Recipe > Mains
Pork Steak with Apple Sauce
Classic british cuisine, wonderful meaty, yet earthy flavours.
Simplicity at its very best.

Please don't be tempted to make a powdered gravy. The real deal is extremely easy to make and you will be well rewarded with beautiful, full flavours for your efforts.

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 x pork steaks
1 Tblsp olive oil
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
25g / 1oz plain flour
290ml / .5 pint stock

For the apple sauce:
3 large apples
2 Tblsp sugar

Mise-en-Place:
Preheat the oven to 80°C / 175°F
Season the steak with the salt and pepper
Prepare the stock
Peel the apples, cut into quarters, remove the core

Method:
Make the apple sauce:
Boil the apples until soft (5-8 minutes )
Mash the apples with the sugar, keep warm

The steaks:
Heat the oil in a frying pan
Pan-fry the steaks over a medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes each side
To test if the steaks are cooked cut a slice into the thickest part of the steak. The flesh should be white and the juices run clear. If the flesh is still translucent/ pink continue cooking.
Remove the steaks from the pan and keep warm in the pre-prepared oven

Make the gravy:
Return the frying pan to the heat
Add the flour, stir it into the pork fat and residual juices
Cook for 1 minute until the flour gently browns
Add the stock, vigorously whisk until the flour dissolves into the liquid
Allow the gravy to boil and thicken
Season then serve

Adjust:
Apple sauce too sweet: Add more apple
Apple sauce too tart: Add more sugar
Gravy too bland: Add more stock, salt and pepper
Gravy too thin: Heat the gravy so that the liquid content reduces through evaporation
Gravy too thick: Add more stock

Presentation:
Arrange vegetables in the centre of the plate, aim for centre height
Place the steak on top with a serving of the apple sauce
Pour the gravy across the plate
Serve

Chef Tip: Got lumps of flour in your gravy?
To fix: Pass the gravy through a sieve or chinois.
To prevent: If you haven't whisked the gravy fast enough the flour will cook into lumps that are very hard to break apart. If lumps still persist before the gravy has started to simmer remove the pan from the heat. Whisk off the heat until the flour disperses, only then return to the heat.

Science behind the dish: How flour thickens the gravy
Flour is largely constituted of starch molecules, as these are heated in water not only will the molecule swell but it will begin to unravel. It unravels in the form of elongated strands, these strands tangle with other similar, unraveling starch molecules to form a web or a lattice.
This web of molecules not only slows and traps the water molecules but also reduces the space that the water molecules can freely travel to and from. This is what causes the thickening of the gravy.