Oct 13th, 2010
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Spiced Apple Cider & Pork Braise

Sometimes cooking pork or chicken with fresh apple or applesauce can result in a dish that is too sweet — not the case here. Slow cooking the pork chops with cinnamon, cloves, onion and unfiltered apple cider produces a warm, spicy dinner that your family will devour. This dish is definitely one of my new favourites and I’ll be making it again soon.

Apples are everywhere at this time of year, and so is apple cider. If you have a farmer’s market nearby, now is the perfect time to try some unfiltered, unsweetened and unpasteurized (in other words, unprocessed) apple cider. You may be able to find some in your local grocery store but read the label. Last winter, we noticed that many brands of ‘apple’ cider also contain orange juice and other additives. So just make sure you know what you’re getting.

If your slow cooker is large enough, (I used a 6.5 quart), place 3 or 4 large sweet potatoes in the bottom. After stewing in the spiced cider and pork juices they had an incredible spiced apple flavour. We blended ours with an immersion blender making the best mashed potatoes we’ve ever had!

slowcooker_apple_porkchops.jpg

Spiced Apple Cider and Pork Braise

Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 8 hours (low) or 4 hours (high)
Yield: 6 servings (prepared in a 6.5 quart slow cooker)

  • 4 whole sweet potatoes
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 6 thick cut pork chops
  • salt
  • 2 cups chopped carrots (about 2cm long pieces)
  • 1 1⁄2 cups largely diced onion (about 2 cm squares)
  • cinnamon stick (about 8 cm long)
  • 5 whole cloves (or about 1 tsp ground cloves)
  • 15 whole peppercorns (or about 1 tsp ground black pepper)
  • 7 cloves peeled garlic
  • 2 cups unfiltered (pulpy) apple cider
  •  1⁄2 cup white wine or cider vinegar
  • 10 leaves fresh sage (or about 1 tsp ground sage)
  • 5 bay leaves

Place whole, washed but not peeled sweet potatoes in the bottom of your slow cooker insert.

Heat oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Pat pork chops dry and sprinkle with salt on both sides. Brown the pork chops for about 4 or 5 minutes on each side. Transfer to your slow cooker.

Add the carrots, onions, cinnamon, cloves and peppercorns to the pan. Cook until the onions are golden, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, apple cider, wine, sage and bay leaves. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Pour over the pork in the slow cooker.

Cook on for 8 hours on low (or 4 hours on high).

Transfer the pork chops to a platter and loosely cover to keep them warm.

Place the sweet potatoes in a bowl and mash manually or with an immersion blender.