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• Recipe Overview
• Ingredients
• Processes - Utensils
• Instructions

• Cuisine

  European >> French >> French

• Dietary Style

• Source

  Genius Kitchen(food.com)

| 1. 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. | 2. Peel the shallots and set to one side. | 3. Halve & core the apples and set to one side with the shallots. | 4. 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. | 5. Heat up half the butter & half of the olive oil in a large skillet or wok-type pan, one with fairly high sides. | 6. 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. | 7. Add the shallots & Balsamic vinegar mixture to the crockpot. | 8. 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. | 9. 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! | 10. Cook on high for between 6 - 10 hours. | 11. 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! | 12. Great with spiced red cabbage, fluffy mashed potatoes or pommes Dauphinoise. | 13. 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. | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Estimated Nutritional Profile for Ingredients

Ingredient Name	Quantity	Unit	State	Energy (kcal)	Carbohydrates	Protein (g)	Total Lipid (Fat) (g)
pork shoulder	3	lb	cubed	1727.2039	0.0	306.5447	46.2401
apple	4 -6	halved	cored	-	-	-	-
shallot	1 1/2		peeled	172.8	40.32	6.0	0.24
balsamic vinegar	1	tablespoon		14.08	2.7248	0.0784	0.0
butter	2	ounces		323.19	14.8497	10.0983	27.215999999999998
olive oil	1	fluid		-	-	-	-
apple cider	1/2		sweet	151.3	0.0	33.66	0.85
apple cider vinegar	2	tablespoons		151.3	0.0	33.66	0.85
creme fraiche	6	ounces	sour	151.3	0.0	33.66	0.85
chicken stock	1/4		thickened	21.6	2.1180000000000003	1.5119999999999998	0.72
thyme		teaspoons		-	-	-	-
salt				-	-	-	-
black pepper				-	-	-	-
calvados	1 -2	tablespoon		151.3	0.0	33.66	0.85

- Means that suitable USDA nutrition profile could not be mapped for this ingredient-unit combination.