meat. If it doesn't, add a splash more stock or cider.

   Use proper dry farmhouse cider, not the sweet sort and not lager-style cider from a multipack. The dryness matters. It cooks down into something savoury and complex. Sweet cider makes a sweet, cloying sauce, and this isn't a sweet dish.
4. 4

   Braise low and slow

   Bring everything to a gentle simmer on the hob. Put the lid on, leaving it very slightly ajar so a thin ribbon of steam can escape, and transfer the casserole to the oven. Let it cook for two hours, checking once at the halfway mark. The liquid should be barely trembling, not bubbling fiercely. If it's too lively, turn the oven down. You'll know it's ready when the pork yields to a wooden spoon with no resistance at all, and the sauce has thickened to something golden and glossy that coats the back of that spoon.

5. 5

   Finish and serve

   If you're using the apple, core it and cut it into thick wedges. Tuck them gently into the casserole for the last thirty minutes of cooking. They should soften but hold their shape, sweet and savoury at once. When the casserole is done, taste the sauce. Season again. It will almost certainly need it. Remove the bay leaves. Serve straight from the pot, spooned generously over mashed potato or alongside crusty bread that can soak up what's left on the plate. There are few better feelings than putting this on the table on a cold evening and watching someone reach for a second helping without being asked.

   If the sauce is thinner than you'd like, remove the lid for the last twenty minutes. The liquid will reduce and concentrate, and the top of the pork will take on a little extra colour, which is no bad thing.

Chef Tips

• •The cider is the single most important decision you'll make here. Find a proper dry farmhouse cider, something from the West Country if you can, cloudy and sharp and smelling faintly of orchards. The supermarket own-brand will do at a push, but a good bottle from a cider maker who cares will carry the whole dish. Buy two bottles. One for the pot, one for the cook.
• •Pork shoulder is the cut for this, not loin, not tenderloin, not chops. Shoulder has the fat and the connective tissue that melt during a slow braise and turn the sauce silky. A leaner cut will dry out and disappoint you. Trust the shoulder. It was made for this.
• •This casserole is better the next day. The sauce thickens as it cools, and the flavours settle into each other overnight in a way that a few hours can't replicate. Make it on Saturday afternoon, eat it on Sunday. If you can wait that long.
• •Serve it with mash. Not complicated mash, not anything with additions that distract from the sauce. Just good potatoes, real butter, a splash of warm milk, salt. The mash is there to catch the sauce, and it needs to be generous enough to do that job properly.

Advance Preparation

• •Can be made a full day ahead. Cool, cover, refrigerate, and reheat gently on the hob or in a low oven until bubbling through. The flavour deepens overnight and the sauce thickens to something closer to its best.
• •Freezes well for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat thoroughly until piping hot. The texture of the pork holds up better than you'd expect.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 310g)