Apple Sauce

As an accompaniment to roast pork and crackling this cannot be beaten. And it’s so easy.

What you will need:

• Two large cooking apples, preferably Bramleys.
• A splash of water, just enough to wet the pan.
• A saucepan
• A teaspoon of sugar

Core the apple and peel. Chop roughly. Addwater and sugar, stew over low heat until apple has pulped. Serve warm. Enjoy tartness as counterpoint to succulent roast pork. Decant remainder into sterilised jar and seal for future delectation.

Alternatively, here’s the ‘one apple’ no sugar version, which Ma Sticker taught to me so many years ago. Take one large Bramley. Core. Do not peel. Put raw apple with joint in oven and cook in same roasting pan. When joint is ready, remove whole apple with spatula and dump piping hot apple pulp into small dish for serving. This adds a certain something to the apple sauce as it absorbs some of the juice from the pork joint. The pork joint cooked alongside also benefits and tends not to dry out, as pork joints sometimes do. More succulent pork, great sauce, what’s not to like?

Also cheaper and easier than store bought. Can be done any time and has more complex flavours than the stuff you can buy.