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Crock Pot Normandy Pork With Apples, Shallots & Cider

By French Tart on October 23, 2006

Photo by Caroline Cooks

13 Reviews

Prep Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 6 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 8-10

Photo by Caroline Cooks

About This Recipe

"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 Crock Pot Baked Spiced Red Cabbage With Apples or Pears & mashed potatoes. N.B. I have given amounts for 8-10 people; the recipe can be halved or increased with ease!"

Ingredients

3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed of fat & cubed
4 -6 apples, cored & halved
1 1/2 lbs shallots, peeled
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 ounces butter
1 fluid ounce olive oil
1/2 pint sweet apple cider
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
6 ounces creme fraiche or 6 ounces sour cream
1/4 pint chicken stock, thickened
fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
salt
black pepper
1 -2 tablespoon calvados or 1 -2 tablespoon brandy

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.

Private Note

No Notes

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 (324 g)

Servings Per Recipe: 8

Amount Per Serving: %
Calories 658.8
Calories from Fat 431: 65%

Amount Per Serving: %
Total Fat 47.9g: 73%
Saturated Fat 19.7g: 98%
Cholesterol 165.5mg: 55%
Sugars 7.4 g
Sodium 192.0mg: 8%
Total Carbohydrate 24.9g: 8%
Dietary Fiber 1.6g: 6%
Sugars 7.4 g: 29%
Protein 32.4g: 64%

Reviews

"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."

By Queen Dana on October 01, 2008 | 717812
"Leftovers??? Hahahahahahaaaa!! We ate the whole thing! I can't wait to make ths again! It tasted as wonderful as it smelled. Will you make this for me next time I am over? Made for French Food & Foto Fun. :)"

By Elmotoo on November 17, 2007 | 517075
"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."

By adopt a greyhound on January 25, 2013 | 1361835
"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!"

By Buster's friend on January 07, 2011 | 1180023
"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!
Made for Harvest Moon Apple Festival of the Diabetes Forum."

By Mia in Germany on October 06, 2010 | 1152282
"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."

By morgainegeiser on April 09, 2010 | 1081373
"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!"

By Chef #496354 on February 22, 2010 | 1058127
"Where's the 10 stars button for this recipe? AWESOME, FT. I used Brandy and Butterfly Pork Chops, serving over garlic mashed potatoes. MMMMM...mmmmm...good! Made for the Northern Mediterranean event in Cooking Photos."

By Caroline Cooks on October 14, 2008 | 726212
"I thought this was good. The calvados really punches the apple flavor. The only thing I recommend, is doing it a day ahead of time so you can skim off the two inches of fat off the top. IT was really really greasy for me."

By Black Radish on October 08, 2007 | 493402
"Oh my was this great. I used pork loin chops so I cooked mine on high for 2 hours then turned to low for 7 hours. Fantastic. The apples and pork were cooked to perfection. Served with mashed potatoes, garlic bread and roasted asparagus."

By MsSally on October 08, 2007 | 493340
"Tasted as good as it smelled! Yummy! Didn't use brandy, but it was great! Thanks for such a great recipe!"

By hojo on July 22, 2007 | 452424
"What a marvelous dish! I would double the stars if I could! I used Bergy's Recipe #29296 and left out the Calvados, otherwise this was made as posted, in the crockpot. Leftovers will be going into a pie as you suggested. Made for Please Review my Recipe. This is well worth the effort to prepare for the crockpot. Thanks for posting a winner, French Tart."

By ElaineAnn on February 06, 2007 | 369592
"This is an exceptional recipe and easy to make. Prepare it a day ahead and it's even better. Perfect for autumn and winter meals, especially. I have served it for guests and they always want this recipe."

By Tex-a-France Two-Stepper on November 27, 2006 | 339632