Cooking with British Apples: Crumble, Sauce and Chutney

The Case for a Cooking Apple

Walk into any farm shop in October and you will find two sorts of apples: the ones you eat out of hand and the ones that ask to be cooked. In Britain the distinction is old and useful. Eating apples such as Cox, Discovery and Egremont Russet are crisp, sweet and built for the lunchbox. Cooking apples — the Bramley above all — are sharper, firmer and, in the pan, far more generous.

That sharpness is the point. A Bramley may hold around ten times the malic acid of a dessert apple, which sounds alarming until you taste it in a crumble. Acidity cuts through butter, cream and suet, so a pudding tastes bright rather than cloying. Cooking apples also carry more pectin, the natural setting agent that gives a sauce body and helps a chutney thicken without added gelatine. And they collapse. Where a Cox turns to mush and then to nothing, a Bramley softens into a tender, slightly fluffy purée that holds shape long enough to be spooned.

For country cooks, that is everything. A floury, acidic apple is a blank canvas: add sugar, spice, cider or vinegar and it becomes pudding, sauce or preserve.

Choosing, Picking and Storing

Bramley is the workhorse, but the British orchard offers excellent alternatives. Look for Howgate Wonder, Newton Wonder, Annie Elizabeth, Grenadier, Keswick Codlin, Warner's King and the sturdy Norfolk Beefing. Each behaves slightly differently: Newton Wonder keeps its shape a little better, Annie Elizabeth has a fine, winey flavour, Grenadier is the earliest to ripen and makes superb sauce. If you grow your own, pick when the fruit comes away with a gentle twist and the pips have turned dark brown.

Storage rewards a little care:

• Choose only unblemished fruit. One bruised apple taints the whole box.
• Wrap each apple in newspaper and lay them in single layers in slatted wooden or cardboard trays.
• Keep them in a cool, dark, frost-free shed, garage or pantry — ideally between 2°C and 6°C.
• Store apples away from potatoes, onions and other produce; the ethylene gas given off speeds ripening in everything nearby.
• Inspect every fortnight and remove any that have gone soft or mouldy.

Most cooking varieties will hold from October into January. Anything past its best goes straight into the pan.

The Perfect Crumble

Peel, core and slice about 900g of apples — thick slices, roughly a pound and a half once prepared. Toss them in a pan with 50–75g of sugar, a tablespoon of cornflour, the zest of a lemon and a good pinch of mixed spice or cinnamon. Add two tablespoons of water and bring gently to a simmer for five minutes, just until the fruit begins to soften at the edges. Tip into a shallow dish. Pre-cooking is the single trick that stops a crumble going soupy underneath.

For the topping, work 175g plain flour, 85g cold butter cut into cubes and 85g demerara sugar together with your fingertips until you have coarse, pea-sized rubble. Do not overwork it; loose and claggy are different things. Scatter over the fruit, press very lightly, and bake at 200°C (180°C fan, gas mark 6) for 35–40 minutes until the top is deep gold and the juices bubble around the edges.

A handful of porridge oats or flaked almonds in the crumble mix adds welcome crunch. Serve with cold cream, hot custard or a scoop of vanilla ice cream, depending entirely on the weather.

Apple Sauce Worth Making

Jarred sauce is a pale imitation of the real thing. Peel, core and roughly chop 450g of Bramley apples. Put them in a heavy pan with two or three tablespoons of water, a squeeze of lemon juice and 2–3 tablespoons of sugar, then cover and cook over a low heat for 10–12 minutes until the fruit falls apart. Beat with a wooden spoon or push through a sieve if you prefer it smooth. A star anise or a strip of lemon peel added with the sugar, then fished out, lifts it beautifully alongside pork.

Sweeten cautiously and taste as you go; the sauce should still have a tart edge. It keeps for five days in the fridge and freezes perfectly in small tubs, so make double whenever the pan is out.

Spiced Apple Chutney

Chutney is what to make when the glut arrives. You will need 1.5kg of peeled, cored and chopped cooking apples, 500g of chopped onions, 250g of sultanas, 500g of soft brown sugar, 500ml of malt vinegar, a tablespoon of mustard seeds, a tablespoon of ground ginger, a teaspoon of allspice, two teaspoons of salt and a chilli or two if you like heat.

Put everything in a large, heavy preserving pan. Bring slowly to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then cook uncovered for 1½–2 hours, stirring often as it thickens to stop it catching. It is ready when a spoon drawn through leaves a clean channel that fills slowly. Pot into hot, sterilised jars, seal, and label. Leave it in a dark cupboard for six to eight weeks before opening — the flavour matures from sharp and raw to mellow and deeply spiced. Expect four to five jars.

Other Things to Do with a Glut

Once the crumble dish and chutney jars are done, keep going. Stewed apple with blackberries is a September staple. Sliced apple fried in butter with a little brown sugar makes a fine accompaniment to pork chops or a plate of sausages. Baked whole and stuffed with mincemeat, they fill the house with the smell of Christmas. And a simple apple and cider jelly, made with the windfalls and a muslin bag, uses up every last one.

The British apple season is short and generous. Cook with the sharp ones, and they will repay you all winter.