Apples are versatile fruits when it comes to cooking. The best varieties of apples to cook with are Rome, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Pippin, Gala, Braeburn, Northern Spy, Gravenstein, Rhode Island Greening, York Imperial, Cortland and Winesap. Green apples are best to cook with as they retain their consistency better than red apples. Red apples have a tendency to go quite mushy once they have been cooked. There are a number of ways in which you can cook apples, depending on what you want to make with them. They can be stewed, baked, fried and steamed. Apples that are used primarily for cooking are called cooking apples. These are normally apples that can be quite tart to eat as they are. Cooking with them, adding sugar or syrups and pastry takes the edge off the tartness of the apple and they compliment sweet flavors well. In the United Kingdom apples are commonly boiled and mashed and served with roast pork and roast potatoes. Another common way to cook with apples is to make an apple pie. Simply mix the chopped apples into a mix of cinnamon, sugar, cloves, nutmeg, butter and milk and place into pastry. Cook in the oven and serve with cream or custard. When apples are baked they can be complimented with other fruit including mango, banana and figs, as well as brown sugar, butter, Greek yogurt and allspice. Other common dishes with apple as the main ingredient include tarts, crumbles, chutneys and warm salads. Apples can also be used as an ingredient in dishes with game birds, liver, bacon, red cabbage and most oily fish. Apples should always be washed and peeled before using for cooking, and the seeds and stalk should not be used.
