Pork Chops With Apples and Cider
- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- ¼teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3cloves
- 4allspice berries
- 2tablespoons roughly chopped sage
- 1and ½ tablespoons kosher salt
- 6boneless pork chops, 4 ounces each, about ½-inch thick
- 2large apples
- 2tablespoons butter
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- ½cup hard cider, plus 2 tablespoons
- 2teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1and ½ cups chicken broth
- 2teaspoons potato starch dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water
- 3tablespoons crème fraîche
- 1tablespoon Calvados, apple brandy or Cognac, optional
- 2tablespoons finely cut chives
- 2tablespoons chopped parsley
For the Spiced Salt
For the Pork and Sauce
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
337 calories; 16 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 27 grams protein; 693 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Make the spice salt: Put peppercorns, cloves, allspice and sage in a spice mill or mortar and grind to a powder. Remove to a bowl and stir in salt. Season pork chops on both sides with salt mixture. (There will be some salt mixture remaining; use it to season the sauce, Step 4.) Cover and leave chops at room temperature to absorb seasonings for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 2
Peel, quarter and core apples, then cut each apple into 12 wedges. Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a wide skillet and raise heat to medium-high. Add apple wedges in one layer and brown gently on one side, about 2 minutes. Brown on the other side and cook for 2 minutes more, or until apples are cooked through but still firm. Remove apples from pan and keep warm.
- Step 3
Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan and swirl to melt. Dust pork chops with flour, and place in pan and brown gently for about 4 minutes per side. Adjust heat if necessary to keep pork from cooking too quickly. Remove chops and keep warm on a platter in a low oven. Discard remaining butter.
- Step 4
Add ½ cup cider to pan, raise heat to high and cook down to a syrup. Add mustard and chicken broth, and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add potato starch and stir with a wire whisk as the sauce thickens. Stir in crème fraîche. Season to taste with remaining spiced salt. Add 2 tablespoons cider and the Calvados, if using. Cook for 1 minute more.
- Step 5
Spoon sauce over the chops, then spoon the apples around the platter. Sprinkle with chives and parsley.
Private Notes
Comments
I have been using a low heat technique that produces a moist chop every time. They must be at least 1/2-3/4" thick, start with room temp chops in no heated pan then turn heat to medium.
I prepared this dish last night and my husband said, "This is really lovely." That's high praise from him and we both cleaned our plates. I served it with Mark Bittman's Potato Nik. The apples really steal the show.
My cheats: used extra heavy cream, added applesauce to thicken, used brandy and a TB of cider vinegar for tang. Next time I might add a pinch of cinnamon to the rub.
For those using dried spices, you may find these conversions helpful. For every 8 peppercorns called for, use 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper in its place. Use one teaspoon of whole cloves in place of 3/4 teaspoon of ground cloves (so that's 1 to 1/3 times as many whole cloves as ground cloves). 6 whole allspice berries = 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground allspice. 1 tablespoon fresh chopped sage = 1 teaspoon dried sage https://www.thespruceeats.com/
Didn’t have hard cider so used 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp honey, simmering for a few minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients for the sauce. Delicious!!
Used French cider vinegar instead of hard cider. Used cream instead of créme frâiche. Already had softened gravenstein apples wedges with cinnamon, so added those to the butter and didn't cook as long. For the spiced salt, used 1/4 t salt, 1/4 t pepper and about 2.5 T finely chopped sage. Came out great. The large boneless Niman chops came out pink and succulent. Served with brown rice cooked in chicken broth and butter with parsley stirred in. Fantastic.
Followed recipe, but next time I’ll reduce the salt in step one by half. I’d like a little more sage flavor in the dish. I also used more butter, and would add an additional apple.