>>On today's "Un-Wine'd", it's Albemarle CiderWorks.

We'll taste some cider and enjoy some delicious food.

So go grab your glass, it's time to unwind.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>The Virginia Wine Board.

Promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the Commonwealth through research, education, and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org.

>>And by.

(soft upbeat jazz music) (soft upbeat jazz music continues) >>I had so much fun with the Shelton family at Albemarle CiderWorks.

This family really understands the importance of putting the right apple in the right cider.

So on today's show, I'll pair up those ciders with a turkey or chicken roulade with a cranberry almond stuffing, pork carnitas and stuffed portobello mushrooms.

So I'm going to make some delicious stuffing for either a chicken roulade or a turkey roulade.

You can do either one with this, and it pairs so well with cider.

So what I'm going to do is put about two tablespoons of olive oil in my pan to get nice and hot.

Now, I've got some great aromatics here.

I've got onions, I've got celery, and then I'm gonna also use some fresh apple and some herbs.

So let's just start with the celery and the onions.

I have about three ribs of celery here and about a half cup of onion, so I used a large onion, about half of that.

A medium onion will yield you less, so just about a half cup of onion will work great.

Now let's just get that started to stir.

We want to start to sweat these.

You don't have to cook them all the way through because you will be baking the roulade, but I love to just sweat them so that that flavor all comes together, and then as I add the other ingredients, it absorbs all of those flavors.

Now, let's add a little bit of almond.

I like to use slivered almonds in this because the texture for me is awesome.

You wanna toast this around until those almonds start to get just a little bit of color on them.

Now, in the meantime, let's add a little bit of fresh thyme, so I'm using about a half teaspoon of fresh thyme leaves.

If you don't have fresh thyme leaves, just use a pinch of rubbed thyme or dried thyme and it will work great.

Uh, I love that smell of thyme.

And then a little rosemary, about a half teaspoon as well.

And these are both fresh.

Again, if you have dried, just a pinch will do.

And I'm adding a half teaspoon of poultry seasoning.

Now, poultry seasoning is primarily sage, which is the flavor that I want, but I don't want this to be so sage forward that it's a little pungent in my recipe.

I really like the flavor of the poultry seasoning better, but if you are a sage lover by all means use sage instead of poultry seasoning.

Now, while that is just kind of simmering up a little bit, and those almonds are starting to toast, I'm gonna chop up a little bit of Granny Smith apple.

So I have between a third and a half of an apple.

This one was big, so I decided just to use about a third of it.

So I wanna just cut it in slices.

There we go.

And then I'll just chop it up and I leave the peel on.

I think it gives better texture and just more variety in your stuffing.

And of course, if the peel is off the apple, the apple really starts to disintegrate, so what I want is a little bit of that to happen, and a little bit of that texture of the apple as well.

So let's just chop that.

Nice little pieces, kind of like this.

So sort of a julienne, but not quite.

Between a chop and a julienne.

I want the almonds to be a little bit toasted before I add the moisture of the apple or the almonds will never toast.

Now let's just add that to our pan.

Okay, at this point I'm going to add my bread.

So I have about three to four slices of bread.

I actually use a little wheat and a little white here, and I just cut them in tiny cubes.

So what's a stuffing without a little bread?

Let's just pour that in, and I want to toast that just slightly.

Mm, this is smelling absolutely amazing.

Just like Thanksgiving or Christmas.

So let's just stir this until that bread starts to toast just a little bit.

I just want it to soak up any moisture that's in the pan.

All right.

And at this point, I'm actually going to turn off my pan.

The rest of this is going to be made without heat.

So I have a quarter cup of cranberries.

These are dried cranberries that I just soaked in a little hot water.

I'm going to drain these and let them go right in my mixture.

Mm, look how that brightens up.

Let's just give that a little stir around.

There's still a little bit of heat in the bottom of the pan.

The reason that I turn this off is because we're going to add eggs to it, and if the heat isn't off, we end up with a scramble.

All right, let's add a little bit of butter.

Four tablespoons.

Well, it's a lot of butter.

Let's add four tablespoons of butter, and we're just gonna kind of stir that through.

This really makes the stuffing nice and rich.

