$16.
99
of the crop to An Apple Harvest, which is both eloquent and authoritative.”
FRANK BRowNINg reports from Paris on
cultural issues for National Public Radio and
writes for numerous magazines on science, his-
tory, and society. He is the author of five books,
including Apples: Story of the Fruit of Temptation,
which won the 1999 IACP Julia Child Award
for best food writing. His articles have appeared
in the Washington Post, the International Herald
Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones,
Gourmet, and Playboy, among others.
SHARoN SIlvA, coauthor of The San Fran-
cisco Cliff House, is an editor and writer specializ-
ing in cookbooks and culinary history. She lives
in San Francisco, where her backyard harbors
a Meyer lemon tree and a Mission fig, but sadly
no apple tree.
Jacket design by Nancy Austin
Jacket photography by leigh Beisch
“The writing is crisp, tart, and juicy, and the recipes are as snake-tempting
as they are unexpected. Furthermore, the writing is pure joy, and the authors
are distinct in their voices, yet equally and eloquently in love with the subject.”
—Jeff Weinstein, former food columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer
TEN SPEED PRESS
Berkeley
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com
Printed in Singapore
Brow_9781580084468_cvr_all_r1.indd 1
Browning & Silva
(Canada: $18.99)
“[Browning and Silva] brought their childhood memories and love
The world’s most storied fruit is also among its
—Florence Fabricant for the New York Times most versatile cooking ingredients. In these pages,
writer and NPR contributor Frank Browning
“Just in time for fall comes this colorful [book] with childhood apple delves into the apple’s long history and his own
memories, portraits of apples, and—best of all—innovative recipes, upbringing on a Kentucky apple orchard, and
food writer Sharon Silva recalls her childhood on
many of them with appetizing color photos.”
a Sonoma family farm. Together, they pay homage
—The Oregonian to the ancient fruit of temptation in this charming
an apple harvest
illustrated companion to apple and cider cookery.
An Apple Harvest is an inviting compendium of
an apple harvest
more than sixty apple-centric recipes from Alsace
to Appalachia, Moscow to Morocco, Bayeux to
recipes & orchard lore
Berkeley. The feast opens with first courses such
as Duck Breast and Fuji Apples on Watercress
and Parsnip and Cider Soup and continues
with main dishes like Baltic Roast Goose with
Sour Apples and Atlantic Salmon Fillets in
Cider-Mustard Sauce. Among the side dishes are
classics like Real Applesauce and the curiously
named Burning Love. And, of course, an apple
book requires a respectable showing of desserts.
Bourbon Apple Pie, Classic Tarte Tatin, and
Apple Sorbet with Ginger are just three of the
tempting offerings.
Browning and Silva pepper the collection with
spirited musings on whether to peel apples for pies
and how to choose apples and store them properly.
In a photographic field guide, they share more
than two dozen of their favorite apple varieties and
detail eating and cooking characteristics, storage
qualities, peak season, and growing regions.
Engaging storytelling and evocative photog-
and author of Learning to Eat raphy make An Apple Harvest a celebration of the
iconic fruit. Stock your pantry with cider and
U.S. $16.99 / $18.99 CAN
Frank Browning & apples and discover for yourself the wildly varied
savory and sweet dishes that Braeburns, Cort-
Cooking
I S B N 978-1-58008-446-8 Sharon Silva lands, Macouns, and their brethren can bring to
51699
the table.
9 781580 084468
4/9/10 1:52 PM
 To purchase a copy of
An Apple Harvest
visit one of these online retailers:

file:///T|/Lyman_Emily/Retailer%20Pages/an%20apple%20harvest%20buyonline.html[10/26/2010 1:52:11 PM]

