Crock Pot Normandy Pork With Apples, Shallots & Cider

"A lovely slow cooked or crock pot recipe for tender chunks of pork cooked in cider with apples, shallots, creme fraiche & calvados. My own recipe devised for our Chambres d'Hotes here in France - and ALWAYS a firm favourite with guests, family & friends alike! It is my daughter's first night request when she comes home from university! You can use any cut of pork, but I usually use shoulder, neck, collar or blade of Pork - there are numerous names for that cut. It's sweeter and inclined to be more tender than Pork leg, which I feel is better roasted. You can also use Pork chops if you wish. If you have difficulty getting hold of cider or don't want to use alcohol, apple juice is just as good, for that appley zing! There is no duplicate for calvados, so just leave it out if you cannot obtain it, or use brandy or cognac instead. This makes a lovely pie filling if you have leftovers and as with most slow cooked recipes, it's very well behaved when re-heated! It goes extremely well with Recipe #191313 & mashed potatoes. N.B. I have given amounts for 8-10 people; the recipe can be halved or increased with ease!"
 
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photo by Caroline Cooks photo by Caroline Cooks
photo by Caroline Cooks
photo by Caroline Cooks photo by Caroline Cooks
photo by MsSally photo by MsSally
photo by MsSally photo by MsSally
photo by French Tart photo by French Tart
Ready In:
6hrs 45mins
Ingredients:
14
Serves:
8-10
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ingredients

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directions

  • Trim the pork of any thick fat. Cut into large cubes of about 4" square or even bigger - it shrinks with cooking & works better with larger pieces of meat.
  • Peel the shallots and set to one side.
  • Halve & core the apples and set to one side with the shallots.
  • Turn the crockpot onto High. Mix the cider, cider apple vinegar, creme fraiche, salt & pepper, thyme & thickened chicken stock together in a large pouring jug & pour into the crockpot.(If using fresh thyme - leave to last.) Add the cored and halved apples and replace the lid whilst you brown the pork & shallots.
  • Heat up half the butter & half of the olive oil in a large skillet or wok-type pan, one with fairly high sides.
  • As soon as it is smoking but not burning, brown the shallots in batches - you want a deep caramelised colour & the shallots just softened on the outside. When all the shallots have been done, put them all back into the pan - turn up the heat & add the balsamic vinegar and stir briskly making sure all the shallots are well coated.
  • Add the shallots & Balsamic vinegar mixture to the crockpot.
  • Heat up the remaining butter and oil, adding more if necessary & start to brown the pork pieces, again do not overcrowd the pan - they need to be well coloured & seared to seal in the juices. As the pork pieces are browned, add them to the crockpot.
  • When all the pork is browned & added to the crockpot, give all the ingredients a good mix around in the crockpot with a wooden spoon. If using fresh thyme, pick about 4 large sprigs and place on top of the Normandy Pork - the leaves fall off during cooking & leave the bare branches for throwing away!
  • Cook on high for between 6 - 10 hours.
  • Just before serving, pour in Calvados and mix through. Serve each person with 2 -3 pieces of pork, a cooked apple half & 1 or 2 shallots; add a dollop of creme fraiche on the side & garnish with Thyme & a fresh Apple sliver if desired. Decant the excess sauce into a gravy boat for extra saucy bits!
  • Great with spiced red cabbage, fluffy mashed potatoes or pommes Dauphinoise.
  • To cook in an conventional oven, follow recipe as above, but cook in a La Creuset type oven proof dish; pre-heat oven to 175 C or 350 F and cook slowly for about 6 hours, checking after 4 hours. It will cook quite happily for up to 8 hours if this helps in your time management, you may have to turn the oven down to about 125 C, 250 F after 4 hours for a long slow 8 hour cooking time.

Questions & Replies

  1. I've made this a couple of times and goes down a treat every time! However, the sauce always separates. Any ideas?
     
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Reviews

  1. This was great! I didn't have any apple cider so I used apple juice instead. I used cognac instead of calvados. I reduced this recipe down to 2 servings and cooked on low in my crock pot for 5 hours.
     
  2. Flavors were great, I did it in the oven and the juices were all dried up and mushy apples and onion at 2 1/2 hours. I added more cider to get everything off the pan. Will try it in the crock pot next time.
     
