Pork & Cider Casserole

Ingredients

• 800 g pork shoulder, cut into 4cm chunks
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• salt and black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 leeks, trimmed and sliced into rounds
• 2 bay leaves
• 400 ml dry cider
• 2 eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
• mashed potato or crusty bread, to serve

Method

1. Pat the pork chunks dry with kitchen paper — water means steam, and steam means no browning. Season generously with salt and pepper, then dust lightly with the flour.
2. Heat the oil in a large heavy casserole over high heat until it shimmers. Brown the pork in two batches, 3–4 minutes per batch, until each piece is deeply mahogany on at least two sides. Don't crowd the pan — all in at once and the meat steams in its own juices instead of building that crust. Lift the pork out and set aside on a plate.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Add the onion to the same pot and cook for 5–6 minutes until soft and translucent, scraping up any browned bits stuck to the base — that's flavour, don't waste it. Add the garlic and dried thyme and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Watch it: burnt garlic turns the whole casserole bitter.
4. Pour in the cider and let it bubble hard for 3 minutes to drive off the raw alcohol — you want the apple-sweet edge, not the boozy one. Add the chicken stock and stir, lifting any last caramelised bits from the base.
5. Return the pork and any juices pooled on the plate. Tuck in the bay leaves, carrots, parsnip and leeks. Bring to a gentle simmer — just the occasional lazy bubble, not a rolling boil — then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 40 minutes, stirring once or twice.
6. Add the apple wedges and cannellini beans, then stir in the wholegrain mustard. Cook uncovered for a further 20 minutes until the pork pulls apart under a spoon, the apples have collapsed into the sauce, and the liquid has reduced to a glossy gravy that coats the back of a spoon.
7. Fish out the bay leaves. Taste, season, taste again — cider casseroles almost always want one more pinch of salt at the end to pull the sweet and savoury into focus. Adjust now, not at the table.
8. Spoon the casserole over mashed potato or alongside crusty bread, ladle the cider sauce so it pools in the dips, and scatter generously with chopped parsley.