 Copyright © 1999 by Frank Browning and
Sharon Silva
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
www.crownpublishing.com
www.tenspeed.com
Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press
colophon are registered trademarks of
Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in the United States
in a slightly different form by Ten Speed Press, an
imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of
Random House, Inc, in 1999.
Cover and text design by Nancy Austin
Food photography by Leigh Beisch
Food styling for interior and back cover photography
by Wesley Martin
Food styling for front cover photography
by Dan Becker
Prop styling by Carol Hacker
All apple identification photography (except as noted
below) by Scott Vlaun
Additional photography credits:
Photo of Pink Lady apple (page 35): courtesy of
Brandt’s Fruit Trees, Washington; photo of Jonathan
apple (pages 32 & 91): courtesy of Stark Brothers.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Browning, Frank, 1946-
An apple harvest : recipes and orchard lore / Frank
Browning and Sharon Silva.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-58008-446-8
1. Cookery (Apples) 2. Apples. I. Silva, Sharon.
II. Title.
TX813.A6B76 2010
641.6'411—dc22
2010007911

First Paperback Edition

Printed in Singapore

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 4 3/24/10 1:46 PM

 Con t e n t s

AC k now l e d g m e n t s • vii

I n t roduC t Ion • 1

A Brief History of the Fruit of Temptation • Choosing Your Apples:

Type, Purpose, Location, and a Word on Antiques • Keeping Your Apples •
To Peel or Not to Peel • Cider Cookery • Cider Vinegar •
Calvados and Applejack

a culinary pomarium • 23

the recipes • 39
FIRST COURSES • 40

MAIN DISHES • 58

SIDE DISHES • 98

DESSERTS & BEVERAGES • 110

I n de x • 14 8

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 5 3/24/10 1:46 PM

 Winter Salad with Apples and White Cheddar

soon after my brother married a new englander, a prize delicacy started arriving in our
Kentucky kitchen: sharp Cabot Cheddar cheese. That’s when I learned about the Mason-Dixon rule of
cheese. Yankees make it white; southerners want it orange. Without a moment’s hesitation, I defected.
Now good supermarkets everywhere stock Vermont cheeses. It’s the combination of sweet and tart,
tangy apples with puckery-sharp cheese that makes this salad. In summer, switch to butter or oak-leaf
lettuce or the like, and use summer apples such as Tydeman Red, Gravenstein, Williams’ Red, and
Maiden Blush. Also note that McIntosh and Pink Lady tend not to oxidize (turn brown) as quickly
as others and therefore look prettier longer. —FB

Dressing 1 Fuji, Pink Lady, eastern golden Delicious,

Mcintosh, or other sweet apple, unpeeled,
21 ⁄ 2 tablespoons cider vinegar or white wine
quartered, cored, and thinly sliced
vinegar
lengthwise
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or
1⁄2 cup walnut halves, toasted
walnut oil
Wedge of sharp white Cheddar cheese
salt
Freshly ground pepper
••••• To make the dressing, whisk together the vinegar and
olive oil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
1 small head radicchio, leaves separated and
cut lengthwise into narrow strips
2 heads Belgian endive, leaves separated
To make the salad, combine the radicchio, endive, and
and cut lengthwise into narrow strips frisée in a large salad bowl. Toss well. Add the apples
1 small head frisée, tough stems removed and nuts and drizzle with the dressing. Toss again. Using
and torn into small pieces a vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife, shave curls of
1 newtown Pippin, granny smith, stayman the Cheddar cheese over the top. Serve at once.
Winesap, or other tart apple, unpeeled,
quartered, cored, and thinly sliced serves 6
lengthwise

42 An Apple Harvest

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 F I R S T C OU R S E S 43

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 43 3/24/10 1:47 PM

 Pork Loin Stuffed with Fresh and Dried Apples

In her 1828 American volume Directions for Cookery, author Eliza Leslie took the notion of
cooking from scratch seriously. She begins her pork roast instructions by calling for a “newly killed” pig.
She meant it, too, advising further that, if at all possible, the beast should be slaughtered on the morn-
ing the roast was slated for the midday table. That didn’t leave much time, so the home cook or, at best,
her husband, was clearly expected to act as butcher. Today, many of us are too lazy (or don’t even know
how) to bone a pork loin, much less cut up the whole animal. If you fall into that category, ask the
butcher to separate the bone from the loin and to butterfly the loin, leaving you only to assemble the
easy triple-apple—fresh, dried, and cider—stuffing, lash it securely in the roast, and slip the whole
works into the oven. Then you can put your feet up, pour a glass of cider, and get lost in a good novel
until the loin is done, remembering that your nineteenth-century counterpart would still be at work
carving up the rest of the pig.

stuFFing Coarse sea salt

2 tablespoons olive oil Freshly ground pepper
11 ⁄ 2 cups finely chopped yellow onion about 6 sprigs sage
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon peeled and minced To make the stuffing, warm the olive oil in a large frying
fresh ginger
pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger
2 granny smith, newtown Pippin, or
and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is
other tart green apples, peeled, cored,
and chopped translucent.