  3. Wonderful recipe! Opted for the oven option & it cooked up like a dream! Calvados made this one exquisite - Norman cooking at it's best. Used shoulder & added 2 types of apples - both winter keepers that are coming into their own right now (Limber twigs & Arkansas Blacks). Thank you for a recipe that has the house smelling like a dream come true. Total keeper - BTW Served with Irish Sweet potatoes - simply adorned with a bit of butter, sea salt & fresh ground coarse black pepper & roasted. Fabulous! Thanks for the keeper, French tart!
     
  4. This is wonderful! Made it with wild boar, and I don't think I've ever made a better recipe with it. Will definitely make it again! Thanks for another winner, FT!<br/>Made for Harvest Moon Apple Festival of the Diabetes Forum.
     
  5. This was a very good recipe, a different way to prepare pork, but still similar to down home cooking. Great flavor and not that hard to prepare.
     
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Tweaks

  1. This was fantastic! Very different than most other recipes out there. I made a couple minor adjustments - I sprinkled the meat with salt before browning. Also, I used diced onions instead of shallots. The smell in the house from the time it started cooking was incredible!
     
  2. This was great! I didn't have any apple cider so I used apple juice instead. I used cognac instead of calvados. I reduced this recipe down to 2 servings and cooked on low in my crock pot for 5 hours.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p><strong><span>The sunflowers in the field behind my house in SW France:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Sunflowers src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/DSCN8221.jpg alt=Sunflowers width=640 height=480 /><br /><strong><span><br /><br />I am British (English-Scottish), but I was born in South Africa and have lived all over the world, including Hong Kong, Germany, Cyprus, USA &amp; Singapore. I have also been very fortunate to have travelled extensively over the years.........I still have wanderlust! <br /><br />I used to be an English Literature &amp; Art History teacher &amp; lecturer; before that, I trained and worked as a Graphic Designer for many years. I now live in France with my husband &amp; my daughter who has just started university in September 2006. We also have one very chatty Burmese cat Willow, who allows us to live with her here! (I used to have three cats, I recently lost Monty, a beautiful seal point Siamese and before that, Rama, who was a debonair blue point Siamese cat - I would love to have another Siamese cat or cats in the future!)</span></strong></p> <p><em><strong><span>This is my Burmese Cat, Willow, sunning herself on the log pile in the kitchen garden:</span></strong></em></p> <p><strong><img title=My src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/ABaconButtyandSundryFoodPhotos34.jpg alt=My width=640 height=480 /></strong></p> <p><strong><span>Here is my lovely Monty, a seal point Siamese, and Willow, sitting&nbsp;in the kitchen garden last year, and a few months before Monty died; he was 18yrs old:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Monty src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/AbsolutelySinfulStickyToffeePudding.jpg alt=Monty width=640 height=480 />My</p> <p><strong><span>This is my wonderful old boy, Rama, a blue-point Siamese, who died when he was 20yrs old - excuse the old and much sellotaped photo:</span></strong></p> <p><img title=Rama src=http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r271/copperhorse58/Rama1stOctober2004164.jpg alt=Rama width=517 height=639 /></p> <p><strong><span>My favourite pastimes are: reading, writing, painting &amp; drawing, photography, gardening, anything creative, walking, travelling, dining out and of course COOKING! I love all types of cuisine, but especially Traditional British - and NO it is NOT all bad!! I particularly love food associated with the changing seasons plus traditional feasts &amp; festivals, as well as Slow Cooking. I also enjoy French &amp; North African cuisine, come to think of it, there isn't much I don't like! <br /><br />My husband &amp; I run a Chambres D'Hotes, (Bed and Breakfast) called Auberge de la Fontaine here in beautiful South West France; we specialise in Gourmet Food &amp; Wine Breaks, French Antiques &amp; Restoration courses, French Language courses and French Cookery classes. Our home is completely furnished with Antique French furniture that we have rescued &amp; restored ourselves. Our charming village has one of the oldest Churches in the region &amp; it is famous for its connection with the St.Jacques de Compostella Pilgrimage route, as well as being within the Cognac &amp; Bordeaux wine growing area. <br /><br />We have a wonderful garden where we grow ALL of our own herbs and most of our fruit and vegetables. I specialise in rare, unusual and old-fashioned herbs, which I grow in our walled garden. As well as growing herbs, I also grow many different varieties of lavender, old-fashioned shrub roses and heirloom fruit and vegetables. <br /><br />We have lived overseas for many, many years now - but we both still love going home to Northern England, near Scarborough &amp; York, to visit our family &amp; friends. 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