Apple Sauce

This is the sort of thing usually served with roast pork, pork chops, or goose. I’ll give a couple of variations, plus a family recipe that I have never seen elsewhere. It also makes a great filling for crepes/pancakes - put several in a buttered dish, glaze with sugar/caramel, bake for 10 minutes and serve.

Traditional Apple Sauce

Take one Bramley (cooking) apple, core, peel and slice it. Put in a small saucepan with a couple of tablespoons of water, and a tablespoon of sugar (at your discretion). Heat this over a medium to low heat until the apple has disintegrated into a mush. Allow to cool and serve.

‘Modern’ Apple Sauce

Core, peel and slice one or two desert Apples; Cox’s and Russets have a good flavour for this, but any variety will do. In a small saucepan, melt a scant ounce of unsalted butter over a low to medium heat, then add the sliced apple. Cook without allowing the apple to colour for ten minutes or so, then mash the apple; it will have held its shape. Cool and serve.

Apple and Mustard Sauce

To one of the apple sauces above, add a generous teaspoon of English mustard.

For an apple charlotte, make the sauce using half Bramley and half Cox’s Orange Pippin, with one ounce of butter and one or two tablespoons of sugar; when a smooth puree, allow to cool and mix in one egg yolk per pound of apples.