# Pork Chops and Apple Sauce
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 25, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351 "2010-02-25T02:35:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@UncleFred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleFred)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/1 "2010-02-25T02:35:31Z")
I have encountered a number of people who believe that you must accompany a meal of pork chops with apple sauce. Often if you ask why they’ll reply that either “you’ll get sick if you skip the apple sauce” or that they don’t know they’ve just always done it that way.
First, is this a widespread belief?
Second, was there ever, or is there now, any justification for this?
I’ve always assumed it had to do with a fear of trichinosis, but that’s just a guess.
Sometimes I have the applesauce and sometimes I don’t. It’s OK but I don’t love it either. Never got sick!
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/2 "2010-02-25T02:42:28Z")
Just tradition. Like lamb and mint jelly, which personally I have never liked. I go with good ol’ fashioned ketchup!
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### Author:  [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/3 "2010-02-25T02:47:38Z")
I think it’s just a tradition here too, like fries and ketchup. My husband does it, I don’t.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/4 "2010-02-25T03:03:57Z")
It’s just tasty. Anyone claiming any sort of health benefit is seriously off their rocker.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/5 "2010-02-25T04:09:51Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Just tradition. Like lamb and mint jelly, which personally I have never liked. I go with good ol’ fashioned ketchup!
You are dead to me.
Ketchup.
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/6 "2010-02-25T04:21:15Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Just tradition. Like lamb and mint jelly, which personally I have never liked. I go with good ol’ fashioned ketchup!
Ketchup, by any name at all is a stench in the nostrils of God.
Pork chops and mint jelly are pretty good but I usually end up with apple sauce.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/7 "2010-02-25T04:57:03Z")
> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> Like lamb and mint jelly, which personally I have never liked.
Agreed. It’s seriously inferior to mint sauce, which is made in about two minutes by heating balsamic vinegar, mint and a small amount of brown sugar in a saucepan.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/8 "2010-02-25T05:08:26Z")
> [@Smeghead](#):
>
> It’s just tasty. Anyone claiming any sort of health benefit is seriously off their rocker.
Seconded on both counts.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/9 "2010-02-25T05:17:14Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> You are dead to me.
>
> Ketchup.
[Bowery Boy] My sediments exactly! [/BB]
Not into mint jelly, myself; though **Shayna** makes an awesome mint pesto sauce. I make gravy from the drippings, but usually just eat the meat with nothing else on it but the rub.
Sweet and savoury go together, and this is especially true of pork. Apple sauce is sweet, but not too sweet. [A former roommate](http://kwiditi.com/colombescooking/main.html) made a nice onions-and-apples dish that went very well with grilled country pork ribs. (I wish that one was in his cookbook. It’s not the same when I make it.)
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### Author:  [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/10 "2010-02-25T05:47:43Z")
mix applesauce with a packet of dried onion soup, smother the pork chops and throw in for a half-hour at 350 degrees.
Holla!
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/11 "2010-02-25T05:48:00Z")
Yuck to ketchup and applesause. Hello mustard!
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/12 "2010-02-25T06:00:11Z")
It does taste good. The last couple times I made pork chops, I had forgotten the apple sauce, so instead I just threw some apple slices into the pan when the chops were nearly done. It worked out quite well.
I think the tradition must go back to the idea that you were supposed to stick an apple in the mouth of a whole pig before roasting it.
And I agree about the mustard. You’d put it on a banger, so why not any other kind of pork?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/13 "2010-02-25T06:18:28Z")
> [@PlainJain](#):
>
> Yuck to ketchup and applesause. Hello mustard!
Same here. Ketchup? Really? Mustard or some kind of pan gravy is what we’ve always done with pork chops. I never grew up with the tradition of apples. One of my English friends said the tradition came from pigs raised on/near apple orchards, and letting them roam and eat fallen apples, hence the pairing of apples and pork became reasonable, but I don’t know if there’s any fact to it or not. I’d guess there is some truth to this.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/14 "2010-02-25T06:59:12Z")
Personally, I think that cruciferous vegetables are excellent side dishes for pork. I might eat a bit of applesauce after the pork, but I want some broccoli and maybe some rice with the pork itself.
I’ve heard of serving applesauce with pork, but I’ve never heard that there’s supposed to be a health reason for it.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/15 "2010-02-25T14:48:16Z")
The whole applesauce thing dates from when our parents & before used to cook pork to utter over-well-doneness. You needed something with a lot of wetness to make the resulting leather edible.
And yes, apple flavor & pork flavor go together. Nowadays a medium done and juicy porkchop with a bit of apple or apple & onion on the side is tasty.
But there’s certainly no health issue with eating pork without the apples as an antidote to whatever evil they think lurks in a chop.
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### Author:  [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/16 "2010-02-25T14:57:08Z")
“Pork chops and Applesauce” came from an old ‘Brady Bunch’ episode. As kids we used to immitate Alice when we had it for dinner.
I think they go good together and it’s a good way to get rid of apples that are starting to turn.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/17 "2010-02-25T15:05:21Z")
> [@Perciful](#):
>
> “Pork chops and Applesauce” came from an old ‘Brady Bunch’ episode. As kids we used to immitate Alice when we had it for dinner.
Goodness, I can imagine it took 16 posts to mention TBB.
Actually, IIRC it was the middle son (momentary brainfart) doing his Jimmy Cagney imitation, saying _“Pork Chops and apple sauce.”_ So you can’t just say it, you have to say it imitating the Brady kid imitating Jimmy Cagney.
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### Author:  [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/18 "2010-02-25T15:21:49Z")
Now I’m wondering if James Cagney ever actually said “Pork chops and applesauce” in a movie.
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### Author:  [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/19 "2010-02-25T15:22:53Z")
Pork chops and apple sauce? Alright, I guess.
Pork chops and baked apples? Oh, Hells yes!
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### Author:  [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2010, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pork-chops-and-apple-sauce/530351/20 "2010-02-25T15:26:33Z")
Y’all are crazy, stupid, or both. Pork chops go with sauerkraut. Now let that be the end of this nonsense.
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