Also, it adds to the moisture, and the flavor.

Make sure you stir as you add that so that all that bread gets a little bit of that butter.

And then we're going to add a half cup of chicken stock.

Now if this is too moist for you, if you don't like a nice, moist stuffing, what you wanna do is add another piece of bread, and that will not hurt the recipe at all.

You still have all of those wonderful herbs in there, those great flavors.

So just add another piece of bread or a little bit of panko even, just to tighten it up a bit.

And then we're going to add two eggs.

My pan is cooler now because that stock was a little bit cool.

So let's just add the egg right on top and then start stirring through so it doesn't scramble if the pan is hot.

This is really a binding agent, but also, of course, it's going to keep that chicken nice and moist, and that stuffing nice and moist inside.

And I think for this batch, actually we only need one, because it's nice and moist.

So really this is about touch and feel.

If your stuffing is still dry, add another egg, but today, I used up three pieces of bread that I had that were not quite as dry as sometimes I use, so we needed a little less moisture.

So the last thing I'm gonna do is a little sprinkle of salt and pepper, and I like to keep half salt, half pepper just mixed by my stove top and I'm putting in about a half teaspoon mixed all together.

So a quarter teaspoon salt, a quarter teaspoon of pepper.

Remember that your chicken stock usually has some salt in it, so you don't want to over salt this.

All right, now let's just move over here and stuff those turkey cutlets.

For this recipe, I need about two pounds of chicken or turkey cutlets.

Now I can't tell you exactly how many it will make, depends on the size of the breast.

So if you have a large chicken breast, it's going to make less number, but a larger piece, so just divide your stuffing accordingly.

Now, I have a piece of plastic wrap here and I just want to cover on both sides, just like that, and I'm gonna pound it a little bit so it's a little thinner.

That way, it's uniform thickness all the way through.

(meat tenderizer thudding) Okay, so we've got a nice, thin piece now of chicken breast.

And I just want to kind of turn it around to me.

You'd pound out each one, and then start this process, but I'm just gonna show you how to make one right now.

So we're gonna take a nice spoonful of that stuffing and we're just gonna roll.

Let's just kind of come up over top.

Just like that.

Now, I want to put this breast on a sprayed baking sheet.

I'll pound out the rest of these and get them all ready for the oven, but what we wanna do is brush this with a little olive oil, just a nice brushing, and remember, don't use this olive oil again once you've brushed the chicken because you've contaminated it.

And then a nice sprinkling of salt and pepper.

You can also, if you want, sprinkle the inside with salt and pepper, but I just don't find it necessary.

If you're a heavy seasoner, though, go ahead and sprinkle.

Now I'm going to put these in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, and then I'm gonna turn it to broil, so it gets a nice color on it.

If the chicken is a little bit larger, sometimes it takes about 25 minutes, so make sure you check the internal temperature.

You also want the inside of your stuffing to be 165.

Doesn't this look amazing?

It gives you the taste of Thanksgiving any time of year, and I just love this recipe.

Of course, with cider, it's really great.

Now this is an American apple cider, all classic American apples blended and it's beautiful.

(soft jazz music) Just got a beautiful color.

Mm, really nice.

Now let me get in there and cut this.

Get a little piece.

Oh, this is gorgeous.

Just look at that filling.

Mm, that is so, so good, and so delicious with cider.

Now let's head over to Albemarle County, where we'll talk with the Shelton family to find out a little more about growing apples and making cider in Virginia.

(soft upbeat jazz music) Well, I'm here today at Albemarle CiderWorks with Charlotte and Chuck, two of the members of the amazing Shelton family who own and operate this beautiful cidery, and thank you so much for having us.

>>Thank you for being here.

>>Yeah.

>>Thank you.

>>Yeah, so how long has this place been in existence?

>>Well, the cidery we opened in 2009.

>>Okay.

>>We bought the place with and for our parents in 1986.

>>Oh.

>>Started planting apple trees as a hobby, really.

>>Wow.

>>In the early 90s.

And as the orchard grew, the question was what do you do with this collection of apples?

'Cause we ended up with about 250 varieties.

(Tassie laughs) And cider, which is what these apples, a lot of them heirlooms and unusual varieties, were originally grown for.

