Apple Cider Pie

Pastry for a double crust pie
3 lb. Golden Delicious apples peeled, cored, cut into 3/4-inch slices, and then halved
2/3 cup apple cider
1/2 to 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar to taste
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 Tbs. cornstarch
Make the filling In a large  pot, mix the apples, all but 2 Tbs. of the cider, the brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring often, until the sugar has dissolved and the apples are evenly coated. Mix the cornstarch and remaining 2 Tbs. cider into a paste; add this to the apples. Stirring constantly, boil until the liquid is thickened and clear, about 1 minute. (you're not cooking the apples, just thickening the juices). Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Remove from the heat and let cool.

eat the oven to 425°F. Prepare a double pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan and fill the shell. then cover with second crust. Cut at least three vent holes. Bake on the middle rack until the crust is golden and the apples are tender when pierced with a knife, about 55 minutes. If the top starts browning too quickly, tent the pie with foil. Placing a cookie sheet on rack below pie will help keep spills contained.

18th Century Drunken Chicken

Here's an oven based recipe that we converted to a campfire meal.  Pictures of that whole process can be found at MizRebecky's Adventures. Either in the oven or over the fire, this is very easy to do and tasty as well.

Ingredients for a single recipe (we made a quadruple batch):
4 chicken legs-thighs (chicken joints)  - we used chicken thighs for easy cooking & cleanup.
1/4 pint cider  - we used woodchuck cider.
2 teaspoons English mustard powder  - we used pre-made powder. You can make your own by pulverizing equal amounts of brown  and white mustard seeds.
1/2 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1 tablespoon oil - we used olive oil.
2 tablespoons honey

 The recipe says to put your chicken pieces in a dish (in a single layer). we were making drunken chicken for many people in a dutch oven, so we piled it all in one pot. I suspect single layer you would get more of a glazed result than we did.

Then combine the remaining ingredients, pour over the chicken and allow to stand for a minimum of 1 hour. Ours soaked for about an hour and a half hile we were off doing other tasks.

Oven bake the chicken slowly in a large oven proof dish/pan for approximately 1 hour, basting the joints periodically as they cook.We put much more marinade in ours, as fire can be much less predictable than on oven, and we didn't want it to dry out. So no basting was done, but periodic stirring was essential. I think we cooked ours more like an hour and a half. The chicken was incredibly tender and tasty.

the recipe suggests Serving hot with steamed greens and mashed or baked potatoes. We had boiled potatoes and a salad to round ours out. We discussed doing it again and maybe having dumplings on top, but that will only work if you approached it with plenty of marinade in the pot.


*The original recipe, done in an oven, can be found at http://www.food.com/recipe/18th-century-drunken-english-somerset-cider-chicken-with-honey-238815