Core blimey

So many types, so much to cook. Mark Hix celebrates the great British apple

Some say cooking is the new rock'n'roll, and I hoped I was in for a wild time when I found myself judging the Brammys a couple of months ago. No, that's not my spelling or my memory playing up. The Brammys are actually a series of awards for products made with Bramley apples, organised by the Bramley Apple Information Service. There we sat with our tasting forks and tongues at the ready as the pies and chutneys and juices kept on coming all morning. Our mission was to find the ultimate appley products.

Some say cooking is the new rock'n'roll, and I hoped I was in for a wild time when I found myself judging the Brammys a couple of months ago. No, that's not my spelling or my memory playing up. The Brammys are actually a series of awards for products made with Bramley apples, organised by the Bramley Apple Information Service. There we sat with our tasting forks and tongues at the ready as the pies and chutneys and juices kept on coming all morning. Our mission was to find the ultimate appley products.

It might sound strange for one variety of apple to have its own Information Bureau, but the Bramley is uniquely British, and unusually good for cooking with. And I think it's great that we are are taking apples so seriously.

Over the years flashier imported tropical fruits have been trying to nudge the apple out of the limelight. But they haven't altogether succeeded, and at this time of year British apples should be taking pride of place in the fruit section - and not just Bramleys.

I'm glad to say that some of the old and almost forgotten varieties have made a comeback. It's not unusual to see 10 or more varieties now on supermarket shelves along with delicious juices made from varieties like russet and Cox's orange pippin. Small companies like Chegworth Valley in Kent and Luscombe Farm in the West Country are producing some fine apple juices that really taste of the fruit. Try some and you'll find it's nothing like the stuff in cartons that we've been led to believe tastes like apple juice. I've seen it being made in Wiltshire on an old hand-operated press, just as they must have done hundreds of years ago. It was surprising just how much juice came out of those apples, and it was as clear as a bell. You knew nothing had been added to it - and it was delicious.

Next week's Apple Day is an increasingly popular annual event, that includes tours, tastings, identification and lots of activities for kids, all to get us interested in our orchards and home-grown apples. If you really want to swot up on your apple knowledge then the place to go is Brogdale Horticultural Trust's orchards in Faversham, Kent (01795 535286), which has the largest collection of apple varieties in the country, boasting more than 2,500 types. You can taste all the ones that are ripe at the moment and buy mixed selections of apples to show how varied they are.

We may be guilty of neglecting our apples and not knowing the difference between the many types, but the humble apple is still one of the fruits most used in cooking, certainly in Europe. You can do so much with it: purée or mash, caramelise or roast. What's more perfect than apple pie? - in the States it's practically a symbol of virtue and homeliness, and the French versions, tarte tatin and tarte aux pommes, are mouthwatering. Or forget the pastry, and don't even bother peeling: apples can be stuffed and baked and served with some good old-fashioned thick custard. You can give a sauce an appley kick with a slug of cider or Calvados, and enhance soups with an apple cooked and blended in. Now I come to list all the things we do with apples, perhaps we Pommies don't take the fruit of love for granted, after all.

See Urban Gardener, page 69, for more information about growing apples, and about Apple Day events and links

Bramley apple fritters with cinnamon and mascarpone

Serves 4

Apple fritters are pretty straightforward to make and can be used for savoury dishes as well as for desserts. Try frying them and serving them for breakfast or brunch with black pudding or sausages or with a simple grilled pork chop.

250g self-raising flour
400ml cider
3 Bramley apples, peeled and cored
Plain flour for dusting
Oil for deep-frying
Caster sugar for dredging
2tbsp raisins soaked in hot water overnight and drained
4tbsp maple syrup
200g mascarpone

Warm the maple syrup in a pan and stir in the raisins. Pre-heat the vegetable oil to 160-180ºC (320-360ºF) in a thick-bottomed saucepan or deep-fat fryer. Mix the flour and cider with a whisk to a thick smooth batter. Slice the apples into 1cm-thick rings.

Dip the apples into the flour, dusting off any excess, then dip them into the batter and drop them into the fat one by one, cooking two or three pieces at a time for 2-3 minutes until golden, turning them with a slotted spoon after a minute or so. Drain on kitchen paper and dredge with caster sugar.

