It would be an exaggeration to call Chef Mike Drury’s introduction to chutney an earth-trembling experience—which isn’t to say his interest wasn’t peaked. “Early on in my career,” he recalls, “I was working for a German chef who served me some freshly-made chutney on a grilled lamb chop. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t a huge fan of lamb, but when I had it with chutney, I thought, Hey! Now I see why they make this stuff! It’s pretty darned good.” (No doubt, the first Indus Valley cook to concoct chutney all those thousands of years ago would have been gratified to hear it.)

Of all the condiments devised to enhance the preparation of meat or fish, chutney—from the Hindustani word chalni, meaning “strong spices”— probably combines the greatest complexity of flavors. A chutney might include mangos, peaches, pineapple, ginger, onions, peppers, garlic, and coriander. The list of potential ingredients and combinations is virtually endless. And with varieties of chutney numbering in the hundreds, its taste can be sweet or sour, salty, spicy, or peppery—or a blend of several of these qualities, depending on the traditional tastes of the culture adapting it.

With all that in mind, let’s fast-forward to last year or thereabouts, when Stonewood’s CEO, Doug Sullivan, challenged its culinary director, Chef Mike, to replicate an apple-based chutney that Doug had recently tried elsewhere. But as Mike admits, “Describing a certain taste to somebody can be as nearly impossible as describing a piece of music—especially when the taste in question is chutney.” So the two batted the thing back and forth, talking it through and testing out batches over months of time, trying to come up with the specific flavor combination Doug remembered.

Then one day, while putting a feast of hors d’oeuvres together for a party, Mike pulled out the chutney idea from his memory bank and made bite-sized pork medallions garnished with chutney sauce. Still, the sauce recipe needed some tweaking. “Finally,” he says, “after a good half dozen or more runs at it, the stars suddenly fell into perfect alignment, the cooking gods smiled, and I hit the flavor profile just right.” (In this case, “just right” translates into a delicious taste sensation of sweet/tart apples played against the slight sharpness of red onion, with a sort of warm spiciness to it, and maybe a hint of, um, ah—well, it’s kind of hard to describe.)

“Once we’d nailed the chutney recipe,” Mike continues, “we made other minor adjustments— like blowing up the hors d’oeuvre–sized ingredients to entrée-sized helpings for serving in the dining room.” They also decided to replace the pork medallion with a pork loin chop that was steeped in a citrus–soy marinade before being quick-grilled on a low, slow flame. As Mike explains, “We just thought the pork chop had a bit more substance to it than the medallion, and that it played better with the chutney.”

As many Stonewood customers will tell you, the result of the quest was well worth the effort. When you order this special dish, the plate placed before you holds a succulent pork chop nestled on a bed of creamy garlic mashed potatoes surrounded by crisp-tender green beans. And to crown this wonderful medley of flavors, there’s Mike’s perfect apple chutney.

In the words of its creator, “We intentionally made it a little thinner, more broth-like than the average chutney which, as a rule, is usually more viscous, almost relish-like in consistency. So when the dish is arranged this way and topped with the chutney, the sauce runs down over the pork and seeps into the mashed potato and green beans. I’m still amazed at how well these particular food and spice flavors blend together. It’s like having all the best tastes of autumn beautifully combined in a single dish.”

What about wine? To keep the balance of those fruity flavors intact, Chef Mike recommends a lighter wine, such as a Riesling. (And should you feel moved to raise a glass and voice a toast to the chef, he would without doubt be gratified to hear it.)