Roast Pork Gravy with Cider
Pork tin juices deglazed with dry cider and mustard, cooked down until the sweetness of the apple sits behind the meat rather than on top of it.
- Contains meat
- pork
- cider
- pan gravy
- roast dinner
- Prep
- 5 min
- Cook
- 20 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Serves
- 6
- Difficulty
- Easy
Pork and apple is not a new idea but most people put the apple on the side and leave the gravy plain. Cider in the tin does the same job with more depth, and the acidity cuts through the fat that comes off a shoulder or a loin. Use something dry, not the sweet fizzy stuff.
Ingredients
Makes about 550ml, enough for six plates
Scaled amounts are rounded to something you can actually measure. Season at the end and trust your mouth over the maths.
Kit
- Roasting tin
- Whisk
- Sieve
- Jug
Method
Take the pork out and rest it on a board, crackling side up and uncovered so it stays crisp. Foil over crackling turns it to leather within ten minutes.
Pork throws off a lot of fat, so pour most of it away and keep about three tablespoons in the tin along with the dark residue. Do not rinse anything, the sticky brown film is the whole point.
Set the tin over a medium heat, add the chopped onion and fry it in the pork fat for four or five minutes until softened and just starting to colour at the edges.
Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes, working it into the onion and fat until there are no dry patches and it smells toasted.
Pour in the cider and whisk hard. It will bubble up and thicken fast. Let it boil for three to four minutes so the alcohol cooks off and the sharp appley smell mellows, scraping the base clean as it goes.
Add the hot stock in two or three additions, whisking each one smooth. Bring to a simmer and let it tick over for ten minutes to bring the cider and the meat together.
Stir in the mustard and the sage and simmer for another two minutes. Do not add the sage earlier, it goes musty if you cook it too long.
Strain into a warm jug if you want it smooth, or leave the onion in for a rougher farmhouse gravy. Season carefully, as pork rubs are usually salty, and add a pinch of sugar only if the cider has left it too sharp.
Tips worth knowing
- Taste the cider before it goes in. If you would not drink it, the gravy will taste of it all afternoon.
- A rolled shoulder gives far more fond than a loin. With a lean loin, roast a couple of chopped apples in the tin alongside for something to caramelise.
- Cider gravy tastes sharper hot than it does warm. Season it slightly under and check it again in the jug.
- If it splits or looks oily after the cider goes in, whisk in a tablespoon of cold stock and it will pull back together.
Change it up
- Leave out the cider and use 250ml cloudy apple juice with a teaspoon of cider vinegar for a non-alcoholic version with the same balance.
- Grate half a Bramley apple into the gravy with the stock so it collapses and thickens it naturally, then strain hard.
- Add two rashers of chopped smoked bacon with the onion for a smokier gravy that suits belly pork.
Keeping and reheating
Fridge for three days, freezer for three months. Reheat gently and refresh with a small splash of cider or a squeeze of lemon, as the apple flavour fades on standing.
Questions people ask
What cider is best for pork gravy?
A dry still cider around five or six per cent, the sort sold in bottles rather than cans. Sweet commercial cider makes a cloying gravy, and very tannic scrumpy can turn bitter once you reduce it.
Can I use the crackling fat for the gravy?
Yes, but only two or three tablespoons of it. Pork fat is heavier than chicken fat and a gravy made with too much of it sets to a solid lid in the fridge and tastes greasy on the plate.
My cider gravy tastes bitter, what went wrong?
Either the cider was not boiled long enough before the stock went in, or the flour caught on the tin. Boil the cider hard for a good three minutes, and if the base has black flecks rather than brown ones, strain and add a pinch of sugar.