Pork Chops With Apples and Cider

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.

I've made this 3 times, with some variations, and it's great. Used a more modest amount of salt and relatively large amounts of allspice and black pepper, no cloves.
I used fresh cider and a splash of cider vinegar for the sauce once, but it is even better with hard cider. I didn't use any stock at all, just boiled down the cider to syrup, added mustard, thickened with cornstarch and water, then thinned down with heavy cream.
Glad to have this recipe in my rotation!

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/

Loved this and "cheated" quite a bit. I used dried spices, the amounts determined by smell (and adjusted each time I have made this) and made a dry rub for the pork. I cooked the apples in butter and Apple Jack, and made a quick cold sauce of yogurt and dijon mustard and the spices to serve on the side. I used a leftover chop the next day cubed and tossed into a vegetable stir-fry. Outstanding! My family has learned to love pork--thanks David.

We JUST had this for dinner, the only pork chops I have ever made, in 50 years of cooking, that turned out to be both tender and flavorful. 1 inch chops, browned gently in butter, still raw in center, then rested in a 200 degree oven for quite a while, since the rest of the meal took at least 45 minutes. I was worried the meat might not be cooked; it was perfect. Yes, the salt should be reduced, maybe by 1/3. That sauce is just delicious! The whole thing will go faster next time. Thank you, NYT!

I made this tonight using a pork tenderloin. I used dried spices for a dry rub and used applesauce as a thickening agent. Just delicious.

I cooked this and it was great. Only because I didn't have these ingredients I substituted yogurt for the creme fraiche, apple juice for the apple cider and corn starch for the potato starch. Came out great.

Four apples are even better, and if you're out of Calvados, it's still the most amazing recipe; the entire family gets excited when I'm making this.

Wish I'd paid more attention to the comments before cooking. First of all, I included the salt in the spice grinder, which turned it to powder. Second it was WAY too much, and I'm a salt-a-holic. The flavors were really good, but the salt made it nearly inedible. :-(

Where do you get your porkchops? If they are standard grocery store issue, the source is your problem. Find a source of pork where the breed of hog is selected for flavor and the hogs are pasture raised. Look for lots of marbeling in the chops. I like to pan fry mine on hi heat for a short period of time, and then finish them in a medium oven for about 7 minutes.

HTH

Way too much salt. Double herbs, keep salt separate. Salt meat using a shaker to taste, then rub on herb mix. Also thought it a bit heavy on the mustard.

The brining of the pork chops made them tender and juicy and *salty.* Next time I would scrap off the salt before flouring (not in the recipe), maybe even rinse and pat dry. The sauce is pretty good--not the subtle blend of "normande" flavors I was hoping for, however.

I have made this numerous times. Instead of pork chops I make medallions out of a tenderloin. I pretty much follow the directions but finish cooking the pork by simmering in the sauce. They are so tender, no knives are necessary.

4 min per side seemed too long even with thicker chops. Apples were great. Used only 1/2 tbsp salt in rub - maybe use 2 tsp next time and just preground spices plus the sage - add more of all of them Hard cider would have been better than just regular cider Boil down the stock more Use only 1 tsp mustard not 2