Arrange the apple fritters on a plate, spoon over the raisins and maple syrup and serve with a spoonful of mascarpone on top.

Roast mallard with cider and apples

Serves 4

2 plump wild ducks (or farmed ducks)
Butter for roasting
1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
2 sticks of celery, roughly chopped
A few sprigs of thyme
1 tbsp flour
200ml medium cider
250ml of dark meat stock (a good quality cube or ready-made stock will do)
4 small apples like Cox's, peeled, cored and cut into 6 even wedges (reserve the trimmings)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
80g unsalted butter
1tbsp soft light brown sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 230ºC/450ºF/gas mark 8. Put the ducks into a roasting tray with the vegetables, thyme and apple peel and core. Brush the ducks with 20g of butter and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 30 minutes, basting them every so often, then remove from the roasting tray and leave on a plate to rest and catch the juices. Add the flour to the roasting tray and stir well on a medium heat, on the stove top, for a minute or so. Pour in the cider, stir well and gradually add the stock, stirring around the bottom of the pan to remove any residue.

Transfer to a saucepan and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the duck in half and then divide the breasts where it joins the leg with a heavy knife. Trim any excess bones along the backbone where there is no meat and put the trimmings into the sauce with any juices that have drained on to the plate.

Continue to simmer the sauce for 6-7 minutes until it has reduced by about two-thirds and thickened. Strain the sauce through a fine-meshed sieve into a clean saucepan.

Melt the rest of the butter in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and add the sugar, cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes, stirring so that it doesn't burn. When it begins to turn a golden colour, carefully put the apples in and cook them on a medium to high heat for 2-3 minutes, turning them with a spoon so they colour evenly. Meanwhile re-heat the ducks in the oven for 5-6 minutes. Serve them with the sauce poured over and the apples spooned on top, with some buttered autumn cabbage or mashed parsnips.

Baked apples

Serves 4

Apple varieties such as large Cox's orange pippins, Braeburn or Jonagold work well for this dish, although, like potatoes, apples can be a bit temperamental and react differently during cooking. It all depends where you got them, how they were stored as well as how ripe or unripe they are. You may have four apples in the oven from the same batch and one may take much more, or less, time than the rest. The filling can be varied according to your taste, with more or less spice, or even the addition of nuts such as ground almonds or walnuts.

4 large apples (see above), cored
8tbsp sweet mincemeat
65g fresh white breadcrumbs
1tsp ground cinnamon
2tbsp brown sugar
Custard or thick Jersey cream, to serve

Pre-heat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas mark 5. Mix the mincemeat, breadcrumbs, cinnamon and sugar together. Cut 4 pieces of foil large enough to wrap the apples. Put each apple in the centre of its square of foil and fill the core cavities with the mincemeat mixture. Fold the foil up loosely and put them on to a baking tray.

Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Check the apples after 40 minutes, as the odd one may need removing before the rest if it cooks quicker. Serve with custard or thick Jersey cream.

Curried parsnip and apple soup

Serves 4-6

Parsnips make a hearty, sweet soup when the weather begins to get a bit chilly. Teamed up with apples like Russets or Cox's and mild background spices, they're surprisingly good. This is a mildly curried version. If you want it hotter, add more curry powder.

500g parsnips, peeled and roughly diced
2-3 large Russet apples, weighing 400-500g, peeled, cored and roughly diced
60g butter
1tsp ground cumin
¹2 tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp fenugreek seeds
¹2 tsp chopped root ginger
1tsp curry powder
60ml cider
1.2 litre vegetable stock
90ml double cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2tsp toasted cumin seeds to garnish

Gently cook the parsnip and apple in the butter together with the spices, in a covered pan for about 5 minutes, giving them the occasional stir and not allowing them to colour. Remove the lid, add the cider and vegetable stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and simmer gently for about 15 minutes until the parsnip is soft. Blend in a liquidiser until smooth and strain through a fine-meshed sieve. Bring back to the boil, add the double cream and adjust with a little water or stock if it's too thick. Serve in hot soup bowls and sprinkle with a pinch of cumin seeds.