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In Normandy, anything cooked à la normande means the region’s three great treasures: apples, cream and Calvados. The Pays d’Auge, the green, half-timbered country behind the coast, is orchard land, where cows graze beneath apple trees and the fruit becomes cider, pommeau and the apple brandy that ages for years in oak.

Pork with apples and Calvados is the everyday expression of that landscape. It is a farmhouse dish, quick and generous, and it captures the whole region on one plate.

Follow the cider route

The signposted Route du Cidre loops through the villages of the Pays d’Auge, where producers open their cellars for tastings of cider, pommeau and Calvados. It is an easy escape from Paris; our guide to Paris covers the city end of the trip.

Keep it simple

Use thick, bone-in chops so they stay juicy. Choose apples that hold their shape, such as Honeycrisp or Braeburn. Crème fraîche will not split when it boils, so it gives a silkier sauce than cream.

Ingredients

Serves 4.

• 4 bone-in pork chops, about 1 inch thick
• Salt and black pepper
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 firm apples, cored and cut into eighths
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Calvados
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry cider
• 3/4 cup (180 ml) crème fraîche
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• A few thyme leaves

Method

1. Season and sear. Pat the chops dry and season well. Brown them in a tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat, about 4 minutes a side, until just cooked through. Rest them on a plate.
2. Cook the apples. Add another tablespoon of butter and fry the apple wedges until golden on both sides. Set them aside with the pork.
3. Flambé. Lower the heat, add the remaining butter and the shallot and soften for a minute. Off the heat, add the Calvados and carefully light it, or simply let it bubble away.
4. Make the sauce. Add the cider and reduce by half. Stir in the crème fraîche, mustard and thyme, and simmer until it coats a spoon.
5. Finish. Return the pork, its juices and the apples to the pan to warm through. Season and serve.

How to serve it

With buttery mashed potatoes or green beans. In Normandy, a pause between courses might bring a small glass of Calvados, the famous trou normand.

What to pour

A dry Normandy cider at the table, or a white Burgundy. Before dinner, our Calvados Cider Sour sets the scene.

Make a menu of it

Begin with our French onion soup and end with a tarte tatin, its apples a fitting finish. More seasonal recipes are waiting At the Table.

Photo: Unknown photographer, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0