4 ways to enjoy apple cider — without drinking it

Gretchen McKay | (TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Apple cider is possibly the astir quintessential of acold autumn drinks, whether it comes successful a integrative jug from your section pome husbandman oregon has been fermented into the hard stuff.

It’s besides fantastic erstwhile heated up connected the stove and mulled with lukewarm spices specified arsenic cinnamon, cloves and allspice and a hint of citrus. (A splash of rum oregon bourbon is optional.)

Yet, determination is truthful overmuch much you tin bash with the opaque (and unsweetened) seasonal beverage made with caller apples than drinking it.

We get it: Nothing screams “fall” louder than a frosty solid of cider. We conscionable privation to punctual you that it tin beryllium a bully culinary pal, too.

Its tart, somewhat tangy spirit tin adhd a fantastic splash of spicy sweetness to immoderate fig of saccharine and savory dishes, including stews and soups, meaty main dishes and each antithetic kinds of baked goods — everything from cookies and cakes to doughnuts and saccharine breads.

Boil it down with immoderate lukewarm spices and it tin beryllium utilized to adhd a zippy spirit to a moist and aromatic cake; adhd immoderate brackish and capsicum and you’ve got the cleanable brine to marque tender and juicy pork chops.

Apple cider besides adds extent to a cookware of beef stew, and tin assistance a cookware of roasted basal vegetables to caller and tangy heights.

Another selling point: While it’s usually pasteurized for sale, pome cider stays faithful to earthy farm-to-table practices. To marque it, apples are simply cored, chopped, mashed and crushed to extract the juice, and past strained to region immoderate solids. Because it’s unfiltered, it besides contains polyphenols, antioxidants recovered successful plants that are thought to person heath benefits.

Clear, commercially produced pome juice, conversely, is sometimes sweetened with maize syrup and besides includes preservatives to forestall fermentation. Somehow, it conscionable doesn’t stack up to the freshly pressed cider you’ll find astatine section farms.

Below, we crockery up 4 recipes meant to assistance you bask fall’s cider successful caller — and flavorful — ways.

Apple Cider Beef Stew

Cubed stew beef is simmered successful pome cider with potatoes, carrots and celery to make a elemental and saccharine meal. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

Cubed stew beef combines with autumn vegetables and pome cider to make a elemental and somewhat saccharine repast adjacent kids volition love. Serve with crusty breadstuff oregon homemade biscuits.

2 pounds beef stew meat, chopped into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 cups pome cider oregon juice

1 tin (14 1/2 ounces) reduced-sodium beef broth

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 spoon dried thyme

1/4 spoon pepper

3 mean potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 mean carrots, peeled and chopped into 3/4 -inch pieces

3 celery ribs, chopped into 3/4 -inch pieces

2 mean onions, chopped into wedges

1/4 cupful all-purpose flour

1/4 cupful water

Fresh thyme sprigs, optional

In a Dutch oven, brownish beef connected each sides successful lipid implicit medium-high heat; drain. Add cider, broth, vinegar, salt, thyme and pepper.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; screen and simmer for 1 1/4 hours.

Add potatoes, carrots, celery and onions; instrumentality to a boil. Reduce heat; screen and simmer for 30-35 minutes oregon until beef and vegetables are tender.

Combine flour and h2o until smooth; disturbance into stew. Bring to a boil; navigator and disturbance for 2 minutes oregon until thickened. If desired, service with caller thyme.

— adapted from tasteofhome.com

Cider-Brined Pork Chops with Apples and Onions

Cider-brined pork chops are built with the pome and bulb topping successful the aforesaid skillet. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

This pork chop look was inspired by Southern cook and cooking amusement big Nathalie Dupree. The thick-cut chops are brined successful pome cider and brackish overnight, past seared successful a blistery cookware and baked successful the oven until they’re conscionable hardly pinkish and inactive juicy.

The affluent and buttery pome and bulb topping is what makes them worthy of being designated a peculiar juncture dish. It’s made successful the aforesaid cookware arsenic the pork chops and gets a small pome cider vinegar astatine the extremity for an adjacent much flavorful cookware sauce.

I had lone McIntosh apples successful the fridge and they aren’t perfect for baking. So the extremity effect was a spot connected the mushy side, but inactive rather tasty. Any saccharine bulb volition work; if you can’t find Vidalia onions, the cookbook suggests utilizing Maui oregon Walla Walla.

For brine

5 cups pome cider, divided

2 tablespoons array salt

1 tablespoonful pepper

For pork chops

4 boneless pork loin chops, 1 inch thick

3/4 spoon sugar

2 tablespoons rootlike oil

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into 4 pieces, divided

3 Vidalia (sweet) onions, halved and sliced thin

1 spoon salt

1/2 spoon pepper

2 ample apples, cored and chopped into wedges

2 teaspoons minced caller sage

1 tablespoonful cider vinegar

Prepare brine: Whisk 4 cups cider, brackish and capsicum successful ample vessel until brackish is dissolved, astir 1 minute. Arrange pork chops successful azygous furniture successful 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Pour brine implicit pork chops. Cover and refrigerate astatine slightest 8 hours oregon up to 24 hours.

Preheat implicit to 400 degrees. Place chops connected rimmed baking expanse lined with treble furniture of insubstantial towels. Place different furniture of insubstantial towels connected apical and property firmly to blot excess liquid.

Let chops beryllium astatine country somesthesia for 10 minutes portion towels sorb moisture. Discard towels and pat chops adust with cleanable insubstantial towels.

Using room shears, snip the furniture of abdominous surrounding each chop successful 2 places, astir 2 inches apart. Sprinkle sweetener evenly connected 1 broadside of each chop.

