Cider for Mustard Pork Chops

Our answer

Nigella's Mustard Pork Chops recipe (from Nigella Express and on the Nigella website) has a pan sauce made with cider (hard cider), mustard and cream. As the cider is the main ingredient in the sauce then the taste of the cider will tend to influence the taste of the sauce. The cider you mention is a fairly dry cider and it may just be that this style of cider is not to your taste.

It can help to taste any wine or cider that you use in cooking, before you add it to the dish. If you don't like the taste of the wine or cider from the bottle then it is likely that you won't like the taste once cooked. When you make the sauce make sure that there is no burned residue in the frying pan as this can make the sauce taste bitter. If there is some burned residue in the pan then wipe it out with a piece of kitchen roll (paper towel) before making the sauce. Carefully taste the sauce once the cider has bubbled away for a bit, and before you add the mustard and cream. If you think it is too tart then you may be able to correct the taste by adding a small pinch of sugar.