Check out the previous article out of the college cooking series before reading on.
Hard cider is a fabulous addition to many foods and can make some items palatable when nothing else will. The combination of sweet fruitiness and that bite of alcoholic content tenderizes meat and takes the edge off of bitter greens and other vegetables. Let’s look at some ideas for using hard cider in cooking.
Perry is the proper term for fermented pear cider, and some places, Maryland, for example, will offer cherry cider at certain times of the year. Try them all! If alcohol is forbidden to you, boiling it briefly will disperse the offending volatile.
Hard cider is less widely available in the USA than in the UK right now, but this was not always the case. Up until the temperance movement, more apples were used for hard cider than for eating or pies. If you don’t have hard cider from your nearest specialty beer distributor, unpasteurized, unfiltered cider will happily ferment in your fridge. Leave the cap loose – carbon dioxide expands!
Add it when sautéing any greens such as kale, collards, mustard, cabbage, or Swiss chard, along with a bit of onion, garlic, and olive oil, to make a delectable dish of these highly nutritious veggies. Some folks (even notoriously picky kids) will eat these often unpopular deep-green-leafies this way when they turn their noses up otherwise. Since greens are a relatively cheap way to obtain super-duper nutrition, this is a great trick.
Don’t overlook this great healthy and money-saving tip for campus cooking!! You can substitute finely chopped apple, but the hard cider is so sophisticated.
Hard cider also is a great cooking liquid for pork or beef, in a slow cooker or on top of the stove or in the oven. Add herbs such as parsley, thyme, and rosemary to the mix. A salted ham also will benefit from cooking with hard cider and a few raisins.
If you have boneless skinless chicken pieces, sauté in olive oil until nicely colored, remove, brown some onions then deglaze everything with some hard cider. Voila, instant dinner, with the addition of some brown rice and a salad.
Substitute hard cider for the called-for water in a boxed yellow cake mix. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, and allspice to get the wonderful taste of cider donuts. It also can add a depth to boxed carrot cake mix. If you are making banana bread, add as the liquid for a more complex flavor.
Hard cider is also a wonderful liquid in which to poach dried fruits. This is a wonderful, old-fashioned way to use the concentrated nutrition of dried apricots, prunes, and raisins. You can store dried fruit for months in a refrigerated tightly closed container (there is, unfortunately, a moth that preys on dried fruit – cold prevents their development).
If you are lucky enough to have access to applejack or distilled pear brandy, consider adding a spoonful or so to a fresh fruit salad. The aromatics will turn your tinned peaches or out-of-season fruit into something very special. These products are sometimes available directly from some orchards, and tend to be regional brands.
Apple or pear brandy is also a great addition to sweet potatoes. This is not the cafeteria’s sweet potatoes with marshmallows!!! Either boil them and then peel, or peel and boil until softish, cut into dainty slices, and lay in a roasting pan with a small amount of brown sugar, butter, ginger, and brandy. Bake at 350 until the sugar begins to caramelize. It’s very sophisticated and very nutritious.
Be sure to check back next week, when we’ll offer you the last article out of the series.
