It’s apples and pork chops season
Prepare for apple picking.
Cooking
September 6, 2025

Good morning! Today we have for you:

Ali Slagle’s skillet pork chops and apples with miso caramel. Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Pork chops love apples (pass it on)

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You might think we are all just one big happy family here, but staff meetings can get tense. Just the other day we threw down over apples. The tart Winesap had its fans. There was a vote for the Macoun from a kid from Connecticut. One editor argued in favor of the Cosmic Crisp, which is the popular new kid in apple school. Had any of my Northern California friends been in the meeting, they would have argued for the rare Gravenstein, a gift to America from the Russians.

I’m heading out to pick apples in a couple of weeks. Here in Georgia, I go for the big Mutsus, but I also like an Arkansas Black, an apple with a name that sounds like that of a poker player. And there’s nothing wrong with a good old Granny Smith, the Australian-born apple that is now the fourth most popular in America. (Never give up, Granny Smith!)

What are we going to do with all those apples?

I’d start with Ali Slagle’s skillet pork chops and apples with miso caramel, in part because they call to mind the late Southern cook Nathalie Dupree’s pork chop theory of collaboration: Cook one pork chop in a hot pan, and it gets scorched and dry. But if you cook two pork chops in a pan, they feed off the fat from each other.

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Skillet Pork Chops and Apples With Miso Caramel

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Thematically, I’d serve them with Eric Kim’s snappy apple and broccoli salad. Use a really crisp apple to match the bossy crunch of the broccoli.

If you are in a “set it and forget it” state of mind, you could make Colu Henry’s sheet-pan chicken with apple and fennel and hope that Pete Wells shares his recipe for sheet pan martinis soon.

We’ve got a new Romanian apple recipe out that is like nothing I’ve made before. The name translates to “poured apple pastry.” You cook down shredded apple and then sandwich the mixture in between two thin, light layers of vanilla cake and cut the whole thing into bars sprinkled with a generous amount of powdered sugar.

You could make that for Rosh Hashana coming up, or put together an easy loaf of Yossy Arefi’s apple bread. It bakes up nice and high, and I try to pack in a little more apple than she does.

Genevieve Ko researches recipes with the intensity of a C.D.C. scientist, so I trust every one of them she writes. She created a blackberry apple pie to make good use of her own apple picking haul. She added in blackberries as a nod to the shoulder season between fall and summer. The wide, woven strips of dough on top helps the fruit to get thick and syrupy. She likes to bake with Golden Delicious and Ginger Gold, for those of you keeping score at home.

Friends, this is the last you’ll hear from me in this space for a while. Everyone’s back from their various vacations, and I’ve got reporting to do. Every story has a food angle, and I’m hell bent on finding it.

I’m supposed to remind you that technical questions should go to cookingcare@nytimes.com. News tips, apple preferences and life hacks can come to me at severson@nytimes.com.

For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started.

And before you go

It’s time for another Pizza Interview! Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch take over the pizza making duties at the New York Times Cooking Studio Kitchen, where they answer questions, make pizza and feed the world’s most famous sourdough starter. Click here or on the image below to watch:

The New York Times
Article Image

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Apple and Broccoli Salad

By Eric Kim

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

154

25 minutes

Makes 4 servings

A sheet pan holds chicken with apple, fennel and onion.

Con Poulos for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Sheet-Pan Chicken With Apple, Fennel and Onion

By Colu Henry

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

4,903

40 minutes

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Article Image

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.

Prăjitură Turnată Cu Mere (Jammy Apple Bars) Recipe

Article Image

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.

Apple Bread

By Yossy Arefi

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

249

About 1 ½ hours, plus cooling

Makes 1 (9-inch) loaf

Article Image

Sang An for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

Blackberry Apple Pie

By Genevieve Ko

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

414

2 1/2 hours, plus cooling

Makes One 9-inch pie

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