1 cup chopped dried apples

Add the fresh apples and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or
3 tablespoons dried currants
until they begin to take on color. Add the dried apples,
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
currants, and chopped sage and stir well. Pour in the
1 cup dry hard cider cider, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring
salt occasionally, until the cider is absorbed, about 5 min-
Freshly ground pepper utes. Season with salt and pepper, remove from the
••••• heat, and let cool for about 10 minutes.

1 boneless pork loin, 4 to 5 pounds,

butterflied Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F.

76 An Apple Harvest

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 76 3/24/10 1:48 PM

 To stuff and roast the pork loin, lay the pork loin flat on
a work surface and spread the cooled stuffing evenly
over the meat. Roll up the loin into its original shape
and, using kitchen string, tie at even intervals, pushing
back any stuffing that tries to escape from the ends.
Season the loin with coarse salt and pepper and tuck
the sage sprigs under the strings. Place in a roasting pan.
Transfer the pork loin to a cutting board and let stand
for about 10 minutes before carving, then snip the
strings and cut into slices. Arrange on a warmed platter
and serve with Fox Mountain Parsnips (page 105).
serves 8

Roast for about 11 ⁄ 2 hours, until the meat is pale pink

when the loin is cut into at the thickest point or an
instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest
point registers 145°F to 150°F.

M A I N DISH ES 77

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 77 3/24/10 1:48 PM

 Apple Sorbet with Ginger

this big batch of refreshing pink sorbet (its lovely color the result of cooking the apples
unpeeled) was gobbled right up by a legion of none-too-shy friends at one of our periodic apple-recipe
tastings. Of course, you can easily cut the recipe in half, which leaves the hardworking cook the rest of
the wine to sip when the crowd finally goes home. In either case, don’t be cheap when it comes to buy-
ing the Gewürztraminer, or your fancy sorbet will taste like sherbet dished up at a freeway truck stop.

4 pounds assorted red-skinned apples such
as stayman Winesap, Jonathan, Braeburn,
and northern spy
11 ⁄ 2-inch piece fresh ginger
1 bottle (750 ml) good-quality
gewürztraminer
1 cup sugar
Cut the apples into sixths lengthwise, but do not peel or
core. Place in a heavy saucepan. Lightly crush the ginger
under the flat side of a knife to release its flavor, and
add to the pan along with about 2 cups of the wine.
Place over medium-high heat, bring to a steady simmer,
and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the apples are
soft. Add the sugar and stir until it dissolves, about
2 minutes. Remove from the heat and scoop out and
discard the ginger.

At nineteenth-century “paring bees,”
a young woman would toss a piece of
pared apple skin over her shoulder,
Pass the cooked apples and their liquid through a food
mill fitted with the fine disk, placed over a bowl. Stir in
the remaining wine, cover, and refrigerate until chilled,
about 2 hours.

hopeful that it would form the first

Transfer the chilled mixture to an ice cream maker and
letter of her future husband’s name. freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions. Spoon
into a container, cover, and place in the freezer until
firm, about 2 hours.

Spoon into clear glass bowls to serve.

Makes aBout 2 quarts

138 An Apple Harvest

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 138 3/24/10 1:49 PM

Brow_9781580084468_4p_all.indd 139 3/24/10 1:49 PM
 To purchase a copy of
An Apple Harvest
visit one of these online retailers:

file:///T|/Lyman_Emily/Retailer%20Pages/an%20apple%20harvest%20buyonline.html[10/26/2010 1:52:11 PM]