Tasty and tender pork slow cooked with mustard, herbs and cider – what’s not to like? My Slow Cooker Pork & Mustard Stew is perfect for a winter’s evening. 

I love pork. It is definitely my favourite meat and is incredibly versatile. If I’m in a restaurant and pork is an option, it is more than likely that is what I will be ordering. And don’t even get me started on belly pork!

Growing up, my Mum would make a pork casserole using thick slices of pork tenderloin which she would slow cook in the oven. This is my interpretation of her dish adapted to the slow cooker. 

You can use any cut of pork for this, I tend to use shoulder. You do want a small amount of fat so it doesn’t dry out when you are cooking it over a few hours. I like to brown the meat before adding it to the slow cooker because this means it keeps together when cooking. If you don’t brown the pork, it has a tendency to break up more which isn’t what I wanted for this recipe. 

Mustard and cider go perfectly with pork which is what makes this recipe so delicious. My Mum used to add onion and apples to hers, but I have left them out. I haven’t hidden the fact that I don’t like onions. I know they add flavour and when I think they are a benefit I do include them. With this recipe the leeks provide a similar flavour so I have left the onion out; but feel free to add an onion if you fancy it. 

I chose not to add apples because I thought they would just turn to mush after cooking for a few hours. You could always cut up some apples and add them towards the end of the cooking time; maybe for the last 30 minutes or so. You still get the delicious apple flavour from the cider so you won’t miss them. 

As with a lot of my slow cooker dishes, I tend to add a little bit extra liquid to ensure it doesn’t all cook off. This is especially handy if you are leaving your slow cooker on overnight so you won’t be there to check if it needs a bit more liquid. Because of this, you may want to thicken it slightly. You can either do this by taking the slow cooker lid off and allowing some of the liquid to evaporate. But if you don’t have as much time, add a small amount of cornflour mixed together with some water and stir that through the dish. Leave it for 5-10 minutes and your sauce will have thickened. 

I also add a bit more liquid because I freeze a lot of my dishes and they seem to always loose some liquid once they have defrosted. I’m sure someone could explain this, but I don’t know why it happens! So if I have a thinner sauce when I freeze the dish, my thinking is I will still have plenty of sauce when I defrost it and reheat it. I can then thicken it if needed. 

I think this Slow Cooker Pork & Mustard Stew goes really well served with a jacket potato and vegetables. However I tend to eat a large bowl of this with just vegetables. If you are eating it like that I would say this probably feeds two people whereas if you are serving it with potato it could be stretched to four people.  

Serves 2-4 using a 3.5L slow cooker

450g pork, diced
200g leeks, sliced
1 ½ tbsp wholegrain mustard
150ml water
Vegetable stock pot or stock cube
250ml cider
2 tsp sea salt
¼ tsp black pepper
½ tsp dried mustard powder
2 sprigs of thyme 
2 sprigs of rosemary
½ tsp mixed herbs 
Spray oil 
1 tbsp cornflour mixed with water (optional)

1. Cut the pork into chunks. Brown the pork in batches in a pan or in your slow cooker on the hob (if your slow cooker allows this) using some spray oil

2. Once all of the pork is browned, add it all back into the slow cooker. Add the remaining ingredients to the pork 

3. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8-9 

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