Crock Pot Normandy Pork With Apples, Shallots & Cider - cooking recipe

Ingredients

3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed of fat & cubed
4 -6 apples, cored & halved
1 1/2 lbs shallots, peeled
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 ounces butter
1 fluid ounce olive oil
1/2 pint sweet apple cider
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
6 ounces creme fraiche or 6 ounces sour cream
1/4 pint chicken stock, thickened
fresh thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
salt
black pepper
1 -2 tablespoon calvados or 1 -2 tablespoon brandy

Preparation

Trim the pork of any thick fat. Cut into large cubes of about 4\" square or even bigger - it shrinks with cooking & works better with larger pieces of meat.
Peel the shallots and set to one side.
Halve & core the apples and set to one side with the shallots.
Turn the crockpot onto High. Mix the cider, cider apple vinegar, creme fraiche, salt & pepper, thyme & thickened chicken stock together in a large pouring jug & pour into the crockpot.(If using fresh thyme - leave to last.) Add the cored and halved apples and replace the lid whilst you brown the pork & shallots.
Heat up half the butter & half of the olive oil in a large skillet or wok-type pan, one with fairly high sides.
As soon as it is smoking but not burning, brown the shallots in batches - you want a deep caramelised colour & the shallots just softened on the outside. When all the shallots have been done, put them all back into the pan - turn up the heat & add the balsamic vinegar and stir briskly making sure all the shallots are well coated.
Add the shallots & Balsamic vinegar mixture to the crockpot.
Heat up the remaining butter and oil, adding more if necessary & start to brown the pork pieces, again do not overcrowd the pan - they need to be well coloured & seared to seal in the juices. As the pork pieces are browned, add them to the crockpot.
When all the pork is browned & added to the crockpot, give all the ingredients a good mix around in the crockpot with a wooden spoon. If using fresh thyme, pick about 4 large sprigs and place on top of the Normandy Pork - the leaves fall off during cooking & leave the bare branches for throwing away!
Cook on high for between 6 - 10 hours.
Just before serving, pour in Calvados and mix through. Serve each person with 2 -3 pieces of pork, a cooked apple half & 1 or 2 shallots; add a dollop of creme fraiche on the side & garnish with Thyme & a fresh Apple sliver if desired. Decant the excess sauce into a gravy boat for extra saucy bits!
Great with spiced red cabbage, fluffy mashed potatoes or pommes Dauphinoise.
To cook in an conventional oven, follow recipe as above, but cook in a La Creuset type oven proof dish; pre-heat oven to 175 C or 350 F and cook slowly for about 6 hours, checking after 4 hours. It will cook quite happily for up to 8 hours if this helps in your time management, you may have to turn the oven down to about 125 C, 250 F after 4 hours for a long slow 8 hour cooking time.