Heat lipid successful 12-inch oven-safe nonstick skillet implicit medium-high vigor until conscionable smoking. Place chops successful azygous layer, sweetener broadside down and navigator until their bottoms are good browned, astir 2 minutes. Transfer chops to ample plate, browned broadside up. Wipe skillet clean.

Melt 2 tablespoons food successful now-empty skillet implicit mean heat. Stir successful onions, brackish and capsicum and cook, stirring often, until onions are softened and good browned, 15 minutes.

Push onions to 1 broadside of skillet. Add apples to the different broadside and cook, flipping occasionally, until good browned, astir 8 minutes, stirring onions occasionally.

Stir apples into bulb substance until evenly combined. Off heat, adhd remaining 1 cupful cider.

Nestle pork chops into bulb mixture, browned broadside up. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until thickest portion of each chop registers 130-135 degrees, astir 9 minutes. Transfer chops to carving committee and fto remainder for 5 minutes.

Stir sage into bulb substance and bring to boil implicit medium-high heat. Cook until liquid is somewhat thickened, astir 1 minute.

Off heat, disturbance successful vinegar and remaining 2 tablespoons food into bulb substance until food is melted and afloat incorporated. Season with brackish and capsicum to taste.

Divide bulb substance evenly among serving plates and apical with pork chops. Serve,

Serves 4.

— “When Southern Women Cook: History, Lore, and 300 Recipes” by America’s Test Kitchen ($40)

Cider-Glazed Root Vegetables with Apple and Tarragon

Cider-glazed basal vegetables with apples and tarragon talk to the season. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

Root vegetables are a location cook’s champion person successful autumn due to the fact that they’re truthful wide available. An array of carrots, parsnips and turnips are caramelized successful food and past deglazed successful hard cider. A last summation of chopped pome and caller tarragon adhd notes of licorice.

I was fortunate to person a fewer bottles of homemade hard cider connected manus that my hubby made earlier this year. You besides tin usage an adjacent magnitude of nonalcoholic sparkling oregon regular cider; conscionable trim the sweetener by half.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1 lb carrots, peeled and chopped into chunks

12 ounces parsnips, peeled and chopped into chunks

12 ounces turnips, peeled and chopped into chunks

3 shallots, peeled and halved

2 1/2 cups hard cider

3 tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons array salt

1 Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped into chunks

2 tablespoons chopped caller tarragon

2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Melt 1 tablespoonful food successful 12-inch skillet implicit medium-high heat. Add carrots, parsnips, turnips and shallots and navigator until lightly browned, astir 5 minutes.

Add cider, sugar, brackish and remaining 3 tablespoons food and bring to boil. Reduce vigor to medium-low, screen and navigator until vegetables are conscionable tender, stirring occasionally, 7-10 minutes,

Uncover, summation vigor to mean and navigator until vegetables are afloat tender, stirring occasionally, astir 13 minutes. Stir successful pome and proceed to navigator until cider is syrupy and pome is conscionable tender, astir 2 minutes longer. Off heat, disturbance successful tarragon and vinegar.

Season with brackish and capsicum to taste. Transfer to serving dish, determination immoderate remaining glaze implicit vegetables and serve.

Serves 8.

— “The Complete Autumn & Winter Cookbook” by America’s Test Kitchen (2021)

Glazed Apple Cider Cake

This glazed pome cider barroom is casual to marque and is ace moist. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

This incredibly tender and moist pome cider barroom uses a batch of pome cider — 4 cups that are reduced by fractional connected the stove with warming spices — but the look is reasonably akin simple. We suggest making it connected the play truthful you tin bask it not conscionable arsenic dessert but besides successful the greeting with a leisurely cupful of coffee.

I made it twice: erstwhile successful a circular cookware and again successful a quadrate pan. Both took a small longer to navigator than the look said.

4 cups caller pome cider

2 teaspoons crushed cinnamon

1/4 spoon crushed cloves

1/4 spoon crushed allspice

1/4 spoon crushed ginger

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 spoon kosher salt

1/2 cupful neutral-flavored oil

1 cupful airy brownish sugar

1 tablespoonful cider vinegar

1 cupful powdered sugar

Prepare spiced cider reduction: In a ample saucepan, vigor pome cider with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger implicit medium-high heat, simmering until it reduces to 2 cups, astir 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. Bask successful the otherworldly aroma.

Make the batter: Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottommost of a 9-inch circular oregon 8-inch quadrate barroom cookware with parchment insubstantial and overgarment the sides with nonstick cooking spray.

In a ample bowl, harvester flour, baking soda and kosher salt. Make a good successful the mediate and determination successful oil, brownish sugar, cider vinegar, and 1 3/4 cups of the reduced cider (reserving the remaining 1/4 cupful for the glaze). Whisk to harvester until nary lumps remain. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, oregon until the apical is springy and a toothpick inserted successful the halfway comes retired with conscionable a fewer sticky crumbs. (Both my cakes took a afloat 50 minutes earlier the halfway was done.)

Cool the barroom successful the cookware connected a ligament rack for 10 minutes, past chopped astir it with a weapon to guarantee it is loosened and flip it onto a plate.

Finish the cake: Place powdered sweetener successful a mean vessel and disturbance successful 3 tablespoons of the remaining spiced pome cider reduction, whisking until a heavy glaze forms.

Add immoderate oregon each of the remaining 1 tablespoonful simplification if needed to get your desired consistency. Pour the glaze implicit the halfway of the barroom and usage a spatula to mildly trickle it down the sides.

Go ahead, devour the barroom portion it’s inactive warm.

— smittenkitchen.com

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