Few folks are as opinionated about all things apple as Frank Browning, whom I’ve dubbed the Apple Autocrat. Frank grew up on an apple farm in Kentucky, which nurtured his headstrong, southern-style convictions regarding apples. He offered this recipe from An Apple Harvest, which he cowrote with Sharon Silva, but absolutely insisted that I make it only in the fall, when good-tasting, red-skinned apples are in abundance. So wait I did. Okay… I didn’t wait. But please don’t tell Frank. I made this during the spring using Jonagold apples, which worked great. And although Frank insisted I use Gewürztraminer, I made it with a dry Riesling instead (blame my rebellious Yankee spirit). So feel free to use any tasty, red-skinned apple, but don’t use bland Red Delicious ones, or you might get yourself a Kentucky-style comeuppance.
Recipe information
Yield
makes about 1 quart (1 liter)
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Cut the unpeeled apples, cores and all, into 1-inch (3-cm) chunks.
Step 2
Put the apples and wine in a large, nonreactive saucepan. Crush the piece of ginger with the side of a cleaver and add it to the apples. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the apple chunks for 15 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking, until tender.
Step 3
Remove the knob of ginger and pass the apples and their liquid through a food mill fitted with a fine disk, or use a coarse-mesh strainer and press firmly on the apples to extract their pulp and all the liquid into a container. Discard the peels and seeds.
Step 4
Stir the sugar into the warm apple mixture until dissolved.
Step 5
Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
