by Chef Ben Lierman
If you close your eyes you might miss it...The glorious transition into fall has come.
Everyone has their favorite time of year, and many get more excited about the promise of warmer weather. I, on the other hand, relish the cool breezes and chilly nights of fall above all others. From a chef's perspective, autumn foods hold an enormous potential for rich comforting flavors.
One of the highlights of the fall festivities is the trip to Adrian Orchards. We have a fairly elaborate plan for our Jack-O'-Lanterns this year, and needed 6 pumpkins of very specific size. The folks at Adrian Orchards always have the best selection of perfectly sized pumpkins at a very reasonable price. After the ever-entertaining process of choosing the pumpkins (my 5 year old son would like to buy all of them), we loaded them into the car and decided to take a trip inside the store to get some fresh apple cider. Year after year, I am continually amazed at the quality of this little store. Besides the obvious, the finest, freshest apples and apple cider available in this area, the store is loaded with extremely high quality local goodies. This is where dad might have started overloading the cart a bit. Amish heirloom popcorn, homemade mustards, a jar of local chow-chow, two gallons of fresh pressed cider, and three kinds of local honey magically fell into my basket. As the boys were munching their complementary apples (sweet for Collin, tart for Cary), I paid for our bounty, and began to get really excited about the evening's meal plan unfolding before me.
Cider Braised Pork Shoulder with Chow Chow Mustard
2 Tb Vegetable oil
1 ea. Pork shoulder, Boston butt, bone in 4-6 lb (seasoned with salt and pepper)
2 ea. Large Spanish onions, julienned
3 cups Fresh apple cider
1 Qt chopped cabbage (about 1 small head)
½ cup Chow chow relish
2 Tb Spicy brown mustard
In a large cast-iron dutch oven (I used a pressure cooker), heat the vegetable oil to just smoking, and sear the pork roast on all sides. Remove the roast and sauté the onions until wilted. Add the cider and pork back to the pot, cover and cook gently for 3-4 hours (45 minutes in the pressure cooker. Add the cabbage and cook another hour (15 more minutes in the pressure cooker). When tender, remove the roast from the pot, strain the liquid (it should already be pretty thick, gravy consistency). Mix the mustard with the chow chow, and serve with the pork. Add mashed or roasted potatoes to complete the meal.
After savoring this simple, delicious meal it was apparent...The flavors of fall are here.
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