Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Nice story. Here in France of course I can much more easily find Calvados. There are some bottles in the grocery store for over 100 euros. Not in my league, but I swear the things have got some sort of mystical glow about them. Since I'm not one to partake in a brandy drink, but use it to cook with, I buy small flasks of cooking Calvados for three or four euros. The smell is divine nonetheless. Smells just like what you'd imagine the ground would on a cold fall day around an old apple tree. I used it last night to cook porkchops: just use the brandy to deglaze the pan, then add heavy cream. I also added some Normandy cider, which is another story altogether.