>>That's great.

>>We thought, well, why not?

>>Oh.

>>I moved back here more or less full-time to be with my mom and dad who were still alive then and- >>That's great.

>>Were instrumental in getting us going early.

>>Oh, yeah.

>>So the orchard you see is probably anywhere from 10 to almost 30 years old.

>>Wow.

>>The type of trees we're planting have a life expectancy of about 70 years, productive.

So we're just in the infancy of it, really, still, but we just had our 13th anniversary Saturday, so that's where we are now.

>>One of your famous ciders is the Albemarle Pippin and the Royal Pippin.

I'm anxious to try this, so let's give it a try.

This is beautiful.

>>Thank you.

>>Look at that color and the head on it was so pretty.

Oh my goodness.

>>So this is a single variety cider, if you will.

It's made from Newtown or Albemarle Pippin, the original apple, the apple originated in Newtown, Long Island.

>>We named it Royal Pippin because it was Queen Victoria's favorite apple.

And the apples that introduced her to the Pippin came from Enniscorthy, an estate just to the southeast of here.

>>Wow.

This is really delightful.

So what shall we try next?

>>Well, why don't we try Jupiter's Legacy?

>>All right.

So, Jupiter's Legacy.

Tell me about the name and let's pour a little bit.

>>Well, when we opened this cidery in 2009, naming these things is a little bit of a challenge.

>>Yes.

>>And we live here, you know, what, eight or 10 miles from Monticello, if we were crows, in Albemarle County, Jefferson is its leading citizen for all the ages, but anyway, everything is Monticello this and Jefferson that.

So we wanted to honor that legacy but something a little bit different.

Jupiter Evans was a slave born at Shadwell the same year as Jefferson.

They grew up together.

>>Wow.

>>Jefferson, he became the head of the slave hierarchy at Monticello.

Jefferson called him his trustee servant.

Would send him to collect monies owed him, et cetera.

Now Jefferson was a great oenophile, but he could never grow vinifera grapes in this country because of the phytophthora in the soil.

But he had one orchard devoted strictly to cider varieties.

"Ciders and malt beverages are what I serve at table," he wrote.

>>Yes.

>>So this is our homage to Mr. Jefferson, Monticello.

Jupiter's Legacy.

>>Both of these ciders came from 2019.

So you've heard of good years and bad years in grapes, same thing is true in apples.

So 2019 was probably a stellar year.

It's in our whole existence.

>>Yeah.

Well, congratulations on this one.

So we have a really exciting one to try now.

The Hewes Crab.

>>It has all the things you want in a cider apple.

It has acid, it has tannin and it has really high sugar.

It's one of the highest sugar apples grown anywhere, almost 20 brix.

So it produces a nine to 10% cider that rivals some white wines.

>>Yes.

Well, it's wonderfully crisp.

It's delicious.

And I just want to salute you and thank you so much for having us here today and cheers to you.

>>Cheers, cheers.

>>And to Albemarle CiderWorks.

(soft upbeat jazz music) The Pippin Apple is slightly astringent and really tart.

Together with pork carnitas, this cider is perfect, so I hope you're gonna enjoy this recipe today.

The first thing we're gonna do is make a little rub.

I have a teaspoon of dry oregano, a tablespoon of salt, a teaspoon of black pepper and about a teaspoon and a half of cumin.

Now you can add more cumin if you like.

Of course, you can always adjust your seasons, but I like just that amount of cumin in this because I think with the cider it works so perfectly.

So I just want to mix these up.

There we go.

Nice.

So that's all mixed.

Now, want to get everything ready for my pan.

I have in my cup three squeezed oranges and then I'm going to take another orange and I just want to wedge that.

So pork carnitas are really great with apple ciders.

They're great with beers and with wines but you've gotta have the right wine.

Now you know that apple cider is actually part of the wine family.

It's the apple's wine.

It's the wine of apples.

So here we're gonna just squeeze these into the pan.

So I'm kind of making a little bed here.

And now I wanna take one medium white onion and I'm just gonna wedge that in about six.

Now, let's cut those ends off and cut each of those halves in three pieces.

So we have six nice wedges and I'll put those kind of in the center.

We're making a little bed here, but we will stir in all of the juices as we're baking this beautiful pork.

Now, I wanna take one jalapeno pepper and I'm just going to strip that from the seed pod.

Now if you like it spicier, put in your seeds.

If you like it a little less spicy, leave those seeds out.

And just drop those in your pan.

Now let's get back to that pork.

We're gonna pour about two tablespoons of olive oil over the pork and just kind of give it a little rub.

Now you wanna make sure that your fat cap is up.

This happens to be one of those picnic shoulders that's already been done for me from the grocery store and I appreciated that so much.

All of the fat had pretty much been trimmed off but it has just enough fat to still maintain the moisture and keep the flavor.

So I want to start with the side I'm going to put down, so that's gonna be the side with the least amount of fat.

And we just wanna give a good rub to that.

And then let's take our pork and lay it right on our vegetables.

Now, let's put on the rest of that seasoning and I'm just gonna kind of pour it on but then rub it all over.

Some of it will fall down into the pan.

That's fine, because it's all going to go together for this amazing flavor profile.

At this point, let's put in that orange juice.

So again, the juice of three oranges and then I have one orange already wedged in the bottom of my pan.

And I wanna add about a cup and a half, two cups of water.

If your pork starts to get dry, you can always put in a little more water in the bottom of the pan.

Now what I'm gonna do is roast this at 325 degrees for two hours.

Then I wanna just flip that roast over and kind of bury it down in the liquid.

Then I'm going to put the lid on and I'm going to bake it for another hour and a half to two hours until the internal temperature of the meat is right around 195 to 200 degrees.

Then it'll be ready to shred.

So look at this pork.

It has roasted and wow, it's just falling apart as I pull it out of the pan.

Just amazing.

That last hour and a half to two hours really makes it nice and moist on the inside because we're putting the meat back down in the juices and we're putting the lid on, which means it steams just a bit.

So what we're gonna do is take off any major excess fat and we'll just drop that away.

And if you find any kind of gristle at all, make sure you pull that out.

But what we're gonna do here is just shred with two forks, just back and forth, just like this, back and forth, until you really shred that meat.

Oh, just gorgeous.

This is gorgeous pork.

It smells so good, too.

I just love what that orange does to the smell of this pork and to the flavor.

Okay.

Oh, beautiful.

Now I'm gonna take some of that juice from in the pan.

Remember that has the orange, the onion, the jalapeno, all of that rub that's gone down into the juices.

And we just want to take some of it and put it right on our meat.

And I'll shred the rest of this in just a minute.

Just like this, nice caritas juice.

And if you want, you can also take out those peppers and onions and just put them right in here and shred them along with the meat.

Mm, so good.

So let's just make sure we mix all that up.

And now I'll be back in just a minute with these plated up with our Pippin apple cider.

Now let's get those tortillas filled.

So what I want to do is take some of our pork and just throw it in there, a little bit of our slaw, and I'm just gonna use my fingers.

Some cilantro.

And fresh cilantro on this is a must.

And a little bit of sour cream, just a dollop right in the center.

Just put that right there.

There we go.

And let's just load up this cute little taco form.

Now let's give 'em a taste.

First thing we wanna do is just squeeze a little of that lime.

Fresh lime juice on carnitas is just amazing.

Okay.

Mm.

(soft upbeat music) Wow.

So good.

Now let's try it with a little bit of this Pippin cider.

Mm.

(soft upbeat music continues) It's really good.

It's tart, it has just a hint of sweetness because it's cider, but with these carnitas, it's perfect.

Such a delicious pairing, and I hope you'll enjoy it.

Well, many thanks to my special guests today, the Shelton family, from Albemarle CiderWorks.

I hope you enjoyed all the recipes that I paired up today with cider, including this pork carnitas, this wonderful roulade of chicken and this portobello mushroom.

For all of these recipes and a whole lot more, you can visit me at vpm.org/unwined.

And until next time, I'm Tassie Pippert reminding you to go grab that glass.

It's always time to unwined.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>The Virginia Wine Board.

Promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the Commonwealth through research, education and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org >>And by.

(soft upbeat jazz music) (soft music)