Cooking With Craft Ciders: What Recipes use Craft Ciders as a Key Ingredient?

Craft cider can add rich, tangy, and fruity notes to a variety of dishes, from savoury mains to baked goods and sauces. Using a craft cider rather than a mass-market one can lend more complex, authentic apple flavours to your cooking. 

Main Courses

Pork braised in cider - Cider's apple notes pair naturally with pork. Many recipes follow a similar method: 

1. Brown pork chops, steaks, or a shoulder roast in a heavy pot.

2. Sauté aromatics like onions and garlic in the same pot.

3. Pour in a medium or dry craft cider to deglaze the pan and add flavour.

4. Add other ingredients like chicken stock, mustard, herbs (sage is a great choice), and apples.

5. Simmer the pork gently until it is tender and the sauce has reduced.

Mussels steamed in cider - A delicious alternative to the classic white wine and garlic preparation, cider-steamed mussels create a sauce that is both savoury and slightly sweet. 

1. Sauté bacon or shallots with garlic and thyme in a large pot.

2. Pour in your dry or medium cider and bring it to a boil.

3. Add cleaned mussels, cover the pot, and steam until they open.

4. Finish with a splash of cream or crème fraîche, a squeeze of lemon, and fresh parsley.

Chicken and cider casserole - Cider adds a rustic, warming flavour to chicken casseroles. 

1. Brown chicken thighs or quarters in an ovenproof casserole dish.

2. Cook bacon, leeks, onions, and garlic in the same pan.

3. Stir in flour, then pour in dry cider and chicken stock.

4. Add ingredients like potatoes and mustard, and simmer until the chicken is tender. 

Sauces and Gravy

Cider gravy: Use a good quality cider to deglaze the roasting pan after cooking a whole chicken or pork joint. Add flour to create a roux, then stir in stock and reduce until it thickens into a flavourful gravy. 

Cider and cream sauce: A quick, creamy sauce for pork can be made by deglazing the pan with a lug of cider, reducing the liquid, and stirring in a knob of butter and a dash of cream.

Baked Goods and Desserts

Cider apple pie: For a unique apple pie, substitute some or all of the water in your apple filling with hard cider. Reduce the hard cider and add it to the filling mixture for a richer apple flavour. 

Cider and buttermilk pancakes: Toasted, spiced notes can be added to pancakes by using craft cider in the batter.

Cider cake: Craft cider can be used to soak dried fruit for a rich and moist fruit cake. 

Cider sorbet: For a lighter, refreshing dessert, reduce craft cider with spices like cinnamon. After it cools, blend it with pureed apples and freeze for a simple and flavourful sorbet.