So, yes. Because I am from New England, and because I refuse to age (mentally) past 5 years old, we go apple picking for my birthday. Fortunately, this happens in the beginning of October, when apples can in fact be picked with relative ease. Since moving to D.C., this usually entails a schlep out Rte 66 (decidedly NOT the groovy one of song…) to Virginia, where we picnic, pick apples, and generally frolic about. Lovely. The apples we pick, usually from the tree, sometimes from the ground, vary in size and quality from year to year though I have learned to limit myself to one 1/2 bushel bag.

That is still, however, a lot of apples. This inspires a spate of apple-related cooking every fall and one of the first things I make with my haul of tart green apples is the following pork and apple hot pot. It’s a sweet and savory casserole of pork, apples, onions, and bacon that is a perfect dish for the first chill evenings of fall. Cooked low and slow with  beer, cider, mustard, and warm spices, it’s time-consuming if basic cooking that is appropriately domestic goddess-y as the original recipe comes from cashmere food pornographer par excellence, Nigella Lawson.

I’ve boosted the flavor of the sauce with some judicious additions and increased the quantites to serve eight or so–anything that takes 45 minutes to prep and three hours in the oven needs to provide some serious dividends. This dish does deliver, though, whether you serve it at a big autumnal dinner or make it on a lazy Sunday to savor over the course of the coming week.

Pork & Apple Hot Pot
adapted from Nigella Lawson, The New York Times

3 tbs vegetable oil
5 onions, halved & sliced thinly
1 1lb bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2/3 c flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
9 pork shoulder chops, about 3/4 inch thick
5 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, & sliced
1 12 oz btl beer
4 tbs prepared mustard
4 tbs boiled cider*
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 c water

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil and saute the onions over medium heat until just soft, about 8 minutes. Remove onions to a bowl.  Add bacon to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low, cooking until the bacon is just crisped and the fat has rendered out.  Remove bacon to bowl with onions, leaving behind as much fat as possible.

In a zip-top freezer bag, mix together the flour and spices.  Pat chops dry. Take three chops and seal them in the bag with the seasoned flour. Shake to coat. Remove, shaking off excess flour, and brown over medium heat in the bacon fat–about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining chops.

Prepare apples and set aside. Add reserved flour to oily skillet and cook with a whisk till evenly incorporated.  Whisking, add the beer, mustard, boiled cider, mustard and water.  Continue to heat, whisking, till smooth and bubbly. Remove from heat.

In a large, deep lidded casserole or Dutch oven, layer the ingredients as compactly as possible as follows: 1/4 of the onion mixture, 3 chops, 1/4 of the onion mixture, 1/3 of the apples, 3 chops, 1/4 of the onion mixture, 1/3 of the apples, the remaining 3 chops, and the last of the onion mixture and apples. Pour the sauce in the sauce and give the pot a shake to settle it all in.

Cover pot with its lide and put on a baking sheet.  Bake until chops are tender and apples are very soft, about 3 hours.

Notes & Variations
You can use fresh cider instead of the boiled cider and water–replace them both with 1 c fresh sweet cider. I love the boiled cider, though–it’s lovely to have in the fridge as it’s uniquely delicious and lasts forever. Great in pies, salad dressings, etc.–anywhere a complex, apple-y, lightly caramelized sweetness might be nice, I get mine from Woods’ Cider Mill in Vermont.

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