Pork with Apples and Mustard

Contrary to rumour I didn't spend the entire 1980s listening to the Psychedelic Furs and Immaculate Fools, wearing strange clothes and generally making a nuisance of myself - although that might account for most of it. In my spare time I also kept some notebooks full of recipes and various cooking adventures. I recently came across these carefully compiled archives at the back of a cupboard. Skimming through them, I quickly realised that they weren't as carefully compiled as I’d thought. Some of the recipes are precise but in other cases it can be difficult deciding what on earth I was on about.
Note Books of the 1980s
One of the notes that caught my eye relates to a Michael Smith recipe for pork. Oddly enough, I've already posted a tomato and plum soup based on one of his recipes but I couldn't resist this one as well. I've adapted the recipe a fair bit – the original dish was essentially a stir-fry - but it’s still based on the taste combinations of the original. Michael Smith was a great champion of English food and, although at first sight this dish may seem to have a distinctly eastern influence, these flavours have been around in English cooking for a very long time.

It’s a simple, midweek supper kind of dish that can be served with noodles, rice or mustardy mashed potatoes. It doesn't look too great in the picture but I promise that it tastes much better than it looks. It will serve 4 people.
Pork with Apples and Mustard
500 ml dry cider
80 g (or thereabouts) mushrooms, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
A good inch or so of fresh ginger, finely grated
2½ tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 pork shoulder steaks (you could substitute other cuts according to preference and availability)
2 cox apples (or other tasty, not oversweet eating apples)
1½ tsp English mustard powder
6 (or so) spring onions, cut into pieces around an inch long

Put the cider in a pan on a high heat and reduce by half. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

In an ovenproof dish with a lid, fry the garlic and mushrooms gently in a little oil for a minute or two. Stir in the ginger, soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Add the apple slices and the pork steaks (there’s no need to brown them). Sprinkle over the mustard powder, season with a generous amount of pepper and pour in the reduced cider. Give the pan a quick stir to make sure the flavours mingle and scatter over the spring onion. Put the lid on the pan and place in the oven for about an hour and a quarter or until the pork is tender. The sauce should reduce during the cooking but add a little water if it seems to be drying out too much. (The cooking time will obviously vary if you use a different cut of pork or if the steaks are particularly thin or thick.)

Once the pork is tender, remove from the oven, skim off any excess fat and, once again, add a little water if the sauce seems too dry. Use a hand blender to whiz up some of the apple slices and create a thick, coating sauce. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

If you happen to have a copy of the 'Mirror Moves' CD then it might accompany the dish particularly well.

Comments

  1. that dish just looks so unctuous and darkly divine... I want it and must make this NOW!... love the apple and mustard combo too... well done you for keeping your head above the new romantic cloud and keeping the recipe!

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  2. The combination of pork and apples and mustard could never ever be wrong could it? One word: Yum!

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  3. I love pork with apples and this sounds quite special. Have bookmarked this for some pork I have in the freezer. Thanks. Keep well Diane

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  4. I think it looks delicious - rich and warming. I'm surprised to see the spring onion in there - I thought that was a recent phenomenon in cooking (other than stir fries).

    I spent the 80's listening to Dylan and Neil Young - I was born about 15 years too late!!!

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    1. Well, I did listen to Neil Young and Dylan as well in the 80s - I've never stopped. I'm so old that I remember being upset when Buffalo Springfield broke up and Dylan fell off his bike. Mind you, it was the 80s when Mr Young released some very strange things like 'Trans'. Probably not his finest moment.

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  5. Looks so delicious and warming; just the kind of comforting dish I would like now : ) stay warm,
    Ozlem

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  6. Love the combination of flavours, and great warming food for this weather. Great that you jotted down your recipes and thoughts.

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  7. I agree with everyone, this dish looks so warming, delicious and comforting would live to have it with some mash please :)

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  8. My wife wanted something different, so rather than getting in another bloke I'm trying this recipe. I'll let you know what happens. Try King Crimson.

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    1. Try King Crimson? Try shaking off KC and it's multitude of musicians. From 'Digging My Lawn' in 1968(?) onwards. And I've just been listening to the new recording of, guess what, 'Digging My Lawn'. Is there no escape from the Fripps and Giles? Maybe they should be made Alternative National Treasures.

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