Before we commence, a brief clarification for our non-British readers. Your cider is not our cider. Your cider is simply jumped-up apple juice ours is furiously alcoholic: wonderful, mouth watering booze that’s just as excellent served in excess of ice in the summer time as it is heated and spiced in the winter. But let’s say you want to cook with cider – what are your selections there? I’m glad you requested.

French onion soup

French onion soup … cider is a perfect alternative to wine.
French onion soup … cider is a ideal option to wine. Photograph: Cris Cantón/Getty Photographs

Most recipes that entail cooking with cider are autumnal in mother nature. Even so, British summers are just about usually plagued by a stretch of chilly, even wet times, and with this in brain here’s Felicity Cloake’s recipe for french onion soup. At the time, her use of cider (relatively than wine) kicked up a significant aged stink in the opinions. But this is a Normandy onion soup recipe, and it’s how Michel Roux produced his, so hush.

Hunter’s pie

Next up is a Hunter’s pie courtesy of Merlin Labron-Johnson. Like the onion soup, this pie isn’t a regular summer months take care of – it is so loaded with match, root greens and product that just the sight of it may bring on a terrible case of heatstroke – but there are generally workarounds. Labron-Johnson suggests serving the pie warm with a salad, but to my brain absolutely nothing sounds much better than chilling it and serving it in slices at a picnic.

Nigel Slater’s red cabbage with cider and steamed potatoes.
Nigel Slater’s red cabbage with cider and steamed potatoes. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin/The Observer

Crimson cabbage with cider and steamed potatoes

Thankfully, Nigel Slater’s recipe for crimson cabbage with cider and steamed potatoes is a comparative burst of sunshine. As Slater says, this recipe is really affordable to make, and it counts as a very hot salad. Would advocate.

Pearl barley ‘risotto’ with ham and cider

This cider-targeted Recipe Swap report from 2015 gives an humiliation of riches, with dishes involving salmon, bread, cheese and onions. But let us home in on Bryony Timms’ recipe for pearl barley “risotto” with ham and cider. Pearl barley as a substitute of rice and cider as an alternative of wine will make this an enjoyably homegrown consider on a basic. “Sorry, Italy,” suggests Bryony.

Rabbit and cider casserole

Though Merlin’s Hunter’s pie implies using rabbit as an alternative to chicken, Louise Robinson’s rabbit and cider casserole places the bunny upfront. And, good lord, it is tremendous. The cider is beefed up with the help of apples the rabbit assisted out with bacon and tarragon. I never know about anyone else, but this is the sort of detail that makes me want to up and shift to Normandy.

Cider and black pudding scotch egg

That is except they never have scotch eggs in Normandy. Because only a idiot would at any time give individuals up. Foodstuff Network’s cider and black pudding scotch egg is, by all accounts, a stunner. If it was not more than enough that it contains black pudding, it also is made up of cider-soaked breadcrumbs. Incredible.

Apple and cider cake … a treat.
Apple and cider cake … a handle. Photograph: Clare Hargreaves/Alamy

Apple and cider cake

A word of warning. If you ever try out to uncover a pudding to make with cider, put together to clatter into an insurmountable wall of apple and cider cake recipes. There are millions of them, but I’m likely with Delia’s model, basically because I believe in her the most. By by itself, whole to bursting with cider-soaked apple and raisins, this cake is a address. But Delia’s masterstroke is providing it a crumble topping. Try to dislike this cake, I dare you.

Baked apples with cider.
Baked apples with cider. Photograph: Impression Industry experts GmbH/Alamy

Mulled cider trifle

But if that is not decadent plenty of, there is also Delightful magazine’s mulled cider trifle: sponge fingers soaked in mulled cider jelly, mulled apples, mulled cider syllabub and custard. Forget about that it’s summertime, and that this is like one thing you must almost certainly be eating out of a paper cup at a Christmas sector. Since it genuinely is delightful.

Parkin

And now that you have forgotten about summer season, let me introduce you to James Martin’s parkin recipe. Traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night – which is definitely still rather considerably off – parkin stays a worthwhile issue to make now. Martin’s recipe is mild on the cider, employing just a couple of tablespoons for the syrup you drizzle above it, but it was both this or yet another apple and cider cake recipe.

Baked apples

Lastly, let’s return to Normandy for some baked apples. Carried out proper, there is no bigger dessert on Earth than the baked apple. And, in this occasion, done proper requires baking the apples in a pool of cider. If you’re feeling fancy, you can use a slice of brioche to soak up all the juices.