This sauce is fall in liquid form. A brilliant balance of sweet, tart, and savory comfort, worthy of diverting cider from your cup.  Use the best quality apple cider you can find and your efforts will be rewarded with a lick-your-plate-clean experience.  It shines when served with a grilled pork tenderloin (though it would be equally at home on the same plate with a turkey or chicken breast) and an earthy root vegetable mash of potatoes, parsnips, and rutabagas.  A good local hard cider wouldn’t go amiss with this meal either.  

Apple Cider Jus

Slightly adapted from Bon Appétit 

• 2 cups apple cider
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup sliced shallot
• 6 whole allspice
• 3 whole star anise
• 3 large fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar 
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 Tablespoons butter

1. Mix apple cider, broth, shallots, vinegar, and spices in a medium saucepan.
2. Boil until the mixture is reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes.  
3. Strain the cider mixture, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid.  
4. Discard the solids.
5.  Return the cider mixture to the saucepan and boil again until reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 3 minutes.  
6. Whisk in the butter, a few pieces at a time. 
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste, though I’ve never found a need for this step.   

Tenille Enger is an amateur cook and gardener with a passion for moments when the two intersect. She has contributed to Taste the Local Difference in both digital works and print. This post first appeared on the TLD blog